The
music of North Korea
includes a wide array of folk, popular, light instrumental, political, and classical performers. Beyond patriotic and political music, popular music groups like
Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble
and
Moranbong Band
perform songs about everyday life in the DPRK and modern light pop reinterpretations of classic Korean folk music. Music education is widely taught in schools, with President
Kim Il Sung
first implementing a program of study of musical instruments in 1949 at an orphanage in
Mangyongdae
.
[1]
Musical diplomacy also continues to be relevant to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, with musical and cultural delegations completing concerts in
China
[2]
and
France
[3]
in recent years, and musicians from Western countries and South Korea collaborating on projects in the DPRK.
[4]
[5]
Taejung kayo
[
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]
After the
division of Korea
in 1945 and the establishment of North Korea in 1948, revolutionary song-writing traditions were channeled into support for the state, eventually becoming a style of patriotic song called
taejung kayo
(
大衆歌謠
) in the 1980s
[6]
combining classical Western symphonic music, the Soviet socialist realism style, and Korean traditional musical forms.
[7]
The songs are generally sung by female and male performers - either a choir, small groups or a soloist - with accompanying bands or choirs accompanied by a large orchestra (either Western style or a hybrid of western and traditional) or a
concert band
, and in recent years, a pop band or big band/jazz band with guitars, electric guitars, keyboards, strings, a drum kit and brass section with occasional accordions and traditional instrumentation.
North Korean music follows the principles of
Juche
(self-reliance) ideology.
[8]
The characteristic march like, upbeat music of North Korea is carefully composed, rarely individually performed, and its lyrics and imagery have a clear optimistic content.
Much music is composed for movies, television dramas, and TV movies, and the works of the Korean composer
Isang Yun
(1917?1995), who spent much of his life in Germany, are popular in North Korea.
Pop music
[
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]
DPRK-pop
|
---|
|
Native name
| 朝鮮-팝
|
---|
Etymology
| Democratic People's Republic of Korea's popular music
|
---|
Other names
| North Korean popular music (NK-pop)
|
---|
Stylistic origins
| |
---|
Under Kim Il Sung's era, only ideologically correct music was allowed.
Jazz
in particular was considered out of bounds.
[9]
Many artists however found their way around these limitations by writing ideologically correct lyrics while taking liberties with the score. Under Kim Jong Il, previously forbidden genres, even jazz, became permissible and encouraged.
[10]
In 2010, a
brutal death metal
group purporting to be from North Korea, called Red War (붉은전쟁), released a three-track demo online. However, as of 2014 the group are believed to be disbanded.
[11]
The metal music archive Spirit of Metal currently lists two bands that claim to originate from North Korea, Red War and the
pornogrind
band Teagirl.
[12]
Many North Korean pop songs are usually performed by a young female singer with an electric ensemble, percussionist, and accompanying singers and dancers, today there's even male singers or a chorus in community or company pop bands. Some North Korean pop songs such as "Hwiparam" ("Whistle")?set to the lyrics of North Korean poet
Cho Ki-chon
[13]
?have become popular in South Korea.
[14]
Common lyrical themes include military might ("We Shall Hold Bayonets More Firmly", "Look At Us!", "One Against a Hundred"), economic production and thrift ("The Joy of Bumper Harvest Overflows Amidst the Song of Mechanisation", "Attain the Cutting Edge (The
CNC
Song)", "I Also Raise Chickens", "Potato Pride"), patriotism ("My Country Is the Best", "We Have Nothing To Envy", "
Onwards Toward the Final Victory
") and glorification of the party and leaders ("
Where Are You, Dear General?
", "No Motherland Without You", "
Don't Ask My Name
", "
The General Uses Warp
", "
Footsteps
"). Songs like "We Are One" and "Reunification Rainbow" sing of the hopes for
Korean reunification
. There are also songs with more casual themes, such as "Women Are Flowers" and "Ballad of Gold Mountains."
[15]
[16]
[17]
In 2012, North Korea's first major girl band, the
Moranbong Band
, made its world debut.
[18]
It is a group of about sixteen North Korean women (eleven instrumentalists and five singers) which was hand-selected by
Kim Jong Un
.
[19]
BBC radio disc jockey
Andy Kershaw
noted, on a visit to North Korea with
Koryo Tours
in 2003, that the only recordings available were by the pop singers
Jon Hye-yong
,
Kim Kwang-suk
,
Jo Kum-hwa
and
Ri Pun-hui
, and the groups
Wangjaesan Light Music Band
, the
Mansudae Art Troupe
and the
Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble
, who play in a style Kershaw refers to as "light instrumental with popular vocal".
