Thread by @CapeScott66

The Moranbong Band Experience: A concise history of the most popular all-girl fusion-rock group in North Korean history, Moranbong Band, with links to every published concert performance from 2012 to 2020, courtesy of:
youngpioneertours.com/moranbong-band/

2/[Foreword: Moranbong Band is no longer performing at pace to their heyday from 2012-2017]

Prelude:
“The Beatles had the same effect on England that Moranbong Band had on North Korea.”

What Happened to the Moranbong Band?
[Leon Allan Davis, Jan 5, 2018]

3/"The beautiful young women of north Korea's Moranbong Band, who burst onto the scene in the Summer of 2012 and captured our hearts, have been in turn captured by the traditionalists of the State Merited Chorus and embedded within their ranks. Why was the Moranbong Band

4/"downgraded to a "women's auxiliary" of the State Merited Chorus? What happened?”

An interesting theory: “The same thing happened to the Moranbong Band that happened to the Beatles. You know you can’t be “more popular than Jesus”. You can’t be more popular than Kim Jong Un.”

5/From Young Pioneer Tours
youngpioneertours.com/moranbong-band/
"Moranbong Band (2021)
INTRODUCTION
No band throughout North Korea's history has quite captured the hearts of local North Koreans like the all-female Moranbong Band and catapulted North Korean music to an international audience.

6/"Most people with an even slight interest in North Korea will be able to tell you something about the Moranbong Band, with the exception of Missile tests and tensions with the USA the group are arguably the countries most defining symbol of the 2010s.

Past the Moranbong Band’s

7/"flashy performances and chic fashion, however, where did they come from, and who are they? When did they perform, and what does the future hold for this Iconic North Korean band? Let’s Find out!

Table of Contents
•History of the Moranbong Band
•Moranbong Band Members

8/"•Published Moranbong Band Concerts
◦2012 Performances
◦2013 Performances
◦2014 Performances
◦2015 Performances
◦2016 Performances
◦2017 Performances
◦2018 Performances
◦2019 Performances
◦2020 Performances
•How can I watch the Moranbong Band?”

9/Moranbong Band’s debut concert performance took North Korea by storm. In attendance was Kim Jong Un’s wife, Ri Sol Ju, making her first public appearance as the “Respected First Lady of DPRK”. When Moranbong Band played the American classics of Frank Sinatra’s My Way and the

10/Theme Song from Rocky to screaming electric guitar, followed by Disney characters appearing on stage as the band performed Disney theme songs while Disney animation filled the Jumbotron, everyone was stunned! Everyone except North Korea's First Couple Kim and Ri of course.

11/They knew exactly what was going to be performed because the masterfully orchestrated concert was intended by Kim Jong Un to redefine DPRK's cultural optics & diplomacy and show the citizens the new direction he was taking the country in - one of assimilating Western culture.

12/For a breakdown of the historic concert debut of Moranbong Band, Adam Cathcart’s superb analysis (from Aug 4, 2012) sets the stage for what you're about to witness:

Let Them Eat Concerts, II: Musical Diplomacy, the Ri Sol-ju Rollout, and Kim Ki-Nam
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1381074…

13/Analysis of the Moranbong Band as an instrument of DPRK cultural diplomacy, interaction with “First Lady” Ri Sol-ju, and the geriatrics of the Politburo.”
[AUGUST 04, 2012]

Adam describes Moranbong Band as North Korea's own version of the Beatles. Each member is a superstar!

14/I have to agree. I've been a fan of the Beatles, esp. from White Album to Abbey Road & post-Beatles music of each ex-Beatle. Which must be why Moranbong Band riveted me from the start. As DPRK's equivalent to the Beatles, it was hard to miss such musical excellence on display.

15/Here is Moranbong Band’s sensational Debut Concert (musically & visually enhanced and edited down) that changed North Korean culture forever:

https://twitter.com/BonicMichael/status/1382970319946665990?s=20

16/And here’s the original full-length video published by Paektusan Revolutionary Army, Jul 25, 2019:
Moranbong Band First Concert 7th July 2012

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