culture

Ho Jae Bok was one of the talented men of art and literature who left indelible imprints on the Korean history of art and literature.

He is still remembered by people as an authoritative conductor who touched the heartstrings of all with his fascinating conducting.

Born in 1931, Ho had a penchant and natural talent for music from his childhood, but he had to feel the sorrow at being a descendant of vagabonds in a foreign country as his country was under Japanese military occupation.

After Korea's liberation, he entered the then National Music School to cultivate his talent and began to cut a conspicuous figure in the music world in his twenties.

When the Fatherland Liberation War (June 25 1950-July 27 1953) began, he volunteered to join the Korean People’s Army and served as a performer and conductor of the then Ministry of the Interior Song and Dance Ensemble, contributing to encouraging the KPA soldiers and the people in the rear to victory in the war.

At the height of the fierce war, he went to a foreign country to study according to a state measure. There he conducted a symphony orchestra on stage on several occasions to cause a sensation and won the first prize in a conductors’ contest.

The music circle of the country where Ho was studying extolled him as “a captivating conductor evoking great delicacy and rich emotions” and “Karajan in the East.”

He returned home after the war to work as a conductor and was awarded the title of People's Artist in his early thirties.

He devoted his talent and passion to creating a lot of music works of the Korean style including music and dance tale “Song of Paradise” and also made a great contribution to demonstrating the magnificence of Juche-oriented art through performances in different countries of the world.

In those days he was promoted from a conductor to the deputy head of the Mansudae Art Troupe and then its head and awarded many orders and medals.

He died in an unexpected accident in 1977.

He was buried in the Patriotic Martyrs Cemetery in Sinmi-ri, and his daughter Ho Mun Yong has earned the love of people as a competent conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra.

In August this year, respected Comrade Kim Jong Un recalled the distinguished services of Ho Jae Bok in his congratulatory letter to the National Symphony Orchestra on its 80th founding anniversary and, on his visit to the orchestra, congratulated Ho Mun Yong on receiving Kim Il Sung Prize, the highest award of the state.