And You Thought tATu Was Crass...

Matt Welch | October 4, 2004

As if Vladimir Putin wasn't troubling enough, Russia has produced a new pop songstress guaranteed to send a shudder down many spines:

No one knows her real name; she's known only as "n.A.T.o." and is a self-professed "suicide bomber" musician, who performs in a full-length burqa (i.e. the all-covering Muslim female dress) and veil, singing in Arabic. [...]

[She] plans to come give one of [her] trademark "terror concerts" somewhere in England in the month of November. The kick-off "terror concert" occurred in Moscow last September 11 (of course!) and featured invitations printed to look like airline tickets, to accompany n.A.T.o.'s standard repertoire of songs sung in Arabic, delivered "in front of screens broadcasting images from al-Jazeera . . . interspersed with flashing words such as 'al-Qaeda', 'Iraq' and 'Nasdaq'."

Story and text care of EuroSavant.com.

Comments

|10.4.04 @ 2:17PM|#

"NATO: "the name Nato has no copyright. In fact anyone who wishes to call themselves or their child Nato is free to do so.""

Done, and done!

|10.4.04 @ 2:30PM|#

...and "Nasdaq", what? Well, perhaps her "terror concerts" will lead some to poke a little fun at this ridiculous war on terror. After all, terror is not an enemy. It's a tactic. A war on a tactic is by nature an open ended war and one with out cessation. The war on terror is nebulous enough to give the government a sort of carte blanche excuse for infringing on all manner of individual rights.

She sounds like a creative and zany gal. So, is she cute underneath that full-length burqa...?

|10.4.04 @ 2:35PM|#

...and also, our government's "war on terror" gets us involved in conflicts all over the world that we need not be involved in and thereby needlessly endangers us.

I still wanna know if she's cute.

Brad Reed|10.4.04 @ 2:36PM|#

This almost has to be admired for its sheer tastelessness. Almost.

|10.4.04 @ 2:39PM|#

Off topic:

Some jackass wrote this commentary for my school newspaper (soul-sucking registration required to read).

http://www.dailycampus.com/news/2004/09/29/Commentary/Osama.On.The.Election-735355.shtml+%26hl%3Den

I wrote a letter to the editor already...let's swamp them!

Brian

Brad Reed|10.4.04 @ 2:40PM|#

Also, I'm surprised some German didn't come up with this- it fits right into the stereotypical po-mo Eurotrashy performance art...

Sending fans concert tickets that look like boarding passes... wtf...

|10.4.04 @ 3:05PM|#

I'm surprised some German didn't come up with this- it fits right into the stereotypical po-mo Eurotrashy performance art...

Well, it's pretty obviously just the Russian version of same; surely no one thinks this person is entirely, unironically serious?

|10.4.04 @ 3:28PM|#

I bet it's Marilyn Manson under there. Does he count as cute Rick?

Warren|10.4.04 @ 3:38PM|#

I'll buy a ticket if she comes to my town.

|10.4.04 @ 3:43PM|#

i don't know about crass. it seems far too absurd to be crass.

maybe it's the chicks from tatu under there?

|10.4.04 @ 3:47PM|#

How is this anything but obscene?

|10.4.04 @ 3:55PM|#

This sounds like Sinead O' Connor levels of tortured artistry. Throw the Pope in there, too.

At least that one has devoted herself to worthwhile causes: http://www.thisislondon.com/showbiz/articles/13396387?source=Evening%20Standard

|10.4.04 @ 4:39PM|#

guy,

That's a real worst-case scenario.

wellfellow,

It's funny how the praise/condemnation continuum works. Pop music often undertakes obscene premises, but I might be more offended by this if terror was not so often a response to government terror-if the actions of our own government hadn't motivated 9/11-if our government's response to 9/11 wasn't the bogus neocon inspired attack on Iraq and the launching of this Orwellian and ridiculous, "War on Terror".

|10.4.04 @ 4:57PM|#

Not to worry, that's just Rock-n-Roll. Lou Reed ain't the President of the U.S. last time I checked.

