September 22, 201412 yr I must say, Whackamole, you do present interesting challenges! It took me a while to figure out what the heck this is! Turns out that this is a popular mid-70's song from the USSR by Kola Beldy. According to Wikipedia: Kola Beldy was "a Soviet pop singer who scored with some tundra-orientated megahits in the seventies and is considered a hallmark of Soviet snow-opera kitsch." ("Snow opera kitsch"??!! Who knew??!! :P :lol: ) Thanks for the education, Whack.
September 22, 201412 yr OK... I was not expecting watching that to be the first thing I did on Monday morning... I wonder how long that tune will be stuck in my head for?! All day probably! Good to see you Whack ;)
September 22, 201412 yr OK... I was not expecting watching that to be the first thing I did on Monday morning... I wonder how long that tune will be stuck in my head for?! All day probably! Good to see you Whack ;) Wasn't that you....that guy third to the right .....nice trunks.....
September 22, 201412 yr Wasn't that you....that guy third to the right .....nice trunks..... Lol... Over 2 hours later... The song is still in my head - especially the springy 'boing' type noise... Will have to remember to thank Whack personally for this, lol
September 22, 201412 yr Lol... Over 2 hours later... The song is still in my head - especially the springy 'boing' type noise... Will have to remember to thank Whack personally for this, lol Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed (or is the word "possessed"?) by this video, too. Sort of like the fascination of watching a train wreck in slow motion! Can this be for real? By the way, Action, you've got me wondering about that "boing" noise. Is that a mouth harp or is it Tuvan throat singing? Kola Beldy was an accomplished throat singer so I suspect that was him.
September 22, 201412 yr Author Ha ha ha, you guys. I got ya. Action, I believe I owed you this one. And Chrysalis, your research skills are remarkable, though I could have told you about the illustrious Kola. Snow Opera Kitsch! This is my all-time favourite music video, by the way, but this one may be second. Creepy? You bet!
September 22, 201412 yr Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed (or is the word "possessed"?) by this video, too. Sort of like the fascination of watching a train wreck in slow motion! Can this be for real? By the way, Action, you've got me wondering about that "boing" noise. Is that a mouth harp or is it Tuvan throat singing? Kola Beldy was an accomplished throat singer so I suspect that was him. Chrys, I will be honest... I don't think I've ever heard 'throat singing' before, so I had no idea it could sound like that... I'm going to watch it again later, and see what I think then. I'm still kind of thinking about the video now - the bouncing balls were kind of hypnotic, in a strange kind of way... lol. I see some kind of obsession building here, too!
September 22, 201412 yr Ha ha ha, you guys. I got ya. Action, I believe I owed you this one. And Chrysalis, your research skills are remarkable, though I could have told you about the illustrious Kola. Snow Opera Kitsch! This is my all-time favourite music video, by the way, but this one may be second. Creepy? You bet! I'm looking forward to finishing work so I can watch this! Will let you know what I think later, but hopefully I won't be disappointed after watching the other one this morning :p
September 22, 201412 yr I don't find the North Korean guitar children to be "creepy". If it was just one child and he/she was European, we'd call him a prodigy and applaud him (which we often do with child violinists and pianists). So it's not the guitar playing per se that is creepy. What is creepy is seeing so many children who have apparently been relentlessly drilled on the guitar to perform like little automatons. Have they gotten any schooling? Do they have play time? Do they get any physical exercise time? It's the effort and regimentation that must have gone into these children that's creepy. I do find it astounding, though, to imagine what marvels humans could achieve if our brains and efforts were intensely channeled like this. If 4-year-olds can be coached to play instruments at this level (and, obviously, at 4 years of age, they couldn't have had very many years of training) how much of our brain power lies dormant in the rest of us? Are our accepted standards for education and training really the best way to go about things, or are they just the traditional way to go about things? Makes me wonder.
September 22, 201412 yr Author I don't find the North Korean guitar children to be "creepy". If it was just one child and he/she was European, we'd call him a prodigy and applaud him (which we often do with child violinists and pianists). So it's not the guitar playing per se that is creepy. What is creepy is seeing so many children who have apparently been relentlessly drilled on the guitar to perform like little automatons. Have they gotten any schooling? Do they have play time? Do they get any physical exercise time? It's the effort and regimentation that must have gone into these children that's creepy. I do find it astounding, though, to imagine what marvels humans could achieve if our brains and efforts were intensely channeled like this. If 4-year-olds can be coached to play instruments at this level (and, obviously, at 4 years of age, they couldn't have had very many years of training) how much of our brain power lies dormant in the rest of us? Are our accepted standards for education and training really the best way to go about things, or are they just the traditional way to go about things? Makes me wonder. That's EXACTLY what is creepy, C. In four short years they have been turned into guitar-playing robots. At what age did it start? And what the hell did they do to them? Give me mediocrity any day. BTW, have you read "The Orphan Master's Son"? Won the Pulitzer a few years back. Doesn't stretch the truth about NK very far. Creepy as all get-out.
September 22, 201412 yr Author Chrys, I will be honest... I don't think I've ever heard 'throat singing' before, so I had no idea it could sound like that... I'm going to watch it again later, and see what I think then. I'm still kind of thinking about the video now - the bouncing balls were kind of hypnotic, in a strange kind of way... lol. I see some kind of obsession building here, too! From Canada, with love.
September 22, 201412 yr I don't find the North Korean guitar children to be "creepy". If it was just one child and he/she was European, we'd call him a prodigy and applaud him (which we often do with child violinists and pianists). So it's not the guitar playing per se that is creepy. What is creepy is seeing so many children who have apparently been relentlessly drilled on the guitar to perform like little automatons. Have they gotten any schooling? Do they have play time? Do they get any physical exercise time? It's the effort and regimentation that must have gone into these children that's creepy. I do find it astounding, though, to imagine what marvels humans could achieve if our brains and efforts were intensely channeled like this. If 4-year-olds can be coached to play instruments at this level (and, obviously, at 4 years of age, they couldn't have had very many years of training) how much of our brain power lies dormant in the rest of us? Are our accepted standards for education and training really the best way to go about things, or are they just the traditional way to go about things? Makes me wonder. That's EXACTLY what is creepy, C. In four short years they have been turned into guitar-playing robots. At what age did it start? And what the hell did they do to them? Give me mediocrity any day. BTW, have you read "The Orphan Master's Son"? Won the Pulitzer a few years back. Doesn't stretch the truth about NK very far. Creepy as all get-out. The creepy and scary thing for me is... They obviously didn't choose the children for their musical ability... At the age of 0. So how did they know that they would be capable of achieving the level that were required? I dare say that they didn't, so potentially, how many children did they put through these vigorous teachings?!
September 22, 201412 yr Ha ha ha, you guys. I got ya. Action, I believe I owed you this one. And Chrysalis, your research skills are remarkable, though I could have told you about the illustrious Kola. Snow Opera Kitsch! This is my all-time favourite music video, by the way, but this one may be second. Creepy? You bet! Good grief....the guitars were bigger than them.....All work.....no play......
September 22, 201412 yr From Canada, with love. Weird....How can they do this ,looking at each other.....with out laughin....I'd be crap....
September 22, 201412 yr The strange thing is... That I've bookmarked this page for future reference...
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