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October 05, 2005
All North Korea all the time
your host has not been slacking off on the posting, really I have been busier than I have ever been in my entire life. I am now producing podcasts for a PBS show, I am doing a piece on the Ethiopiques music series for a presentation at WSIS in Tunis in November, and I am putting together my presentation for the Third Coast festival that is 2 weeks away, (and I am trying to make a radio program every now and then..) I haven't slept in days. I also went to New York City this past weekend, where I picked up two items on North Korea.
the first is a CD in the sublime frequencies series, where you get to hear strange sounds from strange places. This CD is pretty amazing:
Schmaltzy synthpop, Revolutionary rock, Cheeky child rap, and a healthy dose of hagiography for Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, this is the now NOW sound of North Korea! A hermit kingdom with a rich folk history and an even richer tradition in over-the-top praise for the ruling House of Kim, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea remains a diplomatic thorn and a culture never Neverland. Boasting a heady mix of Stalin opera, Tokyo karaoke and brooding impressionism, the sound of present-day Pyongyang distills into warped agit-pop and lost-in-time commie funk. If you’ve ever wondered what goes on in North Korean music, this is your vehicle for exploration.
You can order a copy for yourself here.
thanks to my fren Tom (who actually imagined I came all the way to NYC to sit in a sports bar so he could cheer the red sox...) I got a copy of this new graphic novel published by the fine people at Drawn and Quarterly. In 2001, the France-based animation company that employed Guy Delisle sent him to North Korea for two months to oversee production of a children's cartoon movie. (Animation has long been outsourced to Asia, but now countries like South Korea and China are seeing their work go to North Korea for even cheaper labor - now I know why the Corto Maltese movie blew!!!.) The results of his trip were a cartoon about a bear and his missing children and the graphic travelogue Pyongyang.
The book is great. you really get a sense of how totally insane North Korea is - the monuments to the great leader, the volunteers sweeping the highway, the nutty military museums. I love that Guy brought a copy of 1984 with him and lent it to his interpreter to read! heh.
Obviously, you should do as I just did, read the book with the CD blaring in the background. And if you force yourself to go without sleep for a few days before trying said experiment - well.. I'll let you find out for yourself.
Posted by bw at October 5, 2005 10:00 PM