Introduction
A good jigsaw takes a devotee many hours to assemble. A complex jigsaw can sit for months before it is completed, and a novice will likely only get part way through before abandoning the puzzle. Still, three quarters of a century after the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (hereafter, North Korea) was founded, few accounts of its art, and fewer still of its music and dance, have seen the light of day. In respect to music and dance, like a jigsaw puzzle just begun, it would be a big ask to expect a single volume to provide a full account, slotting everything into place from the first to last piece. This may seem a defensive position to take in my opening paragraph, but commentators who write about North Korea routinely point out that they are attempting to read tea leaves, as the available data is partial, incomplete, and often contradictory. An archive may hold just one or two of what should be a series of volumes. Some records that ought to be present have disappeared from official accounts. Some composers, singers, groups, and musical activities are forgotten—that is, until someone unexpectedly stumbles on a dusty and previously unknown old text....