Sea of Blood

Sea of Blood (Korean: 피바다; MR: P‘ibada) is a North Korean opera credited to Kim Il-sung. It was first produced as an opera by Sea of Blood Theatrical Troupe (Pibada Guekdan) in 1971.[1] It was then later adapted into a novel by the Choseon Novelist Association of the 4.15 Culture Creation Group (조선작가 동맹 4·15문학창작단) in 1973.[2]

Sea of Blood
Librettist	Kim Il-sung (attributed)
Language	Korean
Premiere	17 July 1971 (1971-07-17) Pyongyang Grand Theatre

Sea of Blood
Hangul	피바다
Revised Romanization	Pibada
McCune–Reischauer	P‘ibada

History and synopsis

Scene from Sea of Blood painted as a mural at the Pyongyang Grand Theatre, where the opera was premiered

Sea of Blood is set in the 1930s, during the Japanese occupation of Korea, and follows the life of protagonist Sun-Nyo and her family as they suffer numerous tragedies at the hands of the Japanese before eventually gaining the willpower and means to join the communist revolution and fight against their oppressors. The story is meant to exemplify the values of the Juche ideology, with self-reliance and solidarity being the central themes. The novel is notable for its highly detailed descriptions and lengthy narrations of each character's point of view as well as its graphic depiction of violence. It is also mandatory reading in North Korea's literature curriculum.[3]

Along with The Flower Girl (Korean: 꽃파는 처녀), Tell O'the Forest! (Korean: 밀림아 이야기하라), A True Daughter of the Party (Korean: 당의 참된 딸) and The Song of Mount Kumgang (Korean: 금강산의 노래), Sea of Blood is considered one of the "Five Great Revolutionary Operas" (Korean revolutionary opera) (Korean: 5대 혁명가극; Hanja: 혁명가극), which are the five most critically acclaimed operas within North Korea with revolutionary themes. The opera is considered as a masterpiece in North Korea since it expresses the unique aspects of the Juche regime's revolutionary ideology. It is also regarded as an exemplary revolutionary piece because of its unique use of visual and auditory effect and unprecedented theme, which was unlike other existing operas.[4] In truth, the opera was influenced by Chinese model ballets like The White Haired Girl and operas like The Legend of the Red Lantern.[5]

Sea of Blood premiered on 17 July 1971 at the Pyongyang Grand Theatre in the attendance of Kim Il-sung.[6] The opera is known for being North Korea's longest-running production, having been staged over 1,500 times, and is presented three to four times a week at Pyongyang's main theater.[7] It is also sometimes performed abroad.[8] The North Korean Opera Troupe, which was established in 1946, was renamed "Sea of Blood Opera Troupe" shortly after the opera's release in 1971.[9] Through being involved in the making of the opera, Kim Jong-il could systematize his thought on the art form. Many of the features of the opera are included in his treatise On the Art of Opera (1974), which lauds Sea of Blood as a model opera.[6]

Sea of Blood was also produced as a four-hour black-and-white film, in the early 1970s, which was produced by Korea Films. Kim Jong-il produced the film, directed by Choe Ik-gyu.[10]

Literature

• The Novel. Sea of Blood, Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1982

See also

• The Flower Girl
• List of North Korean operas

References

1. KCNA. "Revolutionary opera "Sea of Blood" 30 years old". Retrieved 2006-04-30.
2. Naver Encyclopedia. "Pibada". Retrieved 2014-04-10.
3. Naver Encyclopedia. "Pibada". Retrieved 2014-04-10.
4. Naver Encyclopedia. "Pibada". Retrieved 2014-04-10.
5. Howard 2004, p. 118.
6. Burnett 2016, p. 85.
7. John Gorenfeld. "Dear Playwright". Archived from the original on 2006-10-29. Retrieved 2006-04-30.
8. Brown, Jeffrey Arlo (18 February 2016). "Chorus and Orchestra of Generals: On North Korean Opera". VAN Magazine. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
9. "Phibada Opera Troupe". Korean Central News Agency. 19 June 2002. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
10. Fischer, Paul (2016). A Kim Jong-Il Production: Kidnap, Torture, Murder... Making Movies North Korean-Style. London: Penguin Books. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-241-97000-3.

Works cited

• Burnett, Lisa (2016). "Kim Jong Il's Gesamtkunstwerk: Text, Music and Drama in the North Korean Opera Sea of Blood". In Kennedy, Victor; Gadpaille, Michelle (eds.). Symphony and Song: The Intersection of Words and Music. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 75–94. ISBN 978-1-4438-5733-8.
• Howard, Keith (2004). "Dancing for the Eternal President". In Randall, Annie J. (ed.). Music, Power, and Politics. New York: Routledge. pp. 113–132. ISBN 978-1-135-94691-3.

Further reading

• David-West, Alzo (2006). "Nationalist Allegory in North Korea: The Revolutionary Opera Sea of Blood". North Korean Review. 2 (2): 75–87. doi:10.3172/NKR.2.2.75. ISSN 1551-2789.
• — (2011). "Reading Sea of Blood through Bertolt Brecht's The Mother: North Korean 'Revolutionary Opera' and Nationalist Allegory" (PDF). Asian Journal of Literature, Culture and Society. 5 (2): 1–24. ISSN 1905-856X.
• Kim, Jong-il (1992) [1969]. "Some Problems Which Arose in Adapting the Immortal Work the Sea of Blood to the Screen" (PDF). Selected Works. 1. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. pp. 463–477. OCLC 651079919.
• — (1995) [1971]. "The Revolutionary Opera the Sea of Blood Is a New Opera of a Type of Our Own" (PDF). Selected Works. 2. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. pp. 263–268. OCLC 651079919.
• — (1995) [1971]. "Let Us Produce Revolutionary Operas That Are High in Ideological and Artistic Quality by Strictly Applying the Principle of Creating Revolutionary Operas of the Type of the Sea of Blood" (PDF). Selected Works. 2. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. pp. 316–329. OCLC 651079919.
• — (1990) [1974]. On the Art of Opera. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. OCLC 869091334.
• Kim, Kyung Hyun (2019). "The Fractured Cinema of North Korea: The Discourse of the Nation in Sea of Blood". In Tang, Xiaobing (ed.). In Pursuit Of Contemporary East Asian Culture. New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780429039997. ISBN 9780429039997.