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Clapton Invited To Play In North Korea


Jahfin

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http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/articl...t_id=1003715347

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Eric Clapton (center) with Steve Winwood on Feb. 25 in New York

North Korean officials have invited Eric Clapton to play a concert in the Communist state, a diplomat at the country's embassy in London said today (Feb. 26).

The diplomat confirmed reports in the British media that Clapton had been officially invited to Pyongyang -- the first such invitation to a Western rock star to the isolated nation.

"Eric Clapton is a well-known musician and guitarist, famous throughout the world," said the official, who declined to give his name. "It will be a good opportunity for Western music to be understood better by Koreans."

Clapton's spokesperson did not immediately return calls seeking comment. The Financial Times reported today that Clapton, 62, had agreed in principle and suggested 2009 for the gig.

North Korean authorities have long shunned rock and pop music, although Kim Jong Chol, the Swiss-educated son of national leader Kim Jong Il, is reportedly a huge Clapton fan.

Recently North Korea has begun to build tentative cultural ties with the West. The New York Philharmonic played in Pyongyang today, and North Korean State Symphony Orchestra is due to perform in London and the English city of Middlesbrough in September.

The Financial Times said the invitation to Clapton was in return for the Korean orchestra's British tour.

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huh, wasn't aware Clapton played drums... is that his twin on the right? :P

hope he gets to play there. it's kind of interesting to see the Philharmonic play there and now Clapton get invited. wonder why the openness as of late?

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