Fake – Under the presence of Kim Jong-Un, the Moranbong Band, a North Korean band, performed the song “I Want to Break Free.” A video shows the performance in question.
It is already known that the North Korean regime is one of the most closed in the world. Despite this, the country still has some ties to the West. According to a message circulating online, one of them is with the English band Queen.
A video of the North Korean all-female Moranbong Band performing the song “I Want To Break Free” in the presence of Kim Jong-Un is circulating on the internet, along with the description that it was a “rare performance” in the country. Read some of the messages circulating online and watch the video:
Version 1: I can’t believe it! North Korea ?!!! They are singing Queen’s “I Want to Break Free” in front of the chubby dictator in English.
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Version 2: Yes, it’s in North Korea. And they are singing “I want to break free” from Queen, a band of the fascist and decadent West. The great bull, the Supreme Leader, is in the audience applauding. Freddie Mercury must be laughing …
Version 3: Not even in their wildest dreams could Freddie Mercury and the other members of the QUEEN band imagine an event like this.
Version 4: “I Want to Break Free” (Queen) performed by the North Korean group ‘Moranbong Band’… I don’t think Freddie Mercury could ever have imagined this performance.
Did the Moranbong Band from North Korea play the Queen song “I Want to Break Free” in a performance?
Let’s face it: the video is very well done. Aesthetic quality aside, it is false that the North Korean band played the Queen song in the video in question. In reality, what happened was a montage on top of a real performance.
It’s not new that videos (mostly poorly made ones) about “song performances” are debunked on Boatos.org. For example, there was a story that pointed to a Fred Astaire performance of forró and the Brazilian soccer team citing Lula.
Suspicious, we went to search for the content in question. We found out that it was created on a YouTube channel called Lars Von Retriever (a pun on the name Lars Von Trier, Metallica’s vocalist). The page has the following description: “The official channel of parallel universes and alternative realities. Make America Metal Again!”
Looking at the channel, we discovered that, in reality, the channel in question specializes in video montages related to music (mainly rock and metal). We decided to pay attention to the video and realized that, at some points, there is no synchrony between the vocalist and the music.
When searching for more details, we found some debunkings about the subject. One of them is from Newschecker, from India. The site pointed out that the images were taken from a Moranbong Band performance in 2017. See the original video and, if you have patience, you will be able to see the excerpts taken:
In summary: It is false that a band in North Korea performed the song “I Want To Break Free” by Queen in a video. The Moranbong Band’s performance is of another song and has nothing to do with the English band.
The original content was published in portuguese in https://www.boatos.org/entretenimento/moranbong-band-coreia-do-norte-toca-musica-i-want-to-break-free-queen-apresentacao.html