Purges, Baekdu, and the Moranbong Band: Data Points around General Hyon
Using music as a medium, Adam Cathcart takes the field of debate regarding the alleged purge and execution of Hyon Yong-chol into the ultra-politicized realm of concert halls and power stations.
Rock Gospels: Analyzing the Artistic Style of Moranbong Band
Has Kim Jong-un disbanded the Moranbong Band for good? Pekka Korhonen, a visiting scholar at Kyoto University, suggests this is the wrong question to ask, and delves into a trove of revealing data.
Yongusil 15: Moranbong in Michigan–Sherri L.Ter Molen at the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs
The travails of the recent re-emerged Moranbong Band and the Unhasu Orchestra have been hot news recently, an apposite time therefore for Sherri L Ter-Molen’s appearance in East Lancing, Michigan where she will consider the Moranbong’s cultural acceptability in North America.
The Korean Wave’s Northern Undertow: Cultural Hybridity and the Moranbong Band
Sherri L. Ter Molen examines the potential for the Moranbong Band, the North Korean all-girl musical performance group formed in 2012, to increase DPRK soft power by appealing to foreign audiences.
Packaged and Controlled by the Masculine State: Moranbong Band and Gender in New Chosun-Style Performance
Darcie Draudt and Jimin Lee provide analysis of the Moranbong Band, plowing into the debate over gender, reform, and the future of North Korea.
Moranbong Band: Joseon Style Electronic Music on a New Level
Sino-NK’s Performing Arts Analyst Jimin Lee examines the Moranbong Band’s debut “Demonstration Concert” through the lens of its own name—that is, as a demonstration of its potential to act as bridge to the world with its “New Joseon Style” of pop musical performance.
Juche Pop: New Assessments of the Moranbong Band
A musical vision of the DPRK future? Adam Cathcart translates a favorable article about North Korea’s favorite new ensemble, and Jimin Lee provides commentary.
Songun Mini-Skirt: Ri Sol-ju, the Moranbong Band, and North Korean Fashion Norms
Considering the Moranbong Band performance as a kind of promise to the women of Pyongyang: material prosperity is around the corner in the form of jewelry, short skirts, and high-heels.
Let Them Eat Concerts: Music, the Moranbong Band and Cultural Turns in Kim Jong Un’s Korea
Sometimes analysts fixate all of their energies on hard institutions, such as the central government, the military, or emergent non-governmental groups, as the primary drivers of society. Although government decrees, military drills and protests are important indicators, sometimes the less obvious — that which doesn’t involve rocket launches or social upheaval — tells an equal amount […]