[15]
There is also the
State Symphony Orchestra
, the
Sea of Blood Opera Company
, two choruses, an orchestra and an ensemble dedicated to
Isang Yun
's compositions, all in Pyongyang. The
Pyongyang Film Studios
also produces many instrumental songs for its films, and several programs on
Korean Central Television
have music made and performed by the Central Radio and Television Orchestra.
[20]
North Korean
pop music
is available for visitors to
Pyongyang
at the
Koryo Hotel
or
Number One Department Store
, as well as gift shops in tourist destinations.
[16]
International and Western music can be enjoyed by locals and tourists at the
Grand People's Study House
, Pyongyang's central library.
[21]
[22]
Music of Enlightment
[
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]
A lot of songs composed during
Korea under Japanese rule
, which are known in South Korea today as
Trot
are called "
Enlightenment Period
song" (啓蒙期 가요).
[23]
[24]
It is no longer composed as
propaganda music
has since displaced other musical forms.
[25]
[26]
Those songs were only orally-recorded for a long time. However, it was intentionally revived during the
Kim Jong Il
administration: in the late 2000s,
Korean Central Television
aired a TV program that introduced those "Enlightenment songs".
[27]
Folk music
[
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]
Alongside contemporary pop songs, groups like Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble have recorded arrangements of Korean folk songs.
[28]
The Korean folk song "
Arirang
" continues to be widely popular in the DPRK, with
UNESCO
inscribing the song to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014, representing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
[29]
Like
Korean music
in general, North Korean music includes kinds of both folk and classical, courtly music, including genres like
sanjo
,
pansori
, and
nongak
. Pansori is long vocal and percussive music played by one singer and one drummer. The lyrics tell one of five different stories, but is individualized by each performer, often with updated jokes and audience participation. Nongak is a rural form of percussion music, typically played by twenty to thirty performers. Sanjo is entirely instrumental that shifts rhythms and melodic modes during the song. Instruments include the
changgo
drum set against a melodic instrument, such as the
gayageum
or
ajaeng
.
[15]
Instruments
[
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]
In North Korea, traditional instruments have been adapted in order to allow them to compete with Western instruments. Many older musical forms remain and are used in both traditional performances that have been attuned to the ideas and the way of life of the modern North Korean communist state and to accompany modern songs in praise of Kim Il Sung, his son and successor, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un from 2012 onward, plus songs that wish for a reunited Korea, thus creating a mix of traditional and Western music that is truly North Korean, a unique variant of Korean music as a whole mixing the old and the new.
The modern Ongnyugeum zithers and the
Sohaegeum
four stringed fiddle are North Korean modernized versions of traditional Korean musical instruments, both used in traditional and modern musical forms.
Military music, in contrast, often makes extensive use of Western brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments, often omitting the Korean ones entirely. Although usually original compositions, the melodies are not easily distinguishable from Western ones in the absence of their lyrics, which heavily feature the customary ideologically oriented content.
Active musical groups and ensembles
[
edit
]
Military
[
edit
]
Civilian
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Cathcart, Adam (2008-09-01). "Song of Youth: North Korean Music from Liberation to War".
North Korean Review
.
4
(2): 99?100.
doi
:
10.3172/nkr.4.2.93
.
ISSN
1551-2789
.
- ^
"Music, diplomacy, and dictatorship: North Korean concerts in Beijing | NK News ? North Korea News"
. 2019-01-31
. Retrieved
2019-10-06
.
- ^
Cathcart, Adam (Fall 2013).
"North Korea's Cultural Diplomacy in the Early Kim Jong-un Era"
(PDF)
.
North Korean Review
.
9
(2): 29?42.
doi
:
10.3172/NKR.9.2.29
.
JSTOR
43908918
.
- ^
"Making friends in the new North Korea"
. 2013-01-03
. Retrieved
2019-10-06
.
- ^
"South Korean K-pop stars perform for Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang"
.
The Guardian
. Reuters. 2018-04-01.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
2019-10-06
.
- ^
"Pop music of Asia"
.
IIAS Newsletter Online
. Archived from
the original
on July 9, 2013
. Retrieved
September 27,
2005
.
- ^
World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia
. Marshall Cavendish Corporation. 2007. p. 929.
ISBN
9780761476313
.
- ^
"Songs for the 'Great Leaders': Ideology and Political Agitation in the Music of North Korea"
.
korea.fas.harvard.edu
. Archived from
the original
on 2021-06-16
. Retrieved
2020-11-07
.
