It's like... falling in love, but sharing it with a whole bunch of other people.
That needs to be put on a banner somewhere!
And I've been enjoying some of Dimash's lovely new stuff. I still get a bit of a hornswoggled giggle out of the backup dancers, choreography, and decisions regarding some of his videos. The thinking on the part of video and dance producers in the USSR & Kazakhstan are just a little sideways from more western creators. Heh.
That needs to be put on a banner somewhere! I'm really rather pleased with that. Go me, and writing stuff when I'm half-asleep.
And I have never come across the term 'hornswoggled' in my life, ever! Is it American or Canadian??
Re. Dimash, then I like the fact that I never know what to expect - it can be anything from something that feels a bit like Eurovision 20 years ago, to something as cutting edge contemporary as the choreography to 'Fly Away'. He contains multitudes. :)
And I have never come across the term 'hornswoggled' in my life, ever! Is it American or Canadian?? At a guess, Canadian, as I've never heard it either. OTOH, maybe it's just a midwestern thing. It is a big country. There are plenty of regionalisms that just don't travel much.
And I have never come across the term "hornswoggled" in my life, ever! Is it American or Canadian?"
Well, I can't recall exactly where I picked it up, but it feels American to me. I've used it for years.
*goes to exercise her Google-fu*
Just found this:
Peter Watts argues in A Dictionary of the Old West that it comes from cowpunching. A steer that has been lassoed around the neck will “hornswoggle”, wag and twist its head around frantically to try to slip free of the rope. A cowboy who lets the animal get away with this is said to have been “hornswoggled”.
So that may be it. Or I ran across it in a Twain book or essay?
I like the fact that I never know what to expect - it can be anything from something that feels a bit like Eurovision 20 years ago, to something as cutting edge contemporary as the choreography to 'Fly Away'.
Yeah, Eurovision circa the 1980s, plus echoes of weird Russian folk-tales filtered through high school dance club projects.
Well, I can't recall exactly where I picked it up, but it feels American to me. I've used it for years. Iiiinteresting. I like unusual words. And thank you for the google-ing, that does seem a plausible explanation.
Yeah, Eurovision circa the 1980s, plus echoes of weird Russian folk-tales filtered through high school dance club projects. I've held off replying, because I have a feeling I'll ramble. But here goes... Firstly, then Dimash started out in pop. Have you watched his Bastau concert? (Apart from Daididau and Daybreak, which are The Big Ones - if you haven't watched those, do!!) I haven't counted, but the majority of the songs are Kazakh songs, and they are mostly pop - which makes sense: it was held in Kazakhstan so he'd want to play to the home crowd, plus those songs were presumably his regular repertoire. Are you familiar with Korkemim ('My Belle' or 'My Beauty')? The song is from 2012 and has an official music video that I love to ABSOLUTE PIECES! Lookit teenage Dimash with terrible teenage hair, and the video is too adorable for words. The song, however, is incredibly catchy and a clear crowd-pleaser (he even does a reprise at the very end of the concert) and showcases some of the whole 'Eurovision vibe' - it'd do very well I'd wager. All of which is a very roundabout way of discussing where he has come from and how the style he is developing is a mishmash of a ton of different influences. (We get very snobby about Eurovision in the West - in the Eastern countries it's not viewed in the same terms. It can be an artist's main chance to ever get noticed outside their own country.)
And all of it feels... I hesitate to say 'familiar' because I know next to nothing of Kazakh culture, but growing up in the Faroes was in many ways similar - music of every genre is everywhere. It's really difficult to explain, but here's a good example: A rock band doing a concert in a small village church and as part of their performance singing an old hymn. And their extended families will have been in the audience - I believe the lead singer said that they performed the hymn because his grandmother loves it (even if he himself is an atheist). I get very similar vibes from everything I learn about Kazakhstan, the way different music genres are not kept in separate boxes but something cross-cultural, how the children learn the traditional folk songs and how they need to Preserve The Culture! (There is so much culture in the Faroes it's ridiculous, considering there are only 50,000 people. Music, art, writing, theatre - you name it, the Faroes has it.)
Sidebar: I love, love, love The Astana Waltz. It reminds me of how every village in the Faroes has its own song.
/end rambling, I need to go do other things. But I could talk about this ALL DAY, this was such a tiny snapshot of All My Thoughts.
ETA: *claps* His new song is a perfect example! From the blurb: 'Durdaraz' is a famous song from the golden fund of Kazakh folk songs of the 19th century. But here given the rock treatment. It reminds me of Týr performing Ormurin Langi - the 'song' is a traditional ballad, and they essentially did the same thing (and have done that to many of the old ballads). They're a heavy metal band (and yes, it's the same lead singer - he left Týr to set up his own band) and ye GODS it works so well. (Ormurin Langi is a story about a big battle from viking times, so the rock element works even better.) Anyway, my point is that the *way* Dimash uses his culture is incredibly familiar to me.
ETA2: Just realised that 'ballad' does not mean what you think it does - a Faroese ballad is in the old meaning of the word: a long song chronicling battles or love stories. In the Faroes chain dancing (that used to be widespread across all of Europe in medieval times) is still popular, you can see the song from above (Ormurin Langi - literally 'The Long Worm' in the way that snakes used to be called worms, it's the name of a ship) performed how it is traditionally sung/danced here. Also the band cut down the verses drastically, there's at least 100+. :)
(And here I shall stop nattering, although I COULD GO ON. I should post about it, I know.)
