North Korea is a home to many things: Kim Jong-un, back-breaking work, and Dennis Rodman’s guest house. But most would guess that it’s probably not as hospitable to freedom of expression. And this latest report coming from the news outlet Daily NK would probably confirm that. The South Korean paper covering their neighbors to the north are saying that the local army is marching into private homes and investigating if there are any foreign music, which is banned in North Korea. From Daily NK via NME:
“The local propaganda departments are getting Inminban heads to collect cassettes and CDs from people’s homes and are combing through them. If even one song from the banned list is discovered, they incinerate the whole thing.”
Ironically, the country that’s doing all it can to destroy foreign music will host its first rock concert this year, featuring a foreign music group. Laibach, a Slovenian avant-garde rock group, will be the first ever Western band to perform in North Korea. According to the International Business Times, the group is not there to support the regime in power, but to “provoke everybody outside of North Korea.”
Funny enough, the band will perform its own interpretations from The Sound of Music, because the citizens of North Korea are familiar with the songs. You know that film… the musical about a family oppressed by a ruthless army who must escape their occupied land. We’re not saying that Laibach are sleeper agents, but we wouldn’t go in there without some rudimentary knife skills.
