Východiska: Soundtrack impéria je Severná Kórea v hudbe

“Pred niekoľkými rokmi som cestoval po Ázii. Raz som v Thajsku stretol muža vo vlaku. Bol na služobnej ceste, ale pochádzal zo Severnej Kórei. Mal veľmi rád hudbu, takže sme sa mali o čom porozprávať. Samozrejme, naše predstavy o nej boli úplne odlišné. Dal som mu svoj USB kĺúč, na ktorom som mal obľúbené post-rockové tracky. O niekoľko mesiacov neskôr som poštou dostal balík s tým kľúčom. Bolo to celé tak zvláštne, že som si vôbec nemyslel, že by na ňom niečo mohlo byť,” hovorí Uroš. Na USB kľúči našiel nahrávky a myšlienky svojho tajomného kórejského známeho. A spolupráca mohla odštartovať.

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Album, ktorý vznikol, bol inšpirovaný Severnou Kóreou. Tamojší režim je hermeticky uzavretý a pre západ zostáva veľkou neznámou. “Hlavnou myšlienkou nie je ten režim oslavovať alebo zhadovať. Podľa mňa je na Severnej Kórei niečo romantické. Štátny aparát KĽDR je viac dystopický ako to najlepšie sci-fi. Ak by som si mal predstaviť žiť v Severnej Kórei, je to ako keby som bol hercom v sci-fi filme.”

Soundtrack of an empire: North Korea in music

The project Soundtrax for Our Future Empire is a result of a several-year collaboration of a Slovenian artist Uroš and an anonymous artist from North Korea. The result of their cooperation is an album called Soundtrax for Our Future Empire, which came out on the Belarusian label Haze, which we already spoke about in our show. It may be described as utopian and dystopian at the same time, realist or sci-fi. A hauntologist imaginary soundtrack, which is ironically pathetic, at times characteristically disquieting, with tracks called Radio Free America and Pyongyang 2045. I spoke about the project with one of its creators Uroš, who also has another project Soundtrax for the Non-Existing Movies. “I was traveling in Asia several years ago and ran into a guy on train in Thailand. It turned out he was on a business trip, but otherwise lived in North Korea. He really loved music so we had a lot to talk about. Of course we had totally different ideas about music. I gave him a flash drive with my favorite post rock tracks. And then a couple of months later I received a USB stick. I thought it was strange. I recognized it, but didn't even think there would be anything on it.” To his surprise, he found several recordings, writings and musical scores from his North Korean friend, and a cooperation ensued.

The resulting record was inspired by North Korea, from where one of the authors of the project comes from. The regime of the country is hermetically sealed off, and remains a mystery to the world. “The main message is not to glorify neither to mock the regime. But, my experience with North Korea is that there is simply something romantic about its regime. The DPRK state apparatus is more dystopian than the best sci-fi movies. So, if I try to imagine living in North Korea, I get the a sensation as if I were an actor in a Sci-fi movie,” concludes Uroš.