*The video featuring clips from The Day of the Locust has been taken down, boo! But you can see the exciting climax here.*
I’m not quite sure what’s going on in this video. Is it some kinda of Arturo Bandini fantasy of burning down Los Angeles? Is it a comment on the spectacle of Hollywood and the world of simulacrum? Are the frantic car shakers the 1920s predecessors to out of control Laker fans? Could those white-faced phantoms be the mindless consumers of vapid culture? The breathy moans that punctuate the song remind me of Jane Birkin, might it be her voice? And what’s that sample towards the end? It’s a well-known* Egyptian pop song, what in the world? Hmmmm…
Ah, I see it’s scenes taken from the movie The Day of the Locust and I’m not the only one who is asking questions about it.
The Embassy website. They are Scandinavian, it seems most of the pop music I tend to like these days is from this area of the world.
*I know the song but I could not locate the title and artist name for you all.
Sorry it cuts out at the end but this version is magnificent.
Rodney on the Roq often used to play this song on his Sunday night radio show. I would lay in bed listening, waiting to fall asleep and dreading the upcoming school day.
Lyrics
I haven’t done a favorite video of the week for awhile because while I may come across many songs I enjoy listening to, I haven’t been enchanted by any of the clips I’ve been watching…until tonight.
While I admit I’m not a big fan of most current day salsa (my preference is for the 60s/70s era), I’ve always had immense love and respect for the Nuyorican singer La India. Her fierce, raw and powerful singing style blew me away from the first time I heard the song, Ese Hombre. Some of you might be familiar with this tune as it is the theme song of many a heartbroken Latina. The hombre who is the cause of all this pain and anger is berated to basically nothing.
es un gran necio
un estupido engreido
egoista y caprichoso
un payaso vanidoso
inconciente y presumido
falso malo rencoroso
que no tiene corazon
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned especially a woman like La India. Definitely, not the kinda song you want dedicated to yourself.
I love this early clip of her and the way she can barely contain her emotions as she sings, she is so amazingly talented!
Runaway-La India (performed in a moving car!)
I also came across this other clip of her singing in the car and despite the bad sound and low production quality, her voice is able to command full attention.
I Am the Black Gold of the Sun-Nuyorican Soul (4hero remix)
La India does contribute some vocals to this musical collaboration but I mostly added it to this post because it’s one of my favorites. See, the 90s weren’t so bad!
There are days when I spend a good chunk of the day driving around the huge expanse of Los Angeles. These trips usually invovle errands: getting my eyebrows threaded in Little India, visiting the Spanish import market in Harbor City, checking out Family Bookstore for titles that pique my interest, heading to the deep corners of the East San Gabriel Valley to search warehouse-like thrift stores for cheap treasures, and on special days, driving leisurely through canyon roads to feel as if I live in the old Los Angeles of my grandparents’ youth.
Like a lot of other folks these days, I listen to music through my IPOD and it’s this musical accompaniment that makes traversing the thick with traffic streets somewhat bearable. Yesterday though I was out of luck, the IPOD connector (or whatever it’s called) was acting all finicky and making a beeping noise and I was forced to do the unthinkable: listen to the radio! I do listen to NPR in the morning but being as I like to drive to music, I decided to give the music on the radio a chance. I’m glad I did!
In between the seven times I heard New Boyz “You’re a Jerk” (now when I hear someone singing that, I won’t take it personally…it’s just a song!) and BEP’s “Boom Boom Pow” (which I have no shame in admitting I like…c’mon, I like Chalga!), I heard this song, Fangela by Here We Go Magic on (yes, I know) KCRW. At first I thought it was some forgotten early track from The Shins way before their music got all glossed over but I waited patiently through two other not-so-great songs to find out the name of the band. I was lucky it was announced when it was because the next song (sung by a woman with a sappy voice) started with the line: “I saw you in a cafe, you were reading Kierkegaard.” Ugh, enough! I tried the IPOD again.
La Roux – In For The Kill (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey Mix)
It’s nice to hear a different kind of voice these days. There’s a unique quality to La Roux’s singing style that really draws me in. The original version of the song is blowing up the charts in the UK but I happen to prefer this remix version. Check out the retro Amen Break that drops in at the end of this mix. Didn’t I just say the revival was coming soon?
Interview with La Roux here.
I heard this song on the radio the other day and it blew me away much in the same way it had when I first heard it way back in 1997. Yes, like a lot of other folks at the time (late 90s), I was crazy about jungle and drum n bass. Roni Size was one of the best of the DJ/producer bunch and the fact that this song still sounds somewhat fresh is a testimony to his talent. It’s a shame that drum n bass came to be associated with car commercials and other despicable things. Still waiting for the jungle revival. For more on the origins of this beat, check the post on “Amen Break.”
For so long I’ve wanted to share my love of Chalga here on this blog but I’ve always felt that it needed a proper introduction so for the past two years I’ve put it off. I kept thinking I need to re-read the Bulgarian chapters of Princes Amongst Men: Journeys with Gypsy Musicians so that I have the proper references to describe this musical style. It is this book that has the only English language research on Chalga, the Gypsy/Roma derived pop music of Bulgaria. (I approach these blog posts seriously, often doing more research for some of these posts than I would for my own papers in college and the sources for information are difficult at times to find.) I wanted to write the definitive English language reference for Chalga on the internet. Ah, what aspirations! They’ve kept me from sharing these videos all these years, despite my obsessive viewings, circle of friends chatter and Bulgarian correspondences.
