o.H.M.y.
Y’all remember Tatu? Taty? t.A.T.y?
(Take your time. I’ll wait.)
Okay. I haven’t been following the news all that much, because, y’know, you load one fauxsapphic lolitapop eurochirp album onto your iPod, how many more do you need, and anyway, the pop-culture buzz only lasts so long. —Somewhere in intervening time, it seems, Yulia and Lena wised up to the exploitative nature of their predicament and cut out one of the middlemen by dropping their Svengali, Ivan Shapovalov. And promptly fell off the cult stud radar. There was apparently a reality show, framed around the recording of their new album? Which was supposed to drop on 14 March? Anybody?
Ah, but what about said ex-Svengali?
“I don’t care if she is Russian or not,” says Shapovalov. “This is a girl from the Internet. I can’t even determine the exact style of her music. She sings in Tadjik, Georgian and Pharsi languages. Her songs are about love, about life.”
Ladies and gentlemen: n.A.T.o.
“It’s my first concert, and anything can happen. But everything is going to be fine!” The CNN commentary fades slowly into a steady techno beat, soon joined by live drums and a heavy guitar riff opens up. As Nato lifts the microphone to her lips and starts to sing, the audience strains to hear her voice over the noise. But no matter how they crane their necks, they can see nothing of her face, hidden behind a black veil that shows only her eyes. The lyrics, too, are a bit of a mystery, as Nato doesn’t sing in Russian, but in Chechen and Georgian. One thing is clear: Nato’s outfitted to look like one of the infamous “Black Widows,” the female Chechen suicide bombers.
Confidential to Kriston Capps, to whom many thanks: Russian culture qua culture tends neither to be deaf nor immune; rather, it takes inordinate pride in the world’s deadest pan:
As a finale, Nato performs “Chor Javon,” a catchy song with clear hit potential that’s going to be released as her first single. As soon as she puts down the microphone, the guards jump on stage and fire paintballs into the crowd with their fake Kalashnikovs. Alexy, a 24 year-old concert-goer, gives the whole thing a tired smile. “I’d imagined this would be way more radical,” he says. “Machine guns, the whole silent guard routine—you’re really not going to shock anyone with that kind of thing these days.”
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My first thought was - pop music sung in a non-Indo-European language!
Oh, right - Japanese. Not a breakthrough after all. Never mind. . .
So are we finally getting confirmation that we're living in Leggy Starlitz Country?
I'm reminded of M.I.A., who I was just rhapsodizing over -- another example of a pop songstress, somewhat less produced but perhaps no less image-conscious, who is appropriating imagery associated with a terrorist group. In M.I.A.'s case, it's the Tamil Tigers, and the nature of her association with them is clearly complex and on her part quite possibly confused. Her father is... not a Tiger, but not not a Tiger, and certainly a radical. Her videos contain Tiger imagery of a not unviolent nature.
You can tell there's a lot of anger building up in the world when people start using it as a marketing technique, neh? Panther Chic indeed. It's a pity Wolfe's preoccupied with explaining that it's tough to be a college student these days.