North Korea believes it's ready for Eric Clapton

Communist state issues first invitation to Western rock star

CBC News
Britain is to have a performance by the North Korean State Symphony and what Pyongyang has asked in return is — Eric Clapton.

The British guitarist, famous for his work in bands such as The Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith and as a solo artist, has received an official invitation from the Communist state.

It marks the first time a Western rock star has been invited to the isolated nation, which until recently frowned on decadent pop and rock music.

Pyongyang has invited Clapton in return for the three engagements in London and Middlesbrough of the North Korean orchestra, according to a report in the Financial Times of London.

"These cultural exchanges are a way of promoting understanding between countries.… We want our music to be understood by the Western world and we want our people to understand western music," a North Korean official told the Times.

Clapton, known for hits such as Layla, Cocaine and Tears in Heaven, has not yet accepted the invitation.

Other musicians have remarked on the increased acceptance of cultural exchange between the Communist nation and the West.

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra played in Pyongyang today, a first for a U.S. symphony.

Suzannah Clarke, a London-based opera singer, has been invited five times to North Korea and said she saw a change in attitudes in 2007.

"When I sang in Pyongyang last April, I felt a change in atmosphere and in the way they view the outside world," she told the Telegraph.

With files from the Associated Press