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 […]
Free to be Controlled: Press and Protest under Park Chung-hee
A review of two recent works examining the role of the media and the development of protest culture in South Korea during the Park regime.
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