Saturday 14 February 2015

Only Nothing is Real: A Brief Description of Pyongyang Traffic Girls



Protest music is fine but it's not something that interests me – certainly if it involves local politics. I guess I'm apathetic, but for health reasons. I'd rather not know than go insane. It's a middle-class survival thing. I can't go to a protest in my daddy's sedan, you know. The small concerns spoken in music ring truer to me, far more than some folk strumming and lyrics about toppling the government. “-Marcel Thee



1984, a proper novel which is heavily over-referenced by shitty bands like Muse and used by deeper-than-thou dummy middle class to confirm their fulfilling-literate-pedantry, taught me to hack the system appropriately. Granted, rebellious acts sound and feel heroic, thrilling, enjoyable, challenging and self-fulfilling but the rebel should be kept at minimum fuss so as to not to entitle oneself with exuberance that leads to parched emptiness that needs to be satisfied with a certain point of excess. 


As quoted from Elie Wiesel, “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” 


I don’t entirely agree on that statement but I do spot bit of truth within the “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference” part. The excerpt proves a paradoxical understanding that there’s no point in expressing your hatred to the system. Observe the system, embrace it and create something about current event out of it.


One of the few answers for those premises is Pyongyang Traffic Girls (“PTG”), a collective emerged from the realm of nowhere. Without unnecessary furor, but as cognizant as self-aware living beings, adapted to its surrounding and created something which is more than relevant. A true artistic statement of which, attempts can only be executed by the discerning.


In case you miss it, Pyongyang Traffic Girls, non-figuratively speaking, are traffic wardens employed by Kim Jong Il, who are dressed in uniforms and they perform robotic mime-show that directs North Korean (sparse) traffic. 


As robotic as what inspired PTG (?), the collective (?) created nothing but looping digital soundscapes, a resemblance of monotonous electric generator which probably served as the only means of entertainment for plain citizen who are not entitled to access more “decent” means of entertainment. Yet among the abstract musical palette, somehow, I can imagine how monotonous the life of Pyongyang residents in general, and this article confirms my imagination, I kid you not. The best thing about the collective is their reluctance to pity the citizen’s predicament but somehow, I can sense hidden defiant contempt to the moguls. All the group’s objectives are achieved without neither hyper literation nor redundant furor. But if throes were to happen, i'm expecting that works will surely be pointed as one of the "can opener" and whoever wins, the works will secure a place in the triumphant's history. 


True wordless non pretentious call to arms as the real plausible “protest” that can only happen once in such dystopian Pyongyang. Gone is my adoration to those whose idealism is merely to “fight” for common casual causes fueled by vague understanding upon the issues delivered within their songs.


This is the test for the true only.


Eloquently degrading the Korean moguls means to stay anonymous. If you think that your shiny yarbles underrated bands are obscure enough, this collective opted to bury their secret as deep as they can as if they are allergic to the limelight, hence bringing the overused “obscure” term return to its place. Shunning the limelight, they provide nethermost amount of information in their social media page instead of succinct one sentence: “The Real Static Noise of Pyongyang”, obscurity that will easily eradicateany of my premise. Every theorem counts as if the collective force me to imagine what is the backbone behind the group’s shadow. Are they really from North Korea hence the necessary anonymity? Or are the group just a puppet created by North Korean moguls to partake in edgier music scene? Are they counterfeiting their imagery so as to confirm that they really came from North Korea? 


Due to the enigmatic identity and, furthermore, agenda, it is probably not a disservice to the collective that their works barely get the recognition they deserve. 


All in all, after PTG, my faith in Marcel Thee’s acerbic statement grows stronger.


Pay a visit via Facebook, Soundcloud