- ^
"Playing "jazz" is a crime in North Korea"
.
Salon
. 2013-07-24
. Retrieved
2020-04-28
.
- ^
"The good things in North Korea | NK News"
.
NK News ? North Korea News
. 2016-06-06
. Retrieved
2020-05-01
.
- ^
The Oppression of the Western Devils is Over: One Underground North Korean Metal Band
MetalSucks
. December 18, 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
- ^
North Korea: Band List
Spirit of Metal. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
- ^
Gabroussenko, Tatiana (2005).
"Cho Ki-ch'?n: The Person Behind the Myths"
.
Korean Studies
.
29
: 79.
doi
:
10.1353/ks.2006.0005
.
- ^
Chun Su-jin (6 October 2002).
"Attention! Military more receptive to filmmakers"
.
Korea Joongang Daily
.
- ^
a
b
c
Provine, Rob, Hwang, Okon and Kershaw, Andy. "Our Life Is Precisely a Song". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.),
World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific
, pp 160?169. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.
ISBN
1-85828-636-0
- ^
a
b
Broughton, Simon; Ellingham, Mark; McConnachie, James; Duane, Orla (2000).
World Music: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, Volume 2
(New ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 167.
ISBN
9781858286365
. Retrieved
31 July
2015
.
- ^
"Oh Potatoes!"
.
allaroundthisworld.com
. Retrieved
4 August
2015
.
"Potato Pride" is a North Korean propaganda tune in which the elder of the village receives his government ration of potatoes and shares it with his fellow villagers.
- ^
Patrick Boehler (6 July 2013).
"Moranbong style: North Korea's first girl band may be a sign of change"
.
South China Morning Post
.
- ^
Beth Stebner (29 May 2013).
"North Korea's five-part girl band, formed by Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, blast out hits like 'Let's Study!' and 'Our Dear Leader!'
"
.
New York Daily News
. Retrieved
31 July
2015
.
- ^
"BBC Radio 3 ? Andy Kershaw, North Korea, Kershaw in North Korea, part 1"
.
BBC
. Retrieved
2019-12-23
.
- ^
"Grand People's Study House ? North Korea"
.
Young Pioneer Tours
. 2018-06-13
. Retrieved
2019-10-06
.
- ^
"Grand People's Study House | North Korea Travel Guide ? Koryo Tours"
.
koryogroup.com
. Retrieved
2019-10-06
.
- ^
"[北韓 文化 散策] 2. 北에도 '뽕짝'은 있다"
. 中央日報. 2000-11-10.
- ^
"[김문성의 盤世紀]分斷의 最大 犧牲曲 '조선팔경가'… 南北 政治 現實 따라 歌詞 亂刀질"
. 東亞日報. 2018-04-27.
- ^
Choi Cheok-ho (2001): "So-called People music in North Korea", pp. 64?71.
PDF
Archived
2019-04-07 at the
Wayback Machine
(in Korean) (최척호: "北韓의 音樂: 大衆歌謠",
統一經濟
, 2001 (5·6).
- ^
Unification Ministry:
Music in North Korea
(in Korean).
- ^
"[클로즈업 北韓] 南北이 함께 부르는 노래…'啓蒙期 가요'
"
. KBS. 2016-11-12.
- ^
"Vol. 36 (세 36 집): 朝鮮民謠曲集2 Korean Folk Songs 2"
.
Discogs
. Retrieved
6 October
2019
.
- ^
"UNESCO ? Arirang folk song in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea"
.
ich.unesco.org
. Retrieved
2019-10-06
.
- ^
"N. Korea's all-female band unveiled in Moscow"
.
Yonhap
. 2 September 2015. Archived from
the original
on 30 September 2017
. Retrieved
9 September
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Samjiyon Band"
.
Naenara
. Foreign Languages Publishing House. 16 January 2013
. Retrieved
3 February
2018
.
- ^
Ha Yoon Ah (18 January 2018).
"Why is North Korea sending the Samjiyon Orchestra to the Olympics?"
.
Daily NK
. Retrieved
3 February
2018
.
- ^
Zhang Jingya, ed. (2013-01-27).
"DPRK national folk art shines in South China"
.
english.cntv.cn
. Archived from
the original
on 2015-05-23
. Retrieved
2015-05-23
.
- ^
Stage Art of DPRK Improved in 2012
Archived
2013-01-21 at the
Wayback Machine
Further reading
[
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]
External links
[
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]