I’m passing through West Virginia this weekend. That song makes more sense when you see the place. The mountains aren’t as high or rugged here as they are elsewhere, but what a beautiful place.
In Slovakia, we often have balls, there's even a ball season (a bit like Mardi Gras - before Lent). These are Tuxedo & dance gown (tho suits & ties acceptable) affairs.
The live bands usually play Slovak folk / dance music, including some waltz but especially polka (a bit too much, even). In band breaks, and after midnight when the band ends, there is usually a disc jockey.
Country Roads is extremely popular, and usually most of those still willing & able to dance will be out dancing to it in a circle with a rotating couple or more in the middle. I've grown to like the song -- it's a wondrous happy group dance song.
I'm always surprised to learn that American country music has a following in another culture. It seems so embedded, and yet now and then you run into "Russian Rednecks," or the Scandinavian "Rednex" band, or some cover band in Hong Kong doing a Honky Tonk bit.
Some acquaintances of mine from Macon were in a rockabilly band called The Liabilities, and they told me the most fascinating demographic information about where their album was selling according to iTunes. Estonia and Bolivia topped the sales charts for them. Their album didn't top the sales charts in either country, but I enjoyed the album enough to buy it.
I ran into this phenomenon in Japan. They have a big country music festival every year in Kumamoto, in southern Japan, I think. It's a good place for it there; that area was where Saigo Takamori and his samurai made their last stand against the modernized Japanese military in the 1870s. It has a kind of Southern "Lost Cause" vibe to it, although there were of course many differences. We've listened to Charlie Nagatani here at the Hall before.
In Slovakia, we often have balls, there's even a ball season (a bit like Mardi Gras - before Lent). These are Tuxedo & dance gown (tho suits & ties acceptable) affairs.
ReplyDeleteThe live bands usually play Slovak folk / dance music, including some waltz but especially polka (a bit too much, even). In band breaks, and after midnight when the band ends, there is usually a disc jockey.
Country Roads is extremely popular, and usually most of those still willing & able to dance will be out dancing to it in a circle with a rotating couple or more in the middle. I've grown to like the song -- it's a wondrous happy group dance song.
I'm always surprised to learn that American country music has a following in another culture. It seems so embedded, and yet now and then you run into "Russian Rednecks," or the Scandinavian "Rednex" band, or some cover band in Hong Kong doing a Honky Tonk bit.
ReplyDeleteSome acquaintances of mine from Macon were in a rockabilly band called The Liabilities, and they told me the most fascinating demographic information about where their album was selling according to iTunes. Estonia and Bolivia topped the sales charts for them. Their album didn't top the sales charts in either country, but I enjoyed the album enough to buy it.
ReplyDeleteI ran into this phenomenon in Japan. They have a big country music festival every year in Kumamoto, in southern Japan, I think. It's a good place for it there; that area was where Saigo Takamori and his samurai made their last stand against the modernized Japanese military in the 1870s. It has a kind of Southern "Lost Cause" vibe to it, although there were of course many differences. We've listened to Charlie Nagatani here at the Hall before.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.opry.com/artist/charlie-nagatani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saig%C5%8D_Takamori
When I worked in Trinidad, a Trinidadian housemate was a C&W fan. One way I was not so surprised at that was to remember that Charlie Pride was black.
ReplyDelete