Friday, July 1, 2011

Travels Soundtrack: Central/Western Asia

I don't really know what to say about music and Kazakhstan. I want to use the Beatle's 'Back in the USSR' for pretty much all the ex-Soviet states I went to, but I'm going to save it for Georgia since they actually mention Georgia in the song. The very word 'Kazakhstan' I guess just doesn't fit so nicely in pop lyrics.

Anyway, Kazakhstan is home to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the site that launched the first human into space. I think this justifies my selection of 'Major Tom' by Peter Schilling. The eponymous Tom wasn't that first man that blasted off from the Kazakh steppes, but at least the theme matches.




After a very ex-Soviet ferry crossing (empty, massive ship, rusty stairs held together solely by layers of heavily applied paint, and a captive baby eagle), I next stepped foot in Azerbaijan. I was only in this country for like 3 days, and was down with a quick flu, so I wasn't inspired by much music at the time.

However, Azerbaijan did win this year's Eurovisision contest, so that song gets my selection. Unfortunately, the song is fucking awful. Just real bad, which is why I won't actually embed the video.

This is seriously the best that Europe can come up with for pop music?

Oh well. Enjoy, if you can.

On to Georgia (not the state). It's time for that famous Beatle's hit. Just think, European music went from 'Back in the USSR' to 'Running Scared'. The world really is going to hell in a handbasket.



My last stop in Asia was Turkey. A lot of people might tell you that Turkey is European, which is technically true for about 3% of the landmass. Sorta like Georgia and Azerbaijan, but Turkey has the Bosporus Strait as a clear delineation between Asia and Europe, rather than the more ambiguous Caucasus Mountains.

But I digress. Turkey's song, which I actually did listen to in Turkey, is by the Pogues, who have more songs about Turkey (and Australia) than one might expect from a drunken Irish folk-punk band. Forthwith, 'The Turkish Song of the Dammed'.




That might do it for my series on my travels soundtrack. I'm in Europe now, and I don't really know any songs about Belgium.

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