Russian Agit-Pop Video by Lyapis Trubetskoy
from WFMU’s Beware of the Blog by Station Manager KenSucker that I am for propaganda imagery, I couldn’t resist this video by the Belarus band Lyapis Trubetskoy for their song “Kapital.” Click the image for the streaming video from their (Russian) site:
(Link.)
I can only make out “Kapital” and “Marx.” Mikhail, can you translate this bad boy for us in the comments? Or at least an overall summary. 🙂
No problem. Here’s a quick and dirty:
I eat for dinner gold nuggets
and for diamond dessert
cream of oil
My name is Beelzebub
master of the stratosphere
I am unbelievably “cool”
Respect me without bounds
Right hand “Snickers,” left hand “Mars”
My PR manager is Karl Marx
Capital
I eat cities, wash them down with seas
My beard obscures the sky
Thunder, lightning, fog and rains
Ministers and leaders lick my boots
That’s the bulk of it. I couldn’t make out some of the words of the last part of the the very last refrain which begins with “my face is Madonna . . .” — I’ll try to post the rest later.
Here’s the last part:
My face is Madonna, inside rotten pears
All kneel! Orchestra: flourish.
Capital.
Very cool, Mikhail. So given the jist of political figures that accompany these lyrics, is the song attacking the current state of radical politicians like Castro, Chavez, etc. ? Are they, given the lyrics and images, selling out to the God of Capital in their own ways -with Marx as their PR manager? I’m interested to think what a band from Belarus has to say about the current state of the political world. Interesting that the concentration of images deals with the current state leaders that are in some ways at odds with the US. While, at the same time the “global” cities like Moscow, NYC, Tokyo, and London are highlighted repeatedly. I wonder how folks are reading this music video now that the lyrics are in.
this is a great song/video. thanks for posting the translation. my read on the imagery and lyrics is that it is a critique of “fake” socialist leaders who have been seduced by the fruits of capitalism and militarism. but that is just my interpretation. i’d love to read more about the band if anybody can provide any information.
That’s a sound reading, kpunk. Seems like they are focusing on these figures, and the bizarre assortment of objects, guns, flowers, oil, cigars, etc. associated with makes that reading even more convincing. Also, as a sidenote, you’re site is very cool!
I’d have to agree that their point is that these latter-day socialist leaders like Chavez or Lukashenka of Belarus, who’s a tyrant, are sell-outs at heart, with Snickers bars in the left hand and Marx as their PR manager.
The oil wells make me think of how dependent Europe is now on Russia, getting about a quarter of its gas, and even more of its oil from Russia, and dependent upon it.
mikhail> could you give us the russian lyrics in phonetic (latin letters)please? ’cause i don’t hear realy good as i don’t understand anything in russian… ^^