Arirang and Larry Norman--two Big Musical Events from This Week

Within the space of two days this week (Feb. 24-26), the music world and international community were touched by the concert of the New York Philharmonic at Pyongyang, North Korea and, eight thousand miles away, in my home town of Salem, OR, the death of American musician Larry Norman (1947-2008), the pioneer of Christian rock music. You wonder how I can even mention these two incidents/people in the same sentence, and indeed they reflect worlds so different as almost not to be in the same universe. Yet both of these events point to the power of music to establish layers of understanding and express the most profound yearnings of human hope. This essay reflects on both "events" briefly.

Arirang in Pyongyang

When the New York Philharmonic played its stirring rendition of the famous, hauntingly beautiful Korean folk song "Arirang" as an encore to its Feb. 26 program in Pyongyang, North Korea, it was almost as if an enormous emotional valve had been opened and people in the audience, orchestra and now we, the hearers/seers of YouTube, could celebrate, if even for one shining moment, a unity of heart between two peoples who potentially share so much but still in fact share so little. This concert was the culmination of six months of planning, withstanding criticism, working out thousands of details and, finally, pulling off one of the most signficant international music events since the Philadelphia Orchestra traveled to China soon after President Nixon's historic visit in 1972. This Dec. 10, 2007 article from the New York Times tells what little we know of the original invitation, which arrived at the Philharmonic by fax in August 2007 and the motivations behind the invitation. We do know, however, that the invitation provided considerable debate and disagreement at several levels, especially among those who feared that doing a concert in North Korea, still one of he most repressive countries on earth, would be lending legitimacy to the regime of Kim Jong-il.

The Philharmonic had at least five conditions that had to be met before they would consent to perform in North Korea: (1) the presence of foreign journalists; (2) a nationwide broadcast to ensure that not just a small elite would hear the concert; (3) acoustical adjustments to the East Pyongyang Grand Theater; (4) an assurance that the eight Philharmonic members of Korean origin would not encounter difficulties; and (5) that the orchestra could play "The Star-Spangled Banner." With difficulties of transportation worked out (how do you transport so many, with so many complicated instruments, in these security-conscious times?), the orchestra showed up for three days in Korea. The concert in Pyongyang was followed by one in Seoul, the South Korean capital. Though the White House was quick to discount the value of the concert for international politics (White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a snippy and mind-numbing tautology that a "concert" is just a "concert"), you never can tell where music will lead humans. In any case, the performance, which reflected the profoundly sensitive emotional depth of the work of Lorin Maazel, the Philharmonic's music director, will be etched in the hearts of millions for years to come. This web site gives the words of Arirang, with an English translation and Romanization of the Korean words--for easy memorization and contemplation.

Larry Norman Dies

If that were the only event that touched the musical world this week, all of us would be blessed indeed. But we were affected further by the (non-unexpected) death of Christian Rock musician Larry Norman. Where does one begin in talking about this most unusual, talented, maverick musician who not only made his way successfully in the "secular" Rock music world of the 1960s but is credited with the release of one of the first Christian Rock albums, "Upon this Rock," in 1969? Whereas the emotion I felt most deeply at seeing/hearing "Arirang" was one of longing, the one I felt when thinking about the loss Larry Norman was regret. But in order to explain this latter emotion, I need to take you on a little historical journey.

Though Larry Norman and I both spent a few years in CA at the same time (1967-70), I first became acquainted with his work while a student at Brown University in 1971. The modern Evangelical movement was in its infancy; chapters of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Campus Crusade for Christ were springing up at the major Eastern colleges, and the traditional "University Christian Movement" (i.e., the "liberal Protestants") were shocked at the intensity, passion and growing numbers of the Evangelicals. But even if we had chutzpah and energy in those days, the thing we most lacked was music. Oh, it was not as if there weren't "Gospel Hymns" or traditional Christian music to keep us interested. But most of us had been shaped by the early days of Rock 'n Roll and were longing for a musical expression that both touched our hearts theologically as well as musically. There really wasn't anyone "out there" who could fit the bill. Ralph Carmichael had done some experiments in pop-rock style in the 1960s and 1970s that made some call him the "Father of Contemporary Christian Music," but he didn't appeal to us. John Fischer, of Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, CA, had just released his first album and would soon be composing catchy tunes and choruses for Christian fellowships, but John's music lacked a resonant connection to the Rock we loved.

But it was Larry Norman whose music had a particular allure for most of us. His long hair, easy acquaintance with the classical and contemporary music scene, unabashed desire to speak about faith through his music and personal sense of independence appealed to many of us. We would later learn that these virtues caused rifts between Larry and many Evangelical Churches. Yet, Larry played on, and his decade between 1967-77, before he was involved in a plane crash that nearly killed him and significantly impacted his ability to perform for the rest of his life, was a most creative one in so many ways. While he lived in Los Angeles at the end of the 1970s, he also began a Bible study at his home, which many scholars of the Evangelical movement contend was the origin of the "Vineyard" Church movement.

Larry Norman was an incredibly creative spirit, who lived his music and his faith, and he had in him the generative spirit which has now largely been adopted by the Evangelical culture which he often humorously skewered. When his health took a turn for the worse in 1994, he moved to Salem, OR, where mother and other family members could provide care for him. It is here that the regrets come in...

I was active in the Evangelical movement in the 1970s, but had left it by the mid-1980s. The early days, however, were of tremendous importance for me. Because I had left the professional world of religion by the mid-1990s, when I moved to Salem, I had no incentive to try to continue contacts with people from that world of so long ago. But as the new millennium opened, I longed for a way to integrate my long-standing interest in Scripture, history and religion with my newly developed interest in law. In short, I became more "open" to bringing together various chapters from my past.

I became aware in 2002 or 2003 that Larry Norman lived in Salem, not far from where I lived. But I never took the effort to meet him or to ask him the literally dozens of questions which I now have for him. I would have loved to walk with him through the days of immense creative activity of 1966-1978, asking him about his music, the way his experience of faith shaped his work as well as his life, the influences on his work, the ways that he felt he influenced others, the reasons why he didn't "blossom" the way others may have expected him to do so, the reasons for his diverse output of music, the way the injuries had affected him, etc. I could have interviewed him for hours, and I (and you!) would have been enriched.

Conclusion

But now, he is gone. And all he is to me is a sort of memory, even though some of his work is preserved on YouTube and DVD's, of course. I didn't take advantage of the possibilities that were before me to engage him. And I regret that very much today. Yet, the gifts that he brought me, and millions, are his legacy.

I hardly ever write on music. But today I couldn't get either the Philharmonic's performance of "Arirang" or Larry Norman off my mind. I hope you, too, will allow yourself to enter into the worlds created by these talented people.

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