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North Korean girls flee propaganda for pop http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=inDepthNews&storyID=2006-08-03T121748Z_01_SEO142623_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-DEFECTORS.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C5-inDe
Thu Aug 3, 2006
By Jon Herskovitz
SEOUL (Reuters) - The Spice Girls never had to worry about becoming political prisoners and Britney Spears never had to remember the words of the "Song of Coast Artillerymen," but the members of Tallae Music Band surely did.
The group is made up of five young women who put their lives at risk to leave Stalinist North Korea. Now they dream of making it big in the capitalist South's pop music market.
With two accordions, a song book of tunes favored by the senior set and dance moves used in the North's Mass Games, even their manager admits their music may sound strange to younger South Koreans.
But it is all steeped in a shared Korean tradition, delivered by women with smiles made for television to an audience in the South that has been willing to embrace entertainment products that come with the theme of Korean unity. The members of Tallae, which is Korean for a wild plant that is seen as heralding spring, range in age from 19 to 28. They left the North seeking freedom, not stardom, but would be happy to become celebrities in their new home.
They have sung for Communist Party cadres, danced for members of the North Korea's People's Army and impressed the proletariat with feverish fingers over accordions.
"It is our dream to play music that can bring North and South together," said lead vocalist Han Ok-jung, 28, who once was a singer with a propaganda band for the North's Workers' Party.
"One day, I hope to be as famous as Britney Spears," said accordion player Lim Yoo-kyung, 19.
In 2005, 1,387 North Koreans defected to the South compared to 1,894 the previous year, the Unification Ministry said.
SIRENS WHO AREN'T SULTRY
Up until now, a few defectors have achieved minor celebrity status as entertainers in the South, but there has been no group of defectors who have made it big in the South's music world.
"At first I did not like the idea of being called a 'defectors' band.' But that is what we are. If we become successful, that label will drop and we will be known as talented singers and musicians," said Lim.
North Korean music, with titles such as "Song of Defending Homeland," is typically filled with communist ideology.
Most Western music is banned in North Korea. And even though South Korean pop culture is slowly creeping in, it is still a crime to listen to South Korean music.
Kim Yong-chul, the manager for the group, said he was looking for something new and he came upon the idea of a defector girl group. He found vocalist Han at a symposium on North-South Korean relations and the others through schools that help defectors.
"They are singing North Korean songs, in the North Korean style," Kim said, adding the music is traditional, not political.
"There is a heightened awareness of the North here, and even difficult issues can stir an interest about the people on the other side of the peninsula."
The members of Tallae will wear traditional Korean clothes for performances as well as modest outfits made for them by a South Korean designer.
They will stand out in stark contrast to some of South Korea's top women pop artists, such as Lee Hyo-ri, who is known for her scanty outfits, steamy dancing and sultry songs.
One of Tallae's first singles is called "My Dandy." It speaks of innocent love over music suited for a fox trot.
DEFECTORS' BLUES
In the studio, the members of the Tallae dress in the casual clothes favored by young women in Seoul, such as stylish tops, short skirts and pink baseball hats.
August will be a big month for them with their music hitting stores and a debut scheduled for national television.
Apart from the worries of whether they will become successful are concerns about their families back in the North.
North Korea has guilt by association, human rights workers say, under which it arrests the family of a person who has committed a crime or defected and sends them to political prison camps.
Often, defectors take new names in order to prevent the North from punishing their relatives.
"We are worried that our fame may affect our relatives," said dancer Heo Su-hyang, 22, but she hoped the North Korean authorities won't punish their families because they were bringing the two Korea together with their music. Tallae has been together for about a month, sometimes practicing as much as 16 hours a day. In that short time, they have developed close bonds.
"We all have suffered through so many things. We try not to hurt each other through the pain. But the shared experience of defecting has also made us strong," Han said.
(Additional reporting by Jang Sera)
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