Controversial Slovenian band Laibach will be first foreign group to play in North Korea

Organiser says that, like North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un, Laibach are 'misunderstood'

Milan Fras, lead singer of Slovenian experimental industrial group Laibach (Getty Images)

The first foreign band to play Pyongyang will be a veteran Slovenian outfit who wear military uniforms, perform songs from The Sound of Music and Euro-pop, and are accused of being ultra-nationalists.

Laibach, the contradictory, controversial and confusing Slovenian six-piece, will play to 2,000 North Koreans next month. They are most famous for re-workings of pop hits such as Queen’s “One Vision” and Europe’s “The Final Countdown”. Laibach have been criticised for their ambiguous use of political and nationalist imagery – and even compared to Nazis.

Morten Traavik, who organised the event, told The Independent that, like North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un, Laibach are “misunderstood”.

Asked whether they cared if North Koreans liked their music, the band responded via email: “They might well do. But if they don’t, we see no problem in that. Laibach never performed purely for the pleasure of the audience or ourselves. We have a bigger fish to fry.”

And will Mr Kim like them? “He maybe already is a fan, but he doesn’t know that yet,” the band said.