''The Sound of Music'' is an album by NSK industrial group

Laibach Laibach () is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with the industrial, martial, and neo-classical genres. Formed in the mining town of Trbovlje (at the time in Yugoslavia) in 1980, Laibach represents the musical wing of the Neue Slo ...

. The album is a reinterpretation of the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the musical of the same name. Also included are Korean folks songs such as

Arirang "Arirang" (; ) is a Korean folk song. There are about 3,600 variations of 60 different versions of the song, all of which include a refrain similar to "''Arirang, arirang, arariyo'' ()". It is estimated the song is more than 600 years old. ...

. Lead vocals are usually duets between lead singer Milan Fras and guest collaborator Boris Benko of

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be extended to apply to the ce ...

Music videos

Laibach has released many music videos of the songs featured on this album on their official YouTube channel. The accompanying video of the title track "The Sound of Music" released on 5 September 2018, depicts impressions of the culture of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, with in the opening shot an animation with a

chamois The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Ril ...

buck on the top of a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

, referring to the

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

ary ''

Zlatorog In Slovene folklore, Goldhorn or Goldenhorn ( sl, Zlatorog) is a legendary white chamois buck, or alternatively, an Alpine ibex, that had his realm in the heights of Mount Triglav. The legend is well known throughout Slovenia (specifically Cari ...

'' in Slovene

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. The video for ''The Lonely Goatherd'' was released on 19 November 2018. It features Milan Fras dressed as a

Christian priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

guiding a flock of young girls dressed as sheep. Boris Benko appears as the goatherd. The video for ''So Long, Farewell'' was released on 14 March 2019. It depicts a

Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...

type family eating dinner in a bunker next to the Swastika Christmas tree from

John Heartfield John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26 April 1968) was a 20th century German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements ...

's ''O Tannenbaum im deutschen Raum, wie krumm sind deine äste!''. The father (played by Ivan Novak) finishes eating and then leads them one by one through the basement door. According to Laibach the symbolism of this video is that the Von Trapp family never left Nazi controlled Austria but simply went "underground" much like how North Koreans are trapped in their totalitarian country. In their own words, the Sound of Music ends in "captivity and death." This music video also includes a reference to

Josef Fritzl The Fritzl case emerged in 2008, when a woman named Elisabeth Fritzl (born 6 April 1966) told police in the town of Amstetten, Lower Austria, Austria, that she had been held captive for 24 years by her father, Josef Fritzl (born 9 April 1935). J. ...

with the father leading his children to the basement. Milan Fras makes a physical appearance at the end of the video as a nun.

Background

In 2015, the band Laibach performed in North Korea making it the first Western rock band to ever perform in the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

despite the group's reputation for artistically criticizing totalitarian regimes. They were helped by Norwegian director Morten Traavik and Parisian graphic designer Valnoir.

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...

is a very popular film in the country as it is one of the few American films allowed to be viewed by the public for English language practice. It was performed to celebrate the 70th anniversary of independence. They received media coverage from around the world for this - from

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...

to the Rolling Stone magazine. At this concert in Pyongyang, Laibach presented arrangements of songs from the musical The Sound of Music, which were later recorded in the studio.

Critical reception

The album was well received by critics. Ben Beaumont-Thomas in ''The Guardian'' rated it 4/5 stars, calling it "stirring, funny and thought provoking".

Track listing

* Songs 1-9 were written by

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most ...

and

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Ton ...

. * Songs 10 and 11 are

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

folk songs. * Song 12 is a critical speech deriding the group's use of sexually explicit content and

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

style imagery in their music videos. It was given by Ryu, Chairman of the Cultural Exchange Committee with foreign countries upon Laibach's offer to perform in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sound of Music Laibach (band) albums 2018 albums Mute Records albums Covers albums The Sound of Music