SOUNDTRACK: POCHONBO ELECTRONIC ENSEMBLE-“Where Are You, Dear General?”
One thing the book does not mention is this song which is played every morning in Pyongyang at 6AM.
There’s a clip of the song being broadcast in front of Pyongyang Station here.
In this clip, the music is creepy and empty, played through exterior speakers and bouncing off of government buildings. As one person commented, if this music had a color, it would be grey.
This recorded version, by North Korea’s most popular act, is a little different. It’s much warmer with soft synth not unlike synthy new age from the 70s/80s.
Here’s some detail about the creators of this music (according the BBC):
The Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble were formed by Kim Jong-il in the early-80s and were the first North Korean band to use electric guitars, synthesisers and saxophone, drawing on Korean folk music, but also Chinese, Soviet and, to a smaller extent, Western pop. They take their name from the 1937 Battle of Pochonbo, in which a group of guerrillas were led by Kim Il-sung in an attack on occupying Japanese forces (yet, despite this, they have toured in Japan). They’ve released over 150 CDs.
After 2 minutes of spacey intro, the vocals come in–a big chorus of voices asking “Supreme Headquarters. Where are you? Lead us to you.”
At 3 minutes the lead vocals come in, sung by Hyon Song-wol. The music stays much the same (with echoing sounds and trippy synths) but Hyon Song-wol’s voice soars over the top and is quite lovely as she sings unabashed propaganda wonder where their supreme general is and when he will keep them warm and safe.
For a longer essay about this mysterious wake up alarm, check out this article from nknews.
[READ: December 29, 2019] Pyongyang
I really enjoyed Delisle’s A User’s Guide to Neglectful Parenting. It was very funny and I really liked his drawing style. Delisle has written several other books (published by Drawn & Quarterly) and I was really excited to see this one come across my desk (it’s a 2018 printing although it doesn’t look like there’s anything added).
The introduction by director Gore Verbinsky sets the stage for what this book is. In 2001, Delisle was allowed into North Korea to work on an animated cartoon for two months.
In animated movies, there are “key frames” which are sort of the highlight moments. In between these key frames are where the North Korean animators draw–the in-betweens. Canadian and Europeans (and some American) directors then supervise the completion–often trying very hard to get the animators to understand simple Western ideas.
Verbinsky says that Delisle “reduces the amplitude to get underneath the narrative and break down a belief system into something infinitely relatable. He looks at the daily life of people existing in these “in-betweens” and looks at the citizens who “exist in a bubble of fear.”
The book was translated by Helge Dascher.
Delisle’s self-portrait character is a simply drawn man with a big nose, tiny eyes and a very expressive face. As the story opens he is at customs where they ask about the book he brought (1984–with a funny scene about that later) and his music Aphex Twin. His driver picks him up from the airport–you don’t go anywhere in North Korea without an escort. Delilse is shocked that the driver is smoking in than air conditioned car with the windows closed: “Great. I can’t breathe and I’m cold.”
Their first stop is the 22 meter tall bronze statue of Kim Il-Sung, the man who (although dead) is still president.
He gets to his cold, impersonal hotel room. There’s no internet, no cafes, no entertainment at all. It’s even hard to leave the hotel and you will never mingle with North Koreans. This hotel is one of three just for “foreigners” like Delisle. In the restaurant, the tablecloth is dirty and wet–but you get used to it. In the basement of the hotel is a series of mazelike corridors where he finds a souvenir shop, a snack bar, a sauna, a one lane bowling alley, a barber shop, an unlit pool, a small grocery store, and a bookshop.
You’re not supposed to bring a radio, but Delisle had one in his suitcase that he’d forgotten about. He feels illicit but you can only tune in one station.
North Korea was bombed from 1950-1953 during the Korean War. It was flattened. Under the great leader’s direction, he obliterated opposition, sealed off the country and started anew. With surprisingly good results (except for the lack of democracy and freedom). In every room in every building, portraits of Papa Kim and his song hang side by side on one wall. Kim il-Sung is Kim Jong-Il and are made to look alike.
When he goes outside, there is no one lingering on the streets–no loitering, no old folks chatting, it is total sterility. When the local animator plays music it sounds like “a cross between a national anthem and the theme song of a children’s show.”
Delisle is given a guide who is with him at all times (except sleeping–but he does arrive bright and early every day). He is also given a translator, Mister Sin, fresh out of eight years of military service.
Every day involves touring some important culture edifice. Like the international friendship exhibition–a giant museum in which every gift ever given to the Leader is on display. Visitors must wear shoe guards to keep the floor shining. The purpose of the museum is to convince the masses that the entire planet is in awe of their adored Kim. Delisle’s translator who is visiting the museum for the first time is clearly moved.
Delisle observes the things that regular people are doing–walking backwards on the street (its the preferred way of exercise), catching flies with butterfly nets (and then stomping on them), and all of the people “volunteering” to keep the place clean–painting stones white at the base of trees, cutting individual blades of grass, painting a bridge (it is unfinished and loos rusty). It is clear that rationing is in place. The people are divided into the Useful (party leaders, army officers, skilled workers, diplomats) and the Useless (hostile dissidents, laborers, and, basically everyone else). The Useless need to fend for themselves. The leader proclaimed that only 30% of the population would need to survive to reconstruct a victorious society.
Midway through the book he starts asking us questions. Like “A vile imperialist spy in the pay of South Korea’s puppet government has infiltrated this group of iron-willed revolutionaries. Which (of the 7 men) is the spy. The answer is number 6 because he is not wearing his official Kim Il-Sung pin. By the end of the book, all seven men have been eliminated.
Things pick up when an old friend David arrives–he is also an animator and is going to be in the country for a couple of months. Delisle has fun being a kind of mini tour guide to him. Later as his visit draws to an end his friend and fellow artist Fabrice Fouquet comes in. Fabrice gets a guest page in the book about what happened when he took out a camera–the change is style is wonderful.
They end their stay at the museum of imperialist occupation. This museum shows how monstrous Americans are. It includes every form of torture as well as a few blurry photos as evidence. After two floors of propaganda, the guide asks him “So what do you think of Americans now?”
So, nothing actually “happens” to Delisle, and that’s good. This book is all about the incidentals and about Delisle’s memory (he was not allowed to take pictures). It’s a fascinating insight into a locked-off country and it is full of humor as well.
I’m looking forward to reading more from Delisle.
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