Uzbek vs. Kazakh Music Videos

by Nathan on 7/7/2006 · 17 comments

Below is the new Radius 21 (of Qora Bumer fame/infamy) video. It looks like they, like more than a few other Uzbek pop musicians, are doing their damnedest to emulate American hip-hop style. They’ve got the chains, the clothes, etc.

Now here’s a video from the (now apparently defunct) Kazakh (but really Kyrgyz, according to comments at YouTube) band Bangor. They’ve got a bit more of a boy band thing going on, but they’ve got something that one would certainly expect to appear in a hip-hop video set on a beach, scantily-clad women.

Apparently Uzbeks are quite a bit more conservative even when it comes to hip-hop. I guess Uzbek (or, to be fair, Turkmen) hip-hop is a little bit like heavy metal performed by Pat Boone.

P.S. — Bonus Nexia commercial below

{ 2 trackbacks }

ru.kazakhstan.neweurasia.net » Англоязычные блоги - о Казахстане
7/11/2006 at 3:56 am
kazakhstan.neweurasia.net » Overview of Kazakhstan Blogosphere
7/20/2006 at 8:22 am

{ 15 comments }

1 Brejen 7/7/2006 at 6:44 pm

Thank u for that. Nathan why do u think Uzbek artists are more conservative. Is it that they don’t feature beautiful women in this video or something else make u think that way?

2 Brejen 7/7/2006 at 6:48 pm

talking abaout Nexia, it seems that UzDaewooAuto is soon to become UzHyundai or smth like that. http://bukharainfo.com/blog/2006/06/23/daewoosold/

3 Nathan 7/7/2006 at 7:18 pm

I don’t think they are necessarily, but I think the culture is relatively conservative and either the artists themselves, the directors of videos, or the people who finance the videos (or all three together) know to package their product accordingly. I’m not saying that they should have women in bikinis in their videos by any means, but their absence in the Radius 21 video jumped out at me for some reason.

4 Katy 7/7/2006 at 7:41 pm

Who are these people of African origin in the videos? Were these made elsewhere?

5 Katy 7/7/2006 at 7:48 pm

on an unrelated note, the production quality in these videos is far superior to those in the Caucasus, IMHO.

6 Nathan 7/7/2006 at 11:33 pm

Better production quality? Surely you jest…

7 Peter 7/8/2006 at 2:30 am

To be fair to this Georgian nonsense, it may be a spoof. It is a cover version of a song by the lovely Russian girl band, Via-Gra.
We would need a Georgian to confirm how they have translated the lyrics.

8 Chirol 7/8/2006 at 11:14 am

Is it me, or is Radius 21 filming in Turkey? As for the second video, where can I get a few Central Asian fly girls? Whenever my mind is about to explode from too much politics, I can always count on Registan for the most bizarre pop culture out of the Stans.

9 Brejen 7/8/2006 at 6:37 pm

this georgian video is surely a parody

10 Hobart 7/9/2006 at 2:40 am

Bangor = Michael Jackson

11 Tatyana 7/9/2006 at 8:29 am

Excellent start for my Sunday morning, thanx, N!

For some other sources of bizarre pop (and not only) culture, of anything post-Soviet and Russian-American related (including various stans), go to http://www.ycrop.com/

12 Mata Hari 7/14/2006 at 10:44 am

Bangor is a KYRGYZ group. I know Mamba, he was from “Ayan” and later joined Bangor. Rather funny guys. I actually, almost cried, when they sang in Kazakh, because they are Kyrgyz in all senses. It is a pity that the Kyrgyz cannot support, financially, their talented youth…

13 Mata Hari 7/14/2006 at 10:48 am

Regarding Radius 21: I don’t know about you. I either like combat rap, or a real bling-bling. But these guys, trying to rap, where is the rage and anger (if it supposed to be a combat rap)? Sounds a spoiled teenager trying to rap…Or it is not even a bling-bling, way too conservative, no booty shaking and etc. Adding couple of black dudes won’t make it a rap song…

14 YANG-YEON CHO 8/21/2006 at 11:40 pm

AHTSALLHAM AL-LEIGUM! UZBEKISTAN

15 eldor 11/21/2006 at 6:57 am

hmm…. watching these uzbek and kazakh video clips i feel happy, because in Central Asia broadcasting is developing !
These videos maybe not in a high quality, but it’s getting better year by year…
Good luck Radius_21 and Bangor !!!

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