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통일의 피아노 (공명 제공) |
통일부가 휴전선 폐철책으로 만든 “통일의 피아노”를 다음 주 화요일에 공개한다. 통일부가 주관하고 제일기획의 대행으로 지난 4월 시작된 이 사업은 올해 남북분단 70년, 광복 70주년을 맞아 한국인들의 통일의 염원을 강조하기 위해 추진된 사업이다.
한국 전통음악을 기반으로 독특한 현대 음악 장르를 추구하여 국내외 주목 받고 있는 월드뮤직그룹 “공명”이 피아노 제작을 맡았다. 공명은 전방 육군부대의 지원을 받아 폐철책을 이용하여 두 개의 통일의 피아노를 제작했다.
통일의 피아노는 다음 주 화요일 서울시립미술관에서 열리는 남북한 전시전에서 첫 공개된다. 이 피아노의 현은 모두 폐철책으로 만들어진 것이다. 이 피아노는 또한 8월 15일 광복절 70주년 기념으로 열리는 국립합창단 공연에 처음 연주된다.
공명의 리더인 박승원씨는 코리아헤럴드와의 전화인터뷰에서 “전쟁의 대표적인 상징이고 (남북한의) 대치상황을 나타내는 철조망이 피아노에 걸려지고 (이 피아노가) 통일 염원하는 하모니를 이뤄낸다면 굉장히 의미있는 것이다”라며 피아노 제작과정이 도전적 작업이었지만 보람된 과정이었다고 말했다.
박씨는 처음 이 작업을 시작했을 때 불가능이라고 보는 사람들이 대부분이었지만 수 차례 시행착오 끝에 2옥타브 연주가 가능한 독특한 음색을 지닌 피아노를 창조할 수 있어서 제작과정이 즐거웠다고 설명했다.
제일기획은 회사의 사회기여활동의 일환으로 통일의 피아노 제작을 구상한 것으로 알려졌다. 이번 주 후반께 통일의 피아노 홍보활동을 본격적으로 개시할 것으로 알려졌다.
(코리아헤럴드 송상호 기자)
(영문기사)
DMZ wire to strike chord in ‘Piano of Unification’
The Unification Ministry and Cheil Worldwide Inc., the advertising arm of Samsung Group, have collaborated to create the “Piano of Unification,” a piano made with barbed wire from the inter-Korean border for its strings, sources told The Korea Herald.
Marking the 70th anniversary of the division of the Korean Peninsula and Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, the two sides launched the symbolic project in April to underscore the nation’s long-cherished hopes for national reunification.
The organizers of the project plan to unveil the piano on the sidelines of an exhibition, titled “N.K. Project,” at Seoul Museum of Art in central Seoul next Tuesday.
The exhibition, which runs until Sept. 29, features a wide variety of artwork including oil paintings, posters and stamps, which were made by North Koreans and collected by one South Korean and two Dutch collectors.
The organizers also plan to use the piano for a musical performance with the National Chorus of Korea on Aug. 15, Korea’s Liberation Day. They are in talks with the chorus to determine how the piano will be used for the commemorative performance.
GongMyoung, a renowned Korean performing arts group and producer of creative musical instruments, has undertaken what was initially seen as an impossible process -- building a piano made of rusty, pointy wires that were collected in cooperation with a frontline army unit.
The group has built two pianos with the border wires. All of the wires used in the piano are from the border fence while some changes were made in one of the two pianos to allow it a greater range and sound accuracy.
“Though it was a challenging undertaking for us to create a piano with the barbed wire, it was a rewarding and very meaningful process given that we could create a musical harmony for unification through the barbed wire of the truce line, a symbol of the tragic war and longstanding cross-border standoff,” said Park Seung-won, the leader of GongMyoung.
Established in 1997, GongMyoung has undertaken a series of challenging tasks to make unique instruments such as an electric “janggu” (an hourglass-shaped Korean drum). The projects were born out of their hopes to “internationalize” Korean music.
However, the creation of a piano using barbed wire was a physical challenge, Park noted.
“The tension of the border wire is very strong, not to mention the rough, sharp points of the barbed wire. Everybody who was involved in the making of the piano has suffered cuts on their fingers,” he said.
“The toughest part was to get the piano to produce the exact sounds we needed. We initially aimed to give the piano a range of a little over one octave. But we have given it up to two octaves and produced a very unique sound,” he added.
The project to make the piano was first proposed by Cheil Worldwide Inc. as part of the firm’s efforts to advance its cause of corporate social responsibility. The firm is to release its promotional materials about the piano later this week.
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