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The Moranbong Band

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Vocalists

The Resume

    (2012- )
    All-female group from North Korea
    Line-ups usually consist of 10-12 singers and similar number of musicians
    Songs include ‘Dash Towards the Future,’ ‘Victory,’ ‘We Will Go to Mount Paektu,’ and ‘Pyongyang Is Best’

Why they might be annoying:

    All members have to be approved by Kim Jong-Un.
    Some band members were forced to go on diets so they would all be the same size.
    Almost all their Korean-language songs praise North Korea and/or the Kim dynasty that has ruled over it.
    Members hold military ranks, making them more of a military band than a pop group.
    They have had several extended absences from public, which are inevitably accompanied by rumors that they have been disbanded or even executed.
    A concert in Beijing that would have been their first performance outside of North Korea was cancelled (December, 2015), reportedly because Kim Jong-Un rejected Chinese demands that the group not perform in front of images of North Korean missiles.

Why they might not be annoying:

    If you do not know what they are singing about, their tunes are pretty catchy.
    Many of their numbers give the singers a chance to show off some Mariah/Whitney/Celine-style vocal acrobatics.
    They were formed in response to the rise of K-pop and the growing availability in North Korea of unauthorized recordings of Western music.
    Kim Jong-Un’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, made her first public appearance in the audience at their first concert (July 6, 2012).
    Their dress style has been described as ‘conservative sexy.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 33 Votes: 48.48% Annoying