|10.4.04 @ 5:23PM|#

Rick,

Frankly, I don't care what motivated the mindless slaughter of innocent people. It is unjustified regardless. The "performance art" is obscene whether or not it makes a "clever" statement. Let's accept for the moment that the War on Terror is bogus and the Iraq war unwarrented. How, in any way, does that change the fact that using the innocent victems and the whole horrid affair as fodder for some marketing ploy or half-assed critique of God-knows-what is nothing more than cowardly opportunism? Truly pathetic.

|10.4.04 @ 7:00PM|#

This isn't my cuppa qahwa, but I suppose some people didn't like the Nazi jokes in Ramones songs.

Kevin

|10.4.04 @ 9:03PM|#

wellfellow:

"It (9/11) is unjustified regardless."

Absolutely, of course.

The point I was trying to make was that the performance might indeed amount to something more than just "cowardly opportunism" if it will also lead some to poke a little fun at the "war on terror". Also, I wouldn't call it "cowardly"-more like, "insensitive" and most certainly, "crass".

|10.4.04 @ 9:13PM|#

kevrob:

"I suppose some people didn't like the Nazi jokes in Ramones songs."

Could you give examples? Not of the jokes, just the songs. I just want to know that if when I mention that I enjoy their music, I need to lay out a caveat.

drf|10.4.04 @ 10:40PM|#

hey rick!

greetings to denver!

"bonzo goes to bitburg" is an example of a nazi reference. that was where prez reagan went to the graveyard at bitburg, and it turned out that nazis were buried there. probably "beat on the brat" would be considered to be anti children. "the kkk took my baby away" is anti kkk or babies, depending. "warthog" is against animals or pro in removal of the coolest plane in the arsenal, the a-10 (described as my fighting style before the danish thaiboxing championships - didn't make it far enough for any press, sigh, yar.)

i wonder if the same outcry would have happened if he would have been able to go to sonneberg and seen commie graves...

how about "all is quiet on the eastern front"? would that be in favor of parodies on wwI books?

or what about 53rd and 3rd - what does that mean?

or "nine to five world" - the echo in the song by "die �rzte", "meine wilde welt" is clear. talk about a great group.

what about black flag or bad religion (although there are some terrible euro lefty elements in their songs)?

a friend of mine is from near munich, and in his town's graveyard, there's nazis and "kommies" buried. both are good reminders of what uncontrolled gov't power does...

and i absolutely hate bush and kerry. i can't figger out which i hate more...

badnarik!!!!!!!!! (actually that was a no brainer for me)

cheerio. gemma's wieder an 1860 m�nchen

drf

|10.4.04 @ 11:46PM|#

Joey was a Jewish kid from Queens. That anyone ever took Blitzkrieg Bop as a pro-fascist song meant that they never got the joke.

KKK Took My Baby Away is thought by some to be liberal Joey's lament that conservative Johnny stole his then girlfriend, Linda, and married her. Joey has said that he wrote that years before that drama started.

Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World creeped some out.

I'm a Nazi schatze
Y'know I fight for fatherland

Anyone who thought da bruddas were serious about the goosetepping nonsense needs to reflect on Commando:

First rule is: The laws of Germany
Second rule is: Be nice to mommy
Third rule is: Don't talk to commies
Fourth rule is: Eat kosher salamis

I'm sure no true Hitlerites were very interested in avoiding trefe when shopping for sausage.

Dee Dee, who wrote much of their early stuff, was an army brat, born in Germany, and the German/Nazi stuff pops up in his lyrics often. It is there for shock value, not politics.

Kevin

|10.5.04 @ 1:16AM|#

drf, Kevin,

Thanks, my current fave of theirs is "Sheena is a punk rocker". BTW, they also do a strong cover of "Nothing can change the shape of things to come". I listening to "Sheena" as I type...

|10.5.04 @ 6:47AM|#

Matt Welch quotes EuroSavant.com:
she's known only as "n.A.T.o." and is a self-professed "suicide bomber" musician, who performs in a full-length burqa

Makes lip-synching easier.