Tell O' The Forest! (; also translated Speak, O Forest; Tell, O Forest; Speak, Forest!) is a North Korean revolutionary genre theatrical performance. First performed in 1972, it is credited to Kim Jong-il.
The performance is considered one of the "Five Great Revolutionary Operas", a group of classical, revolution-themed opera repertoires well received within North Korea.가극 작품 – NK Chosun전영선 (2004년 5월 5일). 〈제7부 북한의 가극 - 제1장 피바다식 혁명가극의 개념〉, 《북한의 문학과 예술》. 서울: 역락. 2008年03月26日, 杭州大剧院春季演出季－朝鲜歌剧《卖花姑娘》 – 浙江在线新闻网
Plot
Choe Byong-hung is a Korean patriot who pretends to serve the Japanese during the occupation. He suffers the anger of the people of his village, who find his deception too convincing. His daughter commits suicide due to the shame of being "daughter of the puppet village head", after which Choe lures the Japanese forces into a trap in which he too perishes.
Reception Tell O' The Forest was criticized by Kim Jong-il in On the Art of Opera for having the hero die before witnessing the moment of victory, as well as sticking to the "outmoded pattern" of using exclusively song, not a mixture of song and speech.Kim, Jong-il (2001). On the Art of Opera. University Press of the Pacific.
The 2019 Laibach song "Honourable, Dead or Alive, When Following the Revolutionary Road" is a re-interpretation of an aria from Tell O' The Forest! It was "prepared for the 2015 Liberation Day concert in Ponghwa Theatre in Pyongyang, but deemed too 'confusing' by the North Korean hosts and struck from the concert repertoire."
See also
List of North Korean operas Culture of North Korea North Korean literature Korea under Japanese rule Korean People's Army Ivan Susanin
References
External links