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May 23, 2011 7:56 PM   Subscribe

"Excuse me while I rock out to the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble and The Wangjaesan Light Music Band." The human face of communism. It's a Pyongyang thang.
posted by puny human (26 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
In case you miss it, the "rock out" link here in turn links to Guardian series of articles titled Pyongyang goes pop that looks to satisfy a desire for some long form journalism.
posted by Nelson at 8:05 PM on May 23, 2011


the first link had me worried there for a minute, what with only two identical children on the intro. fortunately my faith in north korean superfluity was restored with the drawing of the curtain - ahhh...dozens of identical performers singing in unison....[relaxes]

\m/
posted by facetious at 8:13 PM on May 23, 2011


It's fascinating how they can manage to compose music with the same joyless, soul-grinding perkiness across multiple genres.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:14 PM on May 23, 2011 [4 favorites]


I see your larger point Marisa, but joyless? Pyongyang girls gonna get down. Seven minutes in to that first video is the best thing I have seen all day!
posted by puny human at 8:26 PM on May 23, 2011


the wangaesan light music band has a good bass player - and the 70s haven't gone away, they've just moved to n korea
posted by pyramid termite at 8:27 PM on May 23, 2011


puny human: "I see your larger point Marisa, but joyless ? Pyongyang girls gonna get down. Seven minutes in to that first video is the best thing I have seen all day"

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy these - from the related videos of the Wangjaesan dancers series, Don't Ask My Name has good bits in it, and I'm glad to be introduced to this group. And even the more uniform stuff is interesting to witness/listen to, purely for musical reasons, in how they manage that military marching band meets shopping mall sound so consistently.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:36 PM on May 23, 2011


What? No "I've seen the future, and it works?" MeFi socialists always disappoint me so.
posted by happyroach at 8:38 PM on May 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


You've got your Lawrence Welk in my Yellow Magic Orchestra!

You've got your Yellow Magic Orchestra in my Lawrence Welk!

I wonder what kind of synths they use...
posted by symbioid at 9:10 PM on May 23, 2011 [2 favorites]


Seven minutes in to that first video is the best thing I have seen all day!

That's when their eyes light up upon being shown the first full meal any of them have seen in a decade?
posted by orthogonality at 9:13 PM on May 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


Holy shit, those the little girls were more disturbing than the Mothra twins. Near-perfect unison can be a scary thing.
posted by ignignokt at 9:18 PM on May 23, 2011 [2 favorites]


The Children's Palace (and children in general) is, to my limited understanding, important in the DPRK mythology. The leadership is assuming a sort of parental role in the lives of the children to foster an attachment to the state. Much like the love one would have for a Big Brother, for instance. The Children's Palace is on the ₩5 note, as an indication of the importance.

On day 5 of our tour, we went to the Mangyongdae Children's Palace (not my pictures). It's presented as a place where children get to choose freely their afterschool experiences (much the same way the children we happened to pass in Kaesong had chosen to repair the sidewalks after class, one assumes). We peeked into a few rooms; there was a taekwondo class in one, most of them I don't even remember the details. The tour had two things that stood out to me. There was a performance like these after the tour. It was attended by several foreign tour groups (my dozen jaded Westerners, and a number of Chinese) as well as a number of officials, mostly military. Everything was in the same, joyless, perfect, automatic style. Like It's A Small World, but with real children in place of the robots. It was actually hard to watch, much less applaud. But we did applaud, because it's not the children's fault, is it, and we don't want to cause offence.

The weirdest thing on that tour, though, was the first room. It was filled with about 30 children, young girls maybe 10 or so. One seemed a couple of years older. They were playing electronic pianos, and playing something impossibly peppy, switching keyboard sounds, and so on. It was flawlessly in unison. I noticed, and then took a picture so I could prove it to my tour mates (this not being the time or place for pointing such matters out). Turns out that one girl looked a little older than the others. And hers was the only keyboard plugged in. The rest must have been miming, although they kept to the beat perfectly. And you could tell, because the plugs are right there on the back of the keyboard.

But only a couple of us noticed it at the time. And we were well-travelled Westerners, with highly developed notions of sarcasm and cynicism. And we were coming in to the place knowing it wasn't all that it seems. What would it be like for the people within, who don't have a verb for or even a concept for Photoshopping? Who have been instructed in these ways for their lives? And what does a system have to be so that it fakes something as ridiculously petty as a music classroom -- not even a full performance, this was supposed to be an afterschool hobby -- to ensure that everything seems perfect. Surely the music teacher and the young girls knew they were engaging in a facade for us; do they trust the other facades in their lives?

Very strange place, North Korea.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:43 PM on May 23, 2011 [11 favorites]


Compare this sort of thing to what happens when you move south a little.
posted by gracedissolved at 9:47 PM on May 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


Every time I see footage of North Korean children it creeps me right the fuck out.
posted by kprincehouse at 10:03 PM on May 23, 2011


Much goodness on that flikr page, thanks Homeboy Trouble :)
posted by puny human at 10:09 PM on May 23, 2011


Why do I get the feeling that no one is in the audience?
posted by the noob at 10:23 PM on May 23, 2011


Little sweet children singing about the peaceful new dawn breaking over the rotting fat hamburger bloated, corrupted, venereal diseased flesh of the freshly slaughtered western imperialistic invaders.
posted by the noob at 10:31 PM on May 23, 2011 [2 favorites]


Pyongyang is in the house.
posted by unknowncommand at 10:38 PM on May 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


Also: the room.
posted by unknowncommand at 10:44 PM on May 23, 2011


I didn't know the two girls from the Shining could sing so sweetly.
posted by benzenedream at 11:53 PM on May 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


Ever since the riots
All I really wanted
Was a North Korean girlfriend
They don't play around
They're hard enough
To keep any man in line
Thinking of my pale white skin
Thinking of her dark and smooth
She against me
(My North Korean girlfriend) My North Korean girlfriend
North Korean girlfriend

Saw her on the corner
Where she lived, I asked her
Can you braid my hair?
She and her girlfriends
Laughed at me, said that
It was easy but it'll cost you some
Looking out her window
It's so exciting and foreign
But I'm staying
With my North Korean girlfriend

Drivin' thru the 'hood
In my Chevy Nova '62
My arm around my
Little North Korean girl
People on the corner
Looking in my car
Wanna do me
Cos I won't give back
My little North Korean girl
Do you wanna come on in?
Do you wanna eat some?
Meet my family?
My North Korean girlfriend
My North Korean girlfriend

Ever since the riots
All I really wanted
Was a North Korean girlfriend

______

North Korean Girlfriend -- Porno For Pyros
posted by Knigel at 3:03 AM on May 24, 2011


I didn't know the two girls from the Shining could sing so sweetly.

ITYM A Tale of Two Sisters.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:24 AM on May 24, 2011


Paging Diane Arbus.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:23 AM on May 24, 2011 [1 favorite]


Near-perfect unison can be a scary thing.

All of that unison beats the ABT Corps de Ballet. Folks, we are facing a unison gap!
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:10 AM on May 24, 2011


Beautiful children. I hope all goes well for them and their families and all of us.
posted by pracowity at 6:30 AM on May 24, 2011


It's fascinating how they can manage to compose music with the same joyless, soul-grinding perkiness...

Britney?
posted by ennui.bz at 8:05 AM on May 24, 2011


Ha-ha-haaa. Move over, Lawrence Welk!
posted by Twang at 8:41 AM on May 24, 2011


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