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 […]
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.
Empty Beat: On the Relative Worth of North Korean Revolutionary Music Ensembles
The Moranbong Band’s meteoric ascent in North Korea has eclipsed ensembles associated with Kim Jong-il and cultural diplomacy with China. Analysis by Adam Cathcart.
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