World Translation Center Music Blog

August 31, 2015

By Sabina Wrightsman

Photo: http://www.laibach.org/follow-laibach-to-north-korea/

The Slovenian art-rock band ‘Laibach’ is the first western band to ever perform a concert inside North Korea; they played on two consecutive days in Pyongyang, on August 19 and 20.

During the Nazi occupation, Laibach was the name of Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana. Band members often wear uniforms and use imagery reminiscent of totalitarian governments during their concerts.

Laibach is also known for provocative live performances, which have included offensive imagery and performance art. But they were on their best behavior during the performance in Pyongyang. As Ivan Novak, a member of the Laibach band stated, their goal was to not to provoke people on the inside but provoke everybody outside of North Korea.

Laibach played among others, songs from The Sound of Music, because the 1965 film is well known in the country and even used in schools for English classes. They also performed their own take on some Korean songs; the most popular one was ‘We Will Go to Mount Paektu’, one of this year’s biggest hits in North Korea, originally sung by the native band Moranbong. The members of this all-female music group, also known as Moran Hill Orchestra, perform interpretive styles of pop, rock and fusion. Their musical style has been described as a symphonic style because it sounds like a symphony, putting together different kinds of sounds, and having a harmonious, pleasing ending. When Laibach performed this song, they received big applause.

When leaving the concert, people were asked how they liked this kind of music. Responses were very polite, but enthusiasm seemed low.

This concert is not streaming over the Internet and cannot be watched anywhere, but the concert is supposed to be part of a documentary in 2016.

Laibach added one page to their website about this concert: http://www.laibach.org/north-korea/