Bahrain Television
The TV in the hotel has some Arabic stations, CNN, and a thing called Channel [V], which is a kind of Asian MTV. The style of the young woman announcing the songs is straight from the San Fernando Valley (except when she’s speaking in Hindi). Most of the concerts described, however, are in India, Dubai, Hong Kong, and so forth.
(Michael Learns to Rock will be in Bombay April 9-10 and Bangalore a couple of weeks later, according to the "Gig Guide".)
The world is not as it used to be.
India is only one and a half time zones east of here. Tashkent is one time zone east.
There is one particularly imaginative video from India playing these days. It’s called Hoo Halla Hoo, by a woman named Anaida. The phrase "Hoo Halla Hoo" also constitutes the entire lyrics to the song. There is a beautiful woman interacting with various kinds of computer-generated cartoon characters from sharks to a cowboy. Her elaborate costumes change from moment to moment, as she moves through palaces and other strange places. Some of these have an Indian theme, but not all. Toward the end of the song, she kisses the (computer generated) young man who has been squiring her around in various disguises, whereupon he turns into a frog. She is a little puzzled, but eventually she picks up the frog and deposits it in a laboratory beaker. She then closes the door on "Anaida’s Laboratory", and looks at the audience with a wink. It’s quite amusing. It has a touch of the high-pitched screech of Indian music, but there is a nice melody in there. I like it.
On the other hand, "Bola Ta Ra Ra" features a sikh, complete with turban, jumping around like crazy and looking perfectly silly.
And then, after watching a few of these titles from India, a Roxette video came on. Now talk about your strange cultures!