Cardamomyang

At the webpage of Bergen International Festival the following, among other things, is written about Cardamomyang**:

"From North Korea, which in our part of the world is often spoken of as 'the world's most closed country', comes a group of young talents from the prestigious Kum Song Music School to the Bergen International Festival. They bring with them their own interpretations of the famous songs from Thorbjørn Egner’s children's play When the Robbers Came to Cardamom Town, as well as examples of their own popular North Korean songs. (Sceneweb's comment: In the Norwegian text, the words 'as well as examples of their own popular North Korean songs' are lacking. Instead the sequence ends with the words 'som for generasjoner av nordmenn har fremstått som et idealsamfunn', meaning, 'which have been presented as an ideal society to generations of Norwegians'.)

The world premiere Cardamomyang is commissioned by the Bergen International Festival, and created by director Morten Traavik. In recent years, he has carried out several large-scale and often controversial artistic collaborations with North Korean young artists and cultural authorities.

In addition to brilliant musical skills and new interpretations, Cardamomyang offers the audience an opportunity to reflect on different forms of organising societies and values such as freedom and community - themes that carry an additional importance on the occasion of the bicentennial of Norway's Constitution in 2014."

The following text was only published in the English-language version of the Bergen International Festival webpage (translated into the Norwegian for Sceneweb by Lillian Bikset):

"For more than 60 years, North Korea has put every prediction of its demise to shame. The country has withstood both external threats and internal difficulties with the help of military alertness and the teachings of the leaders Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un.

To generations of Norwegians, Cardamom Town has presented (SIC, most likely a 'been' has fallen out here) as a model society with a strong sense of community, where the law prescribes that people should be good to each other. An old wise man in a tower provides spiritual guidance and the robbers become better people through voluntary community service."

Sources:

Bergen International Festival, on Cardamomyang, Norwegian-language edition, http://www.fib.no/no/Program/?TLp=850573

Bergen International Festival, on Cardamomyang, English-language version, http://www.fib.no/en/Programme/?TLp=850573

Bergen International Festival, program 2014, http://www.fib.no/Documents/Program2014/Kardemomyang_web.pdf

**Sceneweb's comment: The Norwegian-language and the English-language texts on the webpage of Bergen International Festival are not identical, as the English-language text is more expansive. There are also other disparities between the texts. Sceneweb has chosen to quote passages that exist in both texts, and also show the disparities in the quoted passages.

Lillian Bikset, Propagandaens glade ansikt (literally: The happy face of propaganda), Dagbladet, May 22 2014:

"The propaganda audience, like the theatre's, is more or less programmed to search for the message behind the message, to listen to what is not said. In Cardamomyang very much is left unsaid. For instance one doesn't discuss the differences between the Norwegian and the North Korean 'and beyond that one may do as one likes'. One doesn't compare the significance of being able to, like the parrot from America, repeat the correct message and not wander into constellations of words and sentences of one's own. The children play and sing, while the images behind them shift. Potential further thinking is delegated to the spectators. The same goes for the decision if one is even to enter further thinking. It is entirely possible to see Cardamomyang in pure and unfeigned joy over the great abilities of the entertainer children, and that alone. It is also entirely possible to see it as political performance art, and to leave with one's mind occupied with thoughts about what makes propaganda effects effectful, and the similarities and differences existing between a certain nation in Europe and a certain nation in Asia."

Therese Bjørneboe, Morten Traaviks nordkoreanske Lykkeland (literally: Morten Traavik's North Korean land of happiness), Aftenposten May 23 2014:

"To a Norwegian audience it is obvious that the irony is ever present. As when the audience-winning performance of Alexander Rybak's Fairytale is illustrated through the red and white typography of Dagbladet, thus renamed, exactly, Fairytale. When North Korean songs about patriotic love and joy in working are sung prior to concrete -heavy monumental art, or images of bathing amusement parks in synthetic or Disneyland-like colours, the message comes through. But whether the young performers and other collaborators of Traavik's read such montages ironically it is impossible to tell. The effect of the performance may only strike after the curtain."

• Natt&Dag-prisen. Årets Beste 2014 - Natt&Dag-prisen. Årets Scenekunst Bergen.