A Korean 4th of July

Not surprisingly, the 4th of July here in Korea carries none of the significance attached to the American holiday.  Ex patriots wanting to celebrate tend to find other expats for small local celebrations at a Western bar or head off to the beach to set off fireworks which are legal in Korea.  This year Susan noticed a poster at the local Korean supermarket advertising a free concert on the roof of the supermarket on July 4.  It listed a line up of opera singers who would be offering a program of popular hits.  This sounded great to us - but not to the kids.  We are in monsoon season and it was raining on the 4th.  They would prefer to stay home and find some "real" fun things to do.  Rather then drag them along and spoil our outing, Susan and I headed off to the market after Susan called to confirm the concert was still on despite the rain.  Along the way we shanghaied a visiting professor from the US who happened to be walking across the campus. 

In Korea most everything, including stores, are multiple stories because flat space is at such a premium in this mountainous country.  This local supermarket was 8 stories high.  Groceries were on one level and the other levels were devoted to department store items and parking.  We drove up to the 7th level where they have an outdoor entertainment area only to discover they moved the concert indoor to a level below in a wide corridor used for the escalator system.  Chairs had been arranged and a crew was busy setting up the sound and light equipment.

As we found seats, I wondered at the likelihood of a grocery store in Anaheim offering a free opera concert on their premises to their patrons and the residents who lived in the neighborhood.  Not going to happen, and if it did, few would show up.  I think this sort of a concert is unusual even here in Korea where music lessons are a normal part of growing up and we find ourselves surrounded by wonderfully talented student musicians and singers here at the university.  The concert started with the introduction of the market owner who apologized that we weren't able to experience his hope of offering a summer concert on the rooftop under the stars.  He promised to carefully save profits so that he could construct awnings on the roof to provide shelter for another concert in the future.

The concert that followed far exceeded our expectations.  The series of baritones, tenors and a lovely soprano were wonderful despite the less than ideal conditions.  One baritone noticed some "foreigners" in the audience and sang for us a beautiful rendition of "My Way" made famous by Frank Sinatra.  Its not my favorite song, but his voice was magnificent and put a big smile on my face.  Susan's favorite was the soprano saxophone player who played so beautifully she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  We could not have had a lovelier time - made all the better by the absence of our kids who would have probably whined throughout.  Not that there weren't plenty of kids present, most of whom were very young.  That produced a lot of chatter through the performances which was a bit distracting.  Pohang is a blue collar port city largely devoted to the steel industry.  Most of the artist who sang were classically trained residents of Pohang.  Their leader explained that they were committed to taking culture to the poorer residents of the city and sought out opportunities to sing at venues like our market.  They certainly accomplished their goal, and delighted Susan and me with a wonderful way to celebrate the 4th of July.  I should probably add that the kids weren't entirely left out.  We picked up some Krispy Kreme donuts earlier in the day from their sole outlet in downtown Pohang inside Lotte, a luxury department store.  They were very pleased at the rare treat.