Magyarorszag: The Song, The Style, The Women…

This entry is supposed to somewhat complement my previous post on Diskoteka Boom and Romanian ‘comparative advantages’ in such products, bringing up fundamental differences in marketing and branding strategies in Romania and respectively, Hungary.

To have more a clear idea of what I am talking about, compare this Romanian very popular (well marketed…) clip (could not find a full version of Diskoteka Boom, except some ‘freaky fun’ of 25 secs, freaky indeed) with this Hungarian one (increasingly popular as well) (thanks to Tihi– very unfortunately, my Hungarian has not yet evolved enough for me to understand Tihi’s own opinion about the clips there- but that is second to my goal here). I’ll tell you in advance my opinion of ‘Magyarorszag’ and I’ll let you guess what I think about ‘Iubirea mea suprema’ (btw, who the f… is this Carmen Serban- neither voice, nor compensatory qualities) one : I think our Hungarian friends have style and talent: the melody and setup are superb (forget for a moment the political intro in the clip above, I do not think the essence is – or should be- about that or any other political issue)- and the lyrics (see an English translation– both versions found by Dan) are good as well, particularly considering the title of the song and what could have been its content (yep, Hungarians do as well have their extreme types (political characters in particular), just as we do, I am not so sure though who has more…) and just imagining what a similar idea in Romania would turn into (and I really but really want somebody to prove me wrong here). And on a very personal note (perhaps not so personal, as some of my readers can testify :-)), they do have some of the most beautiful women in the world, certainly the highest population average in terms of female beauty, for all I can tell (I confess I didn’t necessarily need this videoclip to get a confirmation of an opinion I hold for a very long time now). Anyway, do all the comparisons and then come back and talk to me about ‘de gustibus’ if you feel like it.
More: the artist who sings the original version of the song (see here a ‘live’ version, here a videoclip), Olah Ibolya , has an amazing voice that more than compensates for her English (mis)pronunciation (I also thought this duet was great).

Maybe my Romanian people will understand that marketing Adrian ‘the Wunderkind’ and Carmen Serban is a loss in the long run (I think it is a loss at any moment, btw), as the market will prove. So it’s time to think about something else. I suggest you try- in this context- with (only mass, leave the ‘elitist’ for now, since Dan might get angry) products such as Vama Veche or Paula Selling (Phoenix worked pretty well until recently, at least in the Eastern European space, at least among the ones slighly knowledgeable). And if you want somewhat more (or better: another alternative), you might want to listen to the Balanescu Quartet or Ada Milea- or better, package them together (and don’t throw me that elitist critique again, I do not think there was anything at all about elitism throughout this whole post…). Goes without saying, this is de gustibus, but certainly I am the one person most open to suggestions. It’s not so difficult to do much better than ‘Diskoteka Boom’ or ‘Iubirea mea suprema’, we’ve got plenty of talent. The point is to use it!

P.S.1. Anybody who knows of any Hungarian ‘music’ genre that would drive me nuts such as the Romanian ‘neomanele’ do? I am very curious. I am mostly aware of music that I find close to amazing, such as, for instance, that of Anima Sound System.

P.S.2. I have a time allocation explanation à la Gary Becker for the fact that the ‘manele’ are so popular relative to other genres, despite that they sound… like they sound. But about that, with another occasion.

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9 thoughts on “Magyarorszag: The Song, The Style, The Women…”

  2. Augustin, you should then spend more time in Budapest :-).<BR/><BR/>As for the Romanian music, nobody suggested gov intervention (least so myself), I believe. This was much more about some people overpromoting "manele" etc (I had several articles and posts and comments on that kind of ideas, so I will not get into it again) rather than letting the market do its job. That genre never conquered the

  4. This is a very nice post, I am very glad to come upon it. I am delighted that some people think this way about Hungary and Hungarian girls and Hungarian music. <BR/><BR/>A Hungarian fan of yours

  5. @ Koloszvari: I am sure there are. And I would invite you to give me some clear-cut examples, for I could not find any that give me the same feeling of vomiting as the Romanian counterpart. I am willing to experiment some more :-).

  6. Belive it or not, there is HUNGARIAN MANELE also!!!!<BR/>Talking about cultural exchange 🙂

  7. Andrea, thanks for your visit to my blog and your post. I now have the coordinates of your (various!) blogs and website (including your songs or samples of them- by the way excellent site organization) and will of course listen to them. I might answer with a blogpost with some impressions, if time would permit.<br /><br />Happy New Year to you to and lots of success in the music business!

  8. Hello, as a singer from Hungary, I am glad that you have such a high opinion about Hungarian music and women :-)<br /><br />You can also listen to my songs, I would be curious to know your opinion. <br /><br />Happy new year!

  9. Romanian branding through music… As a mainstream option (Paula Seling could be mainstream, Ada Milea don’t think so, I mean not yet) I’d go for a Romanian Rammstein or a Romanian System of a Down or a Romanian Slipknot. Unfortunately we don’t have either of them. There’s zero creativity in heavy music in Romania (not metal, just heavy, downtuned guitars , heavy bass and stuff) and even if there

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