Finally tonight, after a couple of glasses of my favorite wine (Marques de Riscal Rioja from Spain) I decided WTF, let’s just post up some videos of good ol’ Azis and let the mouths fall open as they may. Also, as Youtube moves on in years, more and more videos are being removed due to some kinda jerky violations and hence my grand plan of a series of Chalga video roll-outs is dwindling before my eyes. With that in mind, let’s all watch Chalga Bulgarian superstar Azis strut his stuff, shall we?
Tochno Sega by Azis and rapper Ustata
This would have been my first Favorite Video of the Week oh so many years ago but whenever I showed this video to straight male friends of mine, they freaked the f*ck out. Yes, it’s a dude who looks hot in heels and has a beard. It’s gender fuck at it’s finest and he even seduces the hip hop dude while dressed as a manly bouncer. In Princes Amongst Men, author Garth Cartwright talks about the interesting approach to sexuality in Bulgaria. Apparently, according to him, it should be obvious why the term “buggering” comes from Bulgaria. How awesome and mind blowing is it that this country, so maligned and dismissed has such a progressive perspective of sexuality which includes a significant Muslim population. Even more amazing is that it’s most beloved star, Azis comes from a Roma/Gypsy background. He has challenged not only the boundaries of his gender but also of his culture.
It is true that Chalga is not considered “serious” music, much in the way urban music like hip-hop is treated in this country. Much of this disrespect is due to the Roma origins of Chalga and it’s move away from traditional folk styles. I think similarities can be made once again with African-Americans and hip-hop. I’m not saying Chalga is even at the level of hip-hop, much of it truly is cheesy music but it does have a certain pop charm sensibility that makes me listen over and over again. Basically Chalga is a cross pollination fusion of traditional Roma ethnic music, Bulgarian folk music and Western influenced hip-hop, Reggaeton and pop styles. It started off being more rooted in the folk and ethnic styles and has gradually moved into the more Western sounding styles.
No Kazvam Ti Stiga by Azis
Phew! Is it getting hot around this blog? Don’t worry straight fellas, wait till we get to the female Chalga singers. Soft core porn is the norm for some of these videos and I’m sure they would get more risque if they could.
Lyric translation:
“only in my dreams have i had you, only in my dreams did i feel alive, only in my dreams i felt you inside of me, only in my dreams was i able to laugh”
Kazvash Che Me Obichash by Azis and Desi Slava (another famous Chalga star)
Here is small taste of the kinda cross gender sexuality that infuses Chalga videos. Wait till we get to the super hot singer Reyhan (RIP) in Chalga, Part Two!
Antigeroi by Azis
Azis has said in interviews he has great admiration for the women of Bollywood, both their singing and dancing. This video is a tribute to them and it’s a pretty catchy song too!
Teb Ochim by Azis
One of his latest songs.
In the end, this quote from one the comments on his videos sums it all up:
Many anti-gay folks have fear of their own homosexuality.
Azis is Azis.
No one can take the credit, or be ashamed collectively for him.
I am proud that Bulgaria has the open mind to accept such a crazy character. Only in a civilized culture.
Röyksopp feat Robyn – The Girl and The RobotListen, don’t watch
I’m not gonna promise you all that I can keep up a song a day. I feel like this blog deserves more respect than the kinda text I put up daily on my Facebook updates.
For instance, this song from the new Royksopp album, Junior featuring the fabulous Robyn was accompanied by the following on my Facebook page: “I love Robyn! I love Royksopp! I wanna have party just so I can dance to this song!” C’mon! You think I’m gonna embarrass myself like that here? Pfft.
I go mental every time you leave for work
You never seem to know when to stop
I never know when you’ll return
I’m in love with a robot
In the night, call you up and
Wanna know when you’re coming home
Don’t deny me, call me back
I’m so alone
In the night, wait up for you
Even though you don’t want me to
Go to bed, leave the lights on
What’s the use
As mentioned in a previous post, a few weeks ago someone asked me if I was Native American and I answered as I often do, most people of Mexican heritage have some indigenous heritage. I think they meant Indian from north of the US border but like lots of indigenous folks, I don’t recognize these borders when it comes to culture. I was told my maternal great-grandmother was Yaqui Indian and my mother says she remembers hearing Yaqui words as a child. So in honor of my indigenous heritage, I present this video.
Yaqui Deer Dancer Yes, that is a deer head on his.
The clip is of an important ritual tradition called the Deer Dance. The festival where this dance took place was intended to bring Yaqui tribes from both sides of the borders together to celebrate their culture. There is some debate as to whether it was appropriate to film the ceremony and post the clip on Youtube. As the dance was a demonstration and not a ceremony, it seems approriate as a method to educate others in Yaqui culture.
Yaqui: Danza del Venado en Sonora, Mexico
Yaqui prefer to call themselves “Yoeme” and their homeland is “Hiakim.” It is their homeland name that most likely gave rise to the term Yaqui.