Inside North Korea's music scene

Pyongyang goes pop: Inside North Korea's music scene For the first blog of our short series, our intrepid music reporter is put under house arrest with nothing but the EastEnders theme tune to listen to. That'll teach him not to pay bribes ...

Korea-minded ... Alex Hoban in Pyongyang 

If someone had fulfilled Pyongyang's request to pack Eric Clapton off to North Korea, perhaps all that bother on the divided peninsula would never have started. That is what the hermit government of the north reckons, at least, as one of the less pressing Wikileak cables recently revealed that Kim Jong-il's second son, Kim Jong-chol, was "a great fan" of the rock legend and that a Clapton performance in the capital "could be an opportunity to build goodwill". Using pop to build bridges is perhaps naive, especially in the context of a potential nuclear face-off, but maybe we shouldn't rule out the idea.

If you ask a North Korean their true feelings about pretty much anything they'll stick to whatever the party line tells them they should think (which is why so many tourists get frustrated after probing about General Kim's next move). But ask the right questions and the facade that greets most outsiders will occasionally be broached with genuine warmth. During trips I've made in and around the hermit kingdom over the past year, I've used one uncontroversial topic of conversation to do just that. It seems talking about music is one way for North Koreans to relate their perspectives on the world without being politically controversial.

Pop diplomacy will not solve territorial disputes or prevent governments going head-to-head, but it does offer another perspective on North Koreans. Pop weaves its way into North Korea in unexpected ways. Last September, I was held under 24-hour house arrest in the outpost of Raijin after refusing to pay a bribe. The most perturbing part of the experience was not the fact there was no guarantee of release, but that the hotel foyer we were held in had the EastEnders theme tune playing on loop for the duration of the internment through a croaky speaker.

Perhaps the aim was mental attrition; to irritate us into paying bribes by reminding us of the east London we'd left behind and may never see again. It didn't work – I'm from Putney. Eccentric glimpses of the world North Korea left behind are not so few and far between – in this series I'll be revealing more from inside the secret state: the truth about Michael Jackson's North Korean debut; introducing the best of North Korean pop and revealing the Communist cadre's opinion of Jarvis Cocker. Come join me for the ride.