For most people, mornings start with maybe sirens, birds chirping or most likely, your alarm clock. But for people in Pyongyang, North Korea, the day begins very differently.
At 6am, a haunting melody echoes through the streets and homes of the capital city. It's not just background music. The song is called Where Are You, Dear General? and it was believed to have been composed by former Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il himself.
The eerie, melancholic tune sounds anything but a calm morning ritual, setting the tone for another day under the regime.
Advert
The version that plays daily was first broadcast in 2008, performed by the state-approved Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble. But the song’s history goes back even further than that.
It originally featured in a 1971 opera, A True Daughter of the Party, in which a nurse sings longingly about meeting North Korea’s founder and 'Eternal President,' Kim Il Sung. Today, it serves as a reminder of the firm grip Kim family’s continues to have on the country.
In his Channel 5 documentary in North Korea, British presenter Michael Palin described the tune as 'the world’s most unusual wake-up call' that 'you can't avoid.'
Played through loudspeakers across the city, the song is heavily distorted and barely recognisable - but it's loud enough to be the residents' alarm clock.
He added: "This is the sound of Pyongyang, which is not the sound of any other city I've ever been in."
Viewers hearing the tune for the first time commented their thoughts.
“I thought it was just incidental post-production music,” one YouTube viewer admitted. “But when you learn that it's being played through a sound system throughout the city, it becomes creepy. It takes on a bizarre life of its own.”
Another described it as 'a perfect soundtrack for a strange dystopian land'.
Others have called the music 'really scary' and 'eerie.'
Over on Reddit's discussion thread, one user added: "Feels like a horror movie."
When you think what the song represents in a country full of government control, constant surveillance and human rights violations, the tone feels far more sinister.
“To understand the intent behind the song, especially as it is played first thing in the morning, you need to understand the idea of the omnipresent state in the DPRK,” explained Professor Darren Zook, an expert in North Korean music at UC Berkeley, as per NK News. “Privacy, for instance, is a fundamental right in a democracy, because it creates a space for each citizen where the state cannot reach.”
“Since one of the central goals of the state in North Korea is to protect the juche ideal from external and internal enemies, eternal vigilance is required. And eternal vigilance is the opposite of privacy.”
If anything, it feels like propaganda.