culture

The electronic instrument mixed orchestral music played at recent national performances evoked great excitement among the audiences with unique musical interpretation which was neither heard nor felt in the traditional orchestra.

The electronic instrument mixed orchestra is a mixed orchestra formed by adding electronic instruments in the orchestration.

This combination can create diverse and rich resonances and musical renditions that are not available in an orchestra composed only of acoustic instruments.

In retrospect, a mixed orchestra combining Western and national orchestras was created in the DPRK in the 1970s and the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble was organized in the 1980s when the work of introducing electronic instruments in a Korean style was conducted vigorously, opening up a golden age of electronic music.

The music of the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, which integrated beautiful melodies and unique tones with excellent lyrics reflecting the spirit of the times, was acclaimed by the people and beautifully decorated the flower garden of the Juche-oriented musical art.

The orchestra mixed with electronic instruments can enrich the emotional expression of music by combining the broad resonance of wind and string instruments and the diverse timbre of electronic instruments.

The mixed orchestra not just introduces one or two electronic instruments into the orchestration to produce tonal effects but also makes wide use of percussion instruments to highlight its unique timbre and create the third timbre by the combination with acoustic instruments, thus producing more diversified and three-dimensional interpretation of music.

Unlike in the creation of previous orchestral works, many difficult tasks arise in the arrangement, conduct, rendition, acoustic amplification, recording and compilation of electronic instrument mixed orchestral music as electronic instruments with diverse timbres and a wide range of volume control are involved and special acoustic means are used in the interpretation.

The creators and artistes in the field of musical art have successfully created and performed electronic instrument mixed orchestral works by solving in a Korean way many problems arising in creative practices, including those of finding out or producing timbres of electronic instruments in conformity with the thematic and ideological content of songs, obtaining the mixed resonance of acoustic and electronic instruments and adding modern aesthetic taste by applying and emphasizing rhythms.

The mixed orchestra, which symbolizes the content and emotional tone of the songs with a solemn electronic instrument prelude and sometimes enhances the rendition by combining the resonance of the orchestra with the timbres of various electronic instruments, gave a strong impact to the audience and evoked an enthusiastic response.

Many people who enjoyed the performances said that the rich and characteristic musical interpretation and the high artistic skills of singers blended in perfect harmony to boost the appeal of the popular songs as never before and that they felt the features of the music art getting newer with each passing day.

Listening to the excited feelings of the audience, creators and artistes said that the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un clarified the essential characteristics of the electronic instrument mixed orchestra, the significance of its creation and the ways and methods for its realization and gave detailed guidance to the arrangement and interpretation of songs, adding that his energetic guidance has brought about the present successes.