I'll give you my choco

Firstly I'd like to draw your attention to the minor adjustments I've made to the site. The defunct menu in the top right corner has gone and been replaced by buttons above the banner. I have added links to the new RusskiPop podcast, which is currently just six songs; the next installment will have me talking in it - be warned, I am from Essex. I am extremely excited about the imminent Eurovision song contest (it's only 5 days until the semi-final!), and will be writing about it again next week. But back to the music:

Who would have thought that the biggest hit in the world of 2004 would be by a boy band from Moldova, the poorest country in Europe. Moldova, also known by its Russian name Moldavia, is sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, and was part of the former until the USSR annexed the territory after World War II. It remained part of the Soviet Union until 1991 when it gained its independence. The official language is Moldovan, which is a dialect of Romanian; however there is a very large Russian speaking minority.

The song in question, was O-Zone's Dragostea Din Tei, accompanied by it's brilliantly rubbish video. Despite being in Romanian, the song reached the top 5 in the UK and was a number 1 hit in most European countries. The song didn't fare well stateside, although it became well known thanks to that fat "Numa numa guy".

At the height of their international success the group split and the guys announced plans to pursue solo careers, however so far the only project to emerge is that of Arsenie, who has renamed himself Arsenium (which is latin for bumming). His debut song was the amazing Love Me, Love Me, which featured the famous Russian folk song Kalinka. I can't stress how good this song is: it's an English song, sampling a Russian folk song, he has a dodgy accent, and it features lyrics such as "every night I whisper from my heart, do you own the words of love". Also it sounds a bit like Gwen Stefani's What You Waiting For?

Download Arsenium's 'Love Me, Love Me (Kalinka)'

Arsenium is representing Moldova at this year's Eurovision Song Contest, held next week in Athens. The song, which he will be performing with some blonde piece, is called Loca, and is in Spanglish. It's watery shit but quite catchy. The lyrics are a bit odd "Hey loca, give me your boca" (Boca is Spanish for mouth). What he wants her mouth for, we can only imagine. Then the blonde piece, she's called Nataliya Gordienko, sings "I'll give you my choco". Well! I know this is Eurovision, but I hardly think this tart offering to let some man do up her up her choco is appropriate content for a song. She could at least have been subtle and called it 'Ninanajna'.