Whilst things get seriously heated in the Koreas, one Norwegian is trying to save the world…through pop music.
Morten Traavik, a Norwegian artist and music director, has not only arranged the first live performance by a Western pop act on North Korean soil, but has successfully exported the wonders of A-ha to the communist state.
That’s right. As well as organising a concert for Slovenian industrial rock band Laibach in Pyongyang, Traavik is responsible for one of the weirdest – and most brilliant – covers in pop music history.
Traavik met the musicians from the Kum Song Music School while traveling in North Korea, and lent them a CD of ‘Take on Me’.
In a matter of days they had mastered the song, and created this wonderful accordion arrangement.
If we really are on the precipice of the end, perhaps Morten Traavik (and Harket) can help build bridges through music…or at the very least play us out tunefully.
