Music of North Korea

Music Of North Korea

After the division of Korea in 1951, Korea was split, into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or North and the Republic of Korea or South Korea. Revolutionary song-writing traditions were channeled into support for the state, eventually becoming a style of patriotic song called taejung kayo in the 1980scombining classical and Korean traditional musical forms similar to Soviet patriotic music.

Many North Korean pop songs are usually performed by a young female singer with an electric ensemble, percussionist and accompanying singers and dancers. Some North Korean pop songs such as Hwiparam (Whistle) have become popular in South Korea. They are primarily influenced by Russian and Korean pop music and songs have titles like "Don't Ask My Name", "Our Life Is Precisely a Song", "We Shall Hold Bayonets More Firmly", "The Joy of Bumper Harvest Overflows Amidst the Song of Mechanisation" and "The Dear General Uses Distance-Shrinking Magic ." Songs like "We are One" and "Reunification Rainbow" sing of the hopes for Korean reunification.

BBC radio DJ Andy Kershaw noted, on a visit to North Korea, 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". 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.