Laibach has been flirting with totalitarian symbols, and confusing audiences, for decades. Their new album of “Sound of Music” covers is puzzling, too.
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — On a recent afternoon, Ivan Novak, a member of the Slovenian rock group Laibach, went for a walk in the hills overlooking the country’s capital, Ljubljana. In between stops to pet passing dogs, he explained what it was like when Laibach became the first Western band to perform in North Korea.
In 2015, the group made headlines around the world — many bemused — when they played a show in the insular, communist country that consisted mostly of over-the-top covers from “The Sound of Music.”
An album of the same name featuring some of those songs — including “Maria,” reworked to ask, “How do you solve a problem like Korea?” — has just been released as a final document of the trip.
The technical setup for the Pyongyang show, held in a theater next to the headquarters of North Korea’s secret police, left a little to be desired, Novak said.
“There was one plug for everything,” he said. Its cord had to be stuck down with tape so people didn’t trip over it.
North Korea’s censors turned up during rehearsal to listen and demand changes, he added. “They kept telling us the songs had to be quicker: ‘Happy tune! Happy tune!’ ”
Officials also asked if Laibach’s lead singer, Milan Fras, could be dropped from the show, Nokav said, partly because his voice — a deep growl — sounded uncannily like Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of the current ruler Kim Jong-un, singing and might disturb the audience. (After negotiation, Fras ended up performing.)
“We didn’t mind,” Novak said of the censorship. “They’re very sensitive about music. They want it to always be nice, and upbeat.”
Novak continued to recount memories from the tour, making the whole process of playing North Korea sound so enjoyable and interesting that it didn’t sound as if the band had been in one of the world’s most repressive nations.
“Of course it’s a totalitarian country,” Novak said, with a shrug. “But which country is not totalitarian nowadays?”
Laibach was a surprising choice for North Korea. Since forming in 1980 in Trbovlje, a mining town, when the country was part of Yugoslavia, they have been one of Europe’s most provocative bands. They started out playing bombastic industrial music, appearing on stage in old army uniforms and making heavy use of symbols and poses that suggested fascism or extreme nationalism.
