Unhasu Orchestra
{{Short description|2009–2013 North Korean music group}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| image =
| native_name = 은하수관현악단
| origin = North Korea
| genre = {{hlist|Classical music|Folk music|Traditional Korean music}}
| years_active = 2009-2013
}}
The Unhasu (Milky Way) Orchestra ({{Korean|hangul=은하수관현악단|hanja=銀河水管絃樂團 |mr=Ŭnhasu Gwanhyŏnaktan|context=north}}) was a musical group based in Pyongyang,{{Cite web |title=Pyongyang theatre guide, North Korea |url=https://www.koreakonsult.com/Attraction_Pyongyang_theatres_eng.html |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=Korea Konsult AB - adventures to another world!}} North Korea.{{cite web|last1=Adamson|first1=Thomas|title=Unhasu Orchestra And Radio France Philharmonic Prepare For Major Paris Concert|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/unhasu-orchestra-and-radi_n_1342852.html|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=19 December 2012|first2=Masha |last2=Macpherson |date=March 13, 2012 }}{{cite web|title=Unhasu Orchestra play with Radio France Philharmonic|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-17379127|publisher=BBC News|access-date=19 December 2012|date=15 March 2012 }} It performed primarily with Western instruments, sometimes performing alongside traditional Korean soloists.{{cite web|title=The Sea of Blood Opera Show: A History of North Korea's Musical Diplomacy|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-sea-of-blood-opera-show-a-history-of-north-koreas-musical-diplomacy/254697/|publisher=The Atlantic|access-date=19 December 2012|date=Mar 19, 2012}} The orchestra has a concert hall, the Unhasu Theater in Pyongyang, dedicated for its use.{{cite web|title=Unhasu Orchestra in Paris|url=http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2012/03/15/unhasu-orchestra-in-paris/|publisher=North Korea Economy Watch|access-date=19 December 2012}} Ri Sol-ju, the wife of Kim Jong-un, was a singer in this group.{{cite web|title=Kim Jong Un's wife shined before marriage as a singer|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/korean_peninsula/AJ201209070001|publisher=Asahi Shimbun Weekly|access-date=19 December 2012|first=Kiyohito|last=Kokita|date=September 7, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101132147/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/korean_peninsula/AJ201209070001|archive-date=1 November 2012}}{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Adam|title=Kim Jong-un Is Trying To Erase His Wife's Popstar Past|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-wife-and-her-pop-star-past-2012-9|publisher=Business Weekly|access-date=19 December 2012|date=September 21, 2012 }} According to ex-North Korean senior government official Thae Yong-ho, the orchestra was disbanded on the 12th August 2013.{{Citation |title=Behind the Break-up of Unhasu Orchestra |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvt9mqbLyfU |access-date=2023-04-06 |language=en}}
Performances
On 14 March 2012, the South Korean conductor Myung-whun Chung led the combined orchestras of Unhasu Orchestra and the Radio France Philharmonic in the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris, France. The pan-Korean folk song called "Arirang" was played.
Rumored executions and alleged disbandment
On August 29, 2013, The Chosun Ilbo reported, based on anonymous sources in China, that key members of the Moranbong Band and Unhasu Orchestra were made to watch the execution by firing squad of certain members of the Unhasu Orchestra, including violinist Mun Kyong-jin, members of the Wangjaesan Light Music Band, and the singer Hyon Song-wol (since seen alive on NK television in 2014), on the orders of Kim Jong-un.{{cite news|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/08/29/2013082901412.html|title=Kim Jong-un's Ex-Girlfriend 'Shot by Firing Squad'|date=August 29, 2013|access-date=August 29, 2013|work=The Chosun Ilbo}} According to the Chosun Ilbo report, the Unhasu Orchestra was then disbanded. The executed members of the band have been named by the music journalist Norman Lebrecht as the concertmasters Moon, Gyeong-Jin, and Jung, Sun-Young.{{cite web|url=http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/08/dreadful-news-concertmasters-executed-in-north-korea.html|title=Dreadful news: Concertmasters executed in North Korea|first=Norman|last=Lebrecht|publisher=Arts Journal|date=August 29, 2013|access-date=23 September 2013|archive-date=20 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920144724/http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/08/dreadful-news-concertmasters-executed-in-north-korea.html|url-status=dead}} Other reporters are skeptical of The Chosun Ilbo report, such as Chad O'Carroll of NK News, a North Korean analyst website. O'Carroll told Business Insider, "You've got to remember that a lot of the time the source is South Korean and it's in their interest to distort or perhaps weave the truth every now and then."{{cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/did-kim-jong-un-execute-his-ex-girlfriend-2013-8#ixzz2e8YQ937U|title=Why You Shouldn't Necessarily Trust Those Reports Of Kim Jong-un Executing His Ex-Girlfriend|date=August 29, 2013|access-date=August 29, 2013|work=Business Insider}} John Delury from the Yonsei University in Seoul, told The Guardian, "This stuff gets planted regularly in media outlets and then quickly goes viral. There's a global appetite for any North Korea story and the more salacious the better. Some of it is probably true – but a great deal of it is probably not." Delury also added: "The normal standards of journalism are thrown out of the window because the attitude is: 'It's North Korea – no one knows what's going on in there.