Well if not mistaken, the letters next to the video say DPRK, which means "Democratic People's Republic of Korea".
Those of you familiar with history might remember that it's a misnomer of sorts - a propaganda title used by North Korea and Stalin's puppet counterpart Kim Il Sung.
As an educator of Korean students and having gone deeply into the Demilitarized zone at the South / North Korean border, I can tell you that these students have it ingrained in them to duplicate or copy perfectly - without any thought of improvisation or expression because it is immediately extinguished at the slightest emergence.
Now before the automaton reaction of 'politically incorrect' enters the conditioned and malleable mind, consider that the country was largely destroyed during the Korean War and that their entire culture has been based upon copying either Americanism and it's influences (South Korea) or Communism and it's influences (North Korea).
With 5000 years of culture reduced to almost nothing in 3 years, the people had no choice but to copy everything else and to do it very well, to the point where copying it better took over and originality or anything resembling it was discouraged.
This idea is shared by many Koreans by the way!
The emphasis on imitation over invention (largely an American ideology) is almost second nature to present day students. I have witnessed this first hand and attempt to drastically reduce it for the student's sake.
Of course, these children will gradually learn the bigger meaning of what it is they're doing, and let their artistic sides emerge, but for now let's take comfort and enjoyment in what they've achieved (and had drilled into them) to do, and the fact that they've even eaten and have electricity as more than half of North Korea doesn't. It's a completely different world than you can imagine, with rampant starvation, propaganda speaker systems in every house, and picures of the "Dear Leader" hung up on bedroom walls and larger than family pictures.
There's even an incident where a man's home caught fire and he saved the pictures of the "Dear Leaders" first while his family burned to death.
Anyway - this is a singular performance because of where these kids are from and it needs to be seen in it's proper social, political and economic context, and not through the views most of us would normally hold.
As far the North American hockey dad's and soccer mom's - in my opinion, these people (although well meaning) are just as bad as the oppressive totalitarian governements of the world because it's the exact same thing on a much smaller scale. These people also reduce and suppress their kids to death by ruining any individual expression, in the guise of being in their best interests.
I'd have no difficulty at all lashing out at those troublemaking parents out if I was a school coach. It might be the only time they ever question their righteous behaviour before ruining part of their kids childhood.
Going back to what I said about musically copying - here's a modern Korean pop song. It's simultaneously humourous, tragic, and irritating.
This is the legacy of years of exposure to the worst and most unforgiveable modern North American pop music.
What a shame that our vapid music industries have influnced someone else to make bigger mounds of sonic garbage than ourselves.
And check out the guy dressed as Robin (from Batman). He likely has no idea who Robin actually is at all, and was just impressed by the fashion.
On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 4:45 AM, Noel
<noel@arbelos.eu> wrote:
I don't often comment on groups, but in this case I have to. I agree with Mike on this one (hello Mike). This is the very peak of soulessness. These poor mites have been programmed out of their very humanity. It doesn't bear thinking about what they have had to endure to get them to do what they are doing. Please make them stop. Let them out to play in the fresh air and the fields. Let them find their souls again.
> Mike,
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> You actually thought the five children playing was soulless? It's mind numbing how cynical and bitter you are. If there is pity to had, it's on you, I'm afraid.
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> fritz
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@...>
> To: newmellotrongroup <
newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Fri, Apr 22, 2011 12:47 pm
> Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] OT-Future ax slingers
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> Watched them both. One is as pitifully soulless as the other, I'm afraid.
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> On 22/04/2011 16:02, Tom Doncourt wrote:
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> Cool! From that to this-
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http://youtu.be/IN21lcvIsvM>
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> On Apr 22, 2011, at 10:54 AM, johnm400s911 wrote:
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> For the guitar players on the board. This will make you smile.
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http://www.youtube.com/embed/yE7waNi5dc0>