Borts Minorts

Borts Minorts! From San Francisco, California!

A deranged performance/dance ensemble led by a monobrowed spastic encased in a white hooded unitard. Ridiculous dance moves are enacted on stage with a duo of pretty ladies like a low-budget Xanadu as Mr. Borts Minorts whoops and hollers through a barrage of frenetic cut and paste disco songs. Think Leigh Bowery choreographed by Richard Simmons.

Unfortunately, on his Myspace page (where I found this gem), there is no indication of an available CD. Hopefully one will be available soon- as the music is just as good as the theatrics...which is quite a rarity! But here are a couple songs from his Myspace page:

Borts Minorts - Sassafras Seedling
Borts Minorts - Human Error

For the time being we all can marvel at the stupendous and ludicrous YouTube videos.

Bulgarian Chalga

Balkanski Muje Orchestra - Darth Vader Cocek
(thanks to Noisepress for the song indentification!...go to his blog for a great dose of experimental, jazz and Bulgarian music!)

A friend dropped this amazing little dittie into my hands. Unfortunately- I have no idea who it is by...only that it's part of a compilation of Bulgarian Chalga music. I am assuming it is from at least the early eighties given the production and the fact that contemporary Chalga music is fucking unlistenable. Any Bulgarians out there to shed light on this?

Anyway...from wikipedia...a brief definition of Chalga:

Chalga is a form of Bulgarian popular music drawing from Balkan folk traditions and incorporating Arabic, Turkish, Greek, and Roma (Gypsy) influences, as well as motifs from Balkan traditional music, flamenco and klezmer music.

Often indistinguishable from Bulgarian pop music, it remains popular as music played in dance clubs and pubs. It is denigrated as a second-rate musical genre and originating from foreign sources, and its lyrics are gnerally considered to be banal and pointless by most educated Bulgarians. Critics of the genre have frequently complained that chalga fans are uneducated or unrefined; some of them refer to the genre as truck driver or taxi driver music. Chalga is known for repetitious themes and hook-laden dance rhythms. Its commercial exploitation has resulted in a vibrant night scene, especially in Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria) and Varna, as well as many televised videos featuring extravagantly glamorized singers. Azis, a Roma cross-dresser, epitomizes the cheap and addictive quality of the genre.

That's the amazing Chalga superstar Azis in the photo above. He ran for political office in 2005 but unfortunately didn't recieve enough votes. If only our pop stars were glamorous yet androgynous drag-queens, America would be a better place. The only person who comes close is Christine Aguilera! (alright, I admit it- I am a Christine Aguilara fan! Just look at that fucking nose! That enough to fall in love!)

Here is a video of Azis with Bulgarian rapper Ustata. WOW! Machismo posturing gangsta dueting with a flamboyant preening queen! I have no idea what the hell they are yapping about...but just wait for the end of the video. I love it!