Friday, November 30, 2007

Lost in Translation

I am being oppressed by my own body. Here I am, in Barcelona, and I am deathly ill. I arrived at about 2pm and went to my hotel. After settling in, I went to a nearby pharmacy to get meds. Seeing as I didn´t know what anything meant, I went to the pharmacist and explained my symptoms in Spanish. "No sé que necesito. ¿Que Ud. cree?" I asked her politely. She gave me something or the other that I was to dissolve in water and drink completely.

I felt quite accomplished, having found medical attention in a foreign land. I took a walk around, went to grab some tapas (my jam and my jump-off), then returned to my hotel to medicate and sleep. While I waited for the disgusting medication to set in, I watched a show called "Amar en Tiempos Revueltos," which I figured out after about 20 minutes was an hour-long period drama set in 1920s/1930s España. It was about 5:15 pm when I started to fade-- just when Julieta told Alejandro that their love affair had to end.

Cut to 5am the next day. I am awake in my hotel room, after a lengthy 12-hour siesta.

Unsure of what to do, I turned on the boob tube, in hopes of watching another Spanish jam. I turned to channel 10, which was showing music videos-- in English! Missing my native tongue, I eagerly watched Sean Paul, Christina Aguilera, and Timbaland as my mind came to.

Suddenly, the television cut to a commercial, and I discovered I was watching a Dutch station (these hotels are so multi-culti). The next video was something foreign, and I was too weakened from illness to change the channel, so I watched. What proceeded to assault my eyes is unlike anything I have ever seen. Still physically oppressed, I dragged myself from my bed to the hotