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Arts Interventions Development

KARDEMOMYANG

Bergen, Norway, 2014

 «Cardamom is only a little town, and it lies so far away that almost nobody knows about it. It’s a rather remarkable town, and a lot happens there that doesn’t happen anywhere else.»   

To generations of Norwegians, Cardamom Town has presented 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 spirtiual guidence and the robbers become better people through voluntary community service.

From North Korea 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.       

In addition to brilliant musical skills and new interpretations, Kardemomyang offers the audience an opportunity to reflect on different forms of organizing societies and values such as freedom and community – themes that carry an additional importance on the occasion for the bicentennial for Norway’s Constitution in 2014. 

  • Directed by Morten Traavik
  • Performed by students of Kum Song Middle school no 1, Pyongyang, North Korea
  • Commissioned by Bergen International Festival 2014.


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