{{' "}} {{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/23/north-korea-reptile-media-kim-jongun|title=North Korea criticises 'reptile media' for saying Kim Jong-un ordered executions|date=September 23, 2013|access-date=September 28, 2013|work=The Guardian}} Hyon Song-wol, the focus of many of the reports, was later shown to be alive and well.{{cite web|url=https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/23596689/executed-singer-alive-and-well-pyongyang-tv-shows/ |title='Executed' singer alive and well, Pyongyang TV shows |work=The West Australian |date=2014-05-16 |access-date=2014-05-17}}{{cite web|url=http://www.nknews.org/2014/05/north-korean-singer-that-was-executed-by-firing-squad-shows-up-alive-and-well/ |title=North Korean singer "executed by firing squad" shows up alive and well in Pyongyang |date=16 May 2014 |publisher=NK News |access-date=2014-05-17}}
Alejandro Cao de Benós said that the news was false and the orchestra would perform on September 9, 2013.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/DPRK_CAODEBENOS/status/373514514894835712|title=Twitter: Tweet by @DPRK_CAODEBENOS|quote=Las noticias de la orquesta son totalmente falsas. La orquesta Unhasu tocará en Pyongyang por el 9 de Septiembre, fundación de la República.|author=Alejandro Cao de Benós|date=30 August 2013}} However, the orchestra were not present at the Day of the Foundation of the Republic celebrations on September 9, being replaced by the Korean People's Internal Security Forces Song and Dance Ensemble, leading to further speculation and concern about the fate of Unhasu Orchestra members.{{cite web|url=http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/09/executed-concertmasters-orchestra-fails-to-appear-on-north-korean-national-day.html|title=Executed concertmasters' orchestra fails to appear on North Korean national day|first=Norman|last=Lebrecht|publisher=Arts Journal|date=12 September 2013|access-date=23 September 2013|archive-date=15 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915091111/http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/09/executed-concertmasters-orchestra-fails-to-appear-on-north-korean-national-day.html|url-status=dead}}
Nam Jae-joon, the chief of the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS), said, on 8 October 2013, he was aware that "about 10 members of the Unhasu Orchestra were executed for involvement in the scandal."{{cite web | url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/search1/2603000000.html?cid=AEN20131008006900325 | title=NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 282 (October 10, 2013) | publisher=Yonhap News Agency. | date=10 October 2013 | access-date=21 October 2013}}
A performance by the orchestra was broadcast by North Korean radio in October 2013.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/17/north-korean-singer-rumoured-executed-appears-tv|title = North Korean singer rumoured to have been executed appears on TV| website=TheGuardian.com |date = 17 May 2014}}
Rumors of executions resurfaced in 2015 when South Korean lawmaker Shin Kyung-min revealed NIS' findings on recent executions.{{Cite web | title = NIS: 'Kim Jong Eun Has Executed 15 Officials This Year' | author = Cho Jong Ik | translator = Jihae Lee | work = Daily NK | date = 2015-04-30 | access-date = 2015-04-30 | url = http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=13142 }} According to NIS, four top members of the orchestra were executed in March 2015 for spying for South Korea. Among them was the unnamed director general of the orchestra who was identified as a "Russian-trained composer and producer in his late 60s who came from Japan's pro-North Korean community". According to one of NIS' sources, the four were stripped naked before they were executed with machine gun fire. The execution took place in Pyongyang and four to five hundred members of Pyongyang's artistic community were forced to witness it. The execution was described as unusual with respect to both its cruelty and the fact that the families of those who were executed were reportedly spared from repercussions.{{Cite web | title = North Korean Art Troupe Leader, 3 Others Publicly Executed in Pyongyang |author=Joon Ho Kim |translator=Yunju Kim |author2=Paul Eckert | agency = Radio Free Asia | date = 2015-04-29 | access-date = 2015-04-30 | url = http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/korea-executions-04292015135918.html }}
=Former members=
- Mun Kyong-jin – concertmaster{{Cite web |date=2012-03-16 |title=프랑스에 강한 인상 남긴 北 은하수 관현악단은? |url=https://m.nocutnews.co.kr/news/923075 |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=노컷뉴스 |language=ko}}
- Ri Sol-ju – singer, wife of Kim Jong-Un
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite journal|last1=Korhonen|first1=Pekka|last2=Koidl|first2=Werner|title=The Rise and Fall of the Ŭnhasu Orchestra|journal=European Journal of Korean Studies|year=2018|volume=18|issue=1|pages=63–96|issn=2516-5399|doi=10.33526/EJKS.20181801.63|s2cid=188931975 |url=http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201812195247}}
External links
- Pekka Korhonen's {{WordPress|unhasu|Unhasu Orchestra blog}}
- {{YouTube|oOLCxl48LDk|Excerpt from 2010 New Year concert}}
- {{YouTube|Sf6PsRUD2pk|Female pangchang and male solo|link=no}}
- {{YouTube|EYOo-Qt4jRQ|Male pangchang and female duet|link=no}}
- {{YouTube|MOSoAOTuX-Q|Mixed performance|link=no}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:2013 disestablishments in North Korea