For the first time the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival will welcome among its participants a band from North Korea, a very mysterious and almost unknown to us country. This year its début on Red Square will make the Military Band of the Korean People’s Army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
It will be the third time that the Korean ensemble will perform in Russia. It has already
participated in the Amur Waves International Military Music Festival among countries of the
The history of the Military Band of the People’s Army of the DPRK dates back to February 23 of 1946 when its predecessor, the Band of the Military School of Pyongyang, was formed. In 1954 the school band was reformed into the Military Band of the Ministry of National Defense and in 1972 — into the Military Band of the Korean People’s Army. In 1974 another reform followed that passed the band over to the control of the Supreme Command. But in July 1998 the group regained its name and status of the Military Band of the Korean People’s Army.
At present, the Military Band of the Korean People’s Army is engaged in all major state events both internally and externally providing musical accompaniment. Compositions belonging to the specific style of the patriotic song called taejung kayo occupy an important place in the band’s repertoire. They express the invincible spirit and might of the Korean People’s Army. The evolvement of this genre is closely related to the names of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, both leaders of North Korea, as well as to the name of Kim Won Gyun, a North Korean composer who in 1946 composed Song of General Kim Il Sung.
Many of the band’s members have gone through the Russian school of wind music which is greatly appreciated in the DPRK as they received training by Russian specialists who work in the country under the contract.
Back in 2012 the Military Band of the Korean People’s Army of the DPRK took part in the First Amur Waves International Military Music Festival in Khabarovsk. It was the first time that the band traveled outside North Korea to perform in a foreign country. The ensemble coped with its task pretty well presenting a program featuring both Korean patriotic marches and compositions, such as Song of General Kim Il Sung, Song of the Korean People’s Army and a super hit Defending General Kim Jong Il at the Expense of our Lives . They also performed several compositions by Soviet authors, particularly Above the Waves, Katusha, Nightingales and Three Tankmen. By playing the waltz Friendship the band paid special tribute to Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov who has become an iconic figure for Korean musicians after writing for them a marching composition for meeting official delegations.
The band’s performance was a huge success among the guests of the Amur Waves Festival. Besides Khabarovsk it also staged concerts in the cities of Blagoveshensk and Belogorsk.
Kan Il Nam, leader of the Korean delegation, made the point that the Military Band of the Korean People’s Army managed to take part in the Amur Waves Festival only due to the visit of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to Russia in 2011. “Last August our great General Kim Jong Il visited the Amur Region and it turned to be his last visit. And now we are lucky to come here, to this iconic place. We hope that our performance will make its contribution to strengthening relations between our countries and their further development” , he told. In 2015 the Korean band made its second appearance at the Amur Waves Festival.
The band is headed by Colonel Ri Yong Sik, People’s Artist of the DPRK. Colonel Ri Yong Sik was born on December 25, 1954. He graduated from Kim Won Gyun Conservatory and began its artistic career as the member of the artistic brigade of the Navy of the Korean People’s Army (1971–1981). In 1981 he became the head of the Military Band of the Navy of the Korean People’s Army and was in the lead for the next four years. In 1995 he was appointed the conductor and deputy head of the Military Band of the Korean People’s Army of the DPRK. In 2009 he was promoted to the head of the band.