The man behind the video, Norwegian artist Morten Traavik, said the musicians from the hermetically sealed totalitarian state were not previously acquainted with Norway’s foremost pop stars, who scored a massive international hit in 1985 with their breakthrough single.
“It didn’t seem like they had heard the song before, but they were extremely effective. They got the CD on Monday afternoon and the clip was recorded on Wednesday morning,” Traavik told newspaper Verdens Gang.
The musicians performed the song at the Kum Song School in Pyongyang, where Traavik says they have also been practising other Norwegian classics.
The North Korean accordionists form part of the artist’s ‘Promised Land’ project. They will join him next week for the opening of the Barents Spectacle festival in Kirkenes in the far north of Norway.
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