The national philharmonic of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea captivated a Shanghai audience with a performance earlier this week.

The artists from the DPRK were heartily applauded by the sophisticated audience in their two-hour performance Monday, which was part of the Shanghai International Music Festival.

The DPRK artists performed classical Korean music such as "the Flower Girl," "The Sea of Blood" as well as Chinese music such as "The White-haired Girl."

But it was a DPRK artist's bass performance of "My Motherland," the theme song of "Heroic Sons and Daughters," a Chinese film on the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953), that became the climax of the concert.

Chen Xieyang, a noted Chinese conductor, said he had never seen an audience so deeply drawn into the music. He described the performance as "superb and enthusiastic."

Chen, who had once heard the orchestra play in the DPRK, said he was then deeply impressed by the fact the DPRK musicians did not once look at their music scores during the performance.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2002)