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no subject
That needs to be put on a banner somewhere!
And I've been enjoying some of Dimash's lovely new stuff. I still get a bit of a hornswoggled giggle out of the backup dancers, choreography, and decisions regarding some of his videos. The thinking on the part of video and dance producers in the USSR & Kazakhstan are just a little sideways from more western creators. Heh.
no subject
I'm really rather pleased with that. Go me, and writing stuff when I'm half-asleep.
And I have never come across the term 'hornswoggled' in my life, ever! Is it American or Canadian??
Re. Dimash, then I like the fact that I never know what to expect - it can be anything from something that feels a bit like Eurovision 20 years ago, to something as cutting edge contemporary as the choreography to 'Fly Away'. He contains multitudes. :)
no subject
At a guess, Canadian, as I've never heard it either. OTOH, maybe it's just a midwestern thing. It is a big country. There are plenty of regionalisms that just don't travel much.
no subject
Well, I can't recall exactly where I picked it up, but it feels American to me. I've used it for years.
*goes to exercise her Google-fu*
Just found this:
So that may be it. Or I ran across it in a Twain book or essay?
I like the fact that I never know what to expect - it can be anything from something that feels a bit like Eurovision 20 years ago, to something as cutting edge contemporary as the choreography to 'Fly Away'.
Yeah, Eurovision circa the 1980s, plus echoes of weird Russian folk-tales filtered through high school dance club projects.
no subject
It is deeply Twain-ian, isn't it?
no subject
Iiiinteresting. I like unusual words. And thank you for the google-ing, that does seem a plausible explanation.
Yeah, Eurovision circa the 1980s, plus echoes of weird Russian folk-tales filtered through high school dance club projects.
I've held off replying, because I have a feeling I'll ramble. But here goes... Firstly, then Dimash started out in pop. Have you watched his Bastau concert? (Apart from Daididau and Daybreak, which are The Big Ones - if you haven't watched those, do!!) I haven't counted, but the majority of the songs are Kazakh songs, and they are mostly pop - which makes sense: it was held in Kazakhstan so he'd want to play to the home crowd, plus those songs were presumably his regular repertoire. Are you familiar with Korkemim ('My Belle' or 'My Beauty')? The song is from 2012 and has an official music video that I love to ABSOLUTE PIECES! Lookit teenage Dimash with terrible teenage hair, and the video is too adorable for words. The song, however, is incredibly catchy and a clear crowd-pleaser (he even does a reprise at the very end of the concert) and showcases some of the whole 'Eurovision vibe' - it'd do very well I'd wager. All of which is a very roundabout way of discussing where he has come from and how the style he is developing is a mishmash of a ton of different influences. (We get very snobby about Eurovision in the West - in the Eastern countries it's not viewed in the same terms. It can be an artist's main chance to ever get noticed outside their own country.)
And all of it feels... I hesitate to say 'familiar' because I know next to nothing of Kazakh culture, but growing up in the Faroes was in many ways similar - music of every genre is everywhere. It's really difficult to explain, but here's a good example: A rock band doing a concert in a small village church and as part of their performance singing an old hymn. And their extended families will have been in the audience - I believe the lead singer said that they performed the hymn because his grandmother loves it (even if he himself is an atheist). I get very similar vibes from everything I learn about Kazakhstan, the way different music genres are not kept in separate boxes but something cross-cultural, how the children learn the traditional folk songs and how they need to Preserve The Culture! (There is so much culture in the Faroes it's ridiculous, considering there are only 50,000 people. Music, art, writing, theatre - you name it, the Faroes has it.)
Sidebar: I love, love, love The Astana Waltz. It reminds me of how every village in the Faroes has its own song.
/end rambling, I need to go do other things. But I could talk about this ALL DAY, this was such a tiny snapshot of All My Thoughts.
ETA: *claps* His new song is a perfect example! From the blurb: 'Durdaraz' is a famous song from the golden fund of Kazakh folk songs of the 19th century. But here given the rock treatment. It reminds me of Týr performing Ormurin Langi - the 'song' is a traditional ballad, and they essentially did the same thing (and have done that to many of the old ballads). They're a heavy metal band (and yes, it's the same lead singer - he left Týr to set up his own band) and ye GODS it works so well. (Ormurin Langi is a story about a big battle from viking times, so the rock element works even better.) Anyway, my point is that the *way* Dimash uses his culture is incredibly familiar to me.
ETA2: Just realised that 'ballad' does not mean what you think it does - a Faroese ballad is in the old meaning of the word: a long song chronicling battles or love stories. In the Faroes chain dancing (that used to be widespread across all of Europe in medieval times) is still popular, you can see the song from above (Ormurin Langi - literally 'The Long Worm' in the way that snakes used to be called worms, it's the name of a ship) performed how it is traditionally sung/danced here. Also the band cut down the verses drastically, there's at least 100+. :)
(And here I shall stop nattering, although I COULD GO ON. I should post about it, I know.)