North Korean music

Music of North Korea is heavily influenced by the political situation in the country. Many songs are related to the North Korean cult of personality.

After the division of Korea in 1945 and the establishment of North Korea in 1948, revolutionary song-writing traditions were channeled into support for the state, eventually becoming a style of patriotic song called taejung kayo in the 1980s combining classical Western symphonic music and Korean traditional musical forms. The songs are generally sung by female performers with accompanying bands or choirs accompanied by a large orchestra (either Western style or a hybrid of western and traditional) or concert band.

North Korean music follows the principles of Juche (self-reliance) ideology. The characteristic march like, upbeat music of North Korea is carefully composed, rarely individually performed, and its lyrics and imagery have a clear optimistic content.

Much music is composed for movies, and the works of the Korean composer Isang Yun (1917-1995), who spent much of his life in Germany, are popular in North Korea.

Under Kim Il-sung's era, only ideologically correct music was allowed. Jazz in particular was considered out of bounds. Many artists however found their way around these limitations by writing ideologically correct lyrics while taking liberties with the score. Under Kim Jong-il, previously forbidden genres, even jazz, became permissible and encouraged.

Many North Korean pop songs are usually performed by a young female singer with an electric ensemble, percussionist, and accompanying singers and dancers. Some North Korean pop songs such as "Hwiparam" ("Whistle")—set to the lyrics of North Korean poet Cho Ki-chon—have become popular in South Korea. They are primarily influenced by Korean pop music and songs have titles like "Don't Ask My Name", "Our Life Is Precisely a Song", "We Shall Hold Bayonets More Firmly", "The Joy of Bumper Harvest Overflows Amidst the Song of Mechanisation", "The Dear General Uses Distance-Shrinking Magic (Chukjibeop)", "Song of Bean Paste", "My Country Full of Happiness", "Pleasant Snack Time", "I Also Raise Chickens", "The Shoes My Brother Bought Fit Me Tight", "Potato Pride" and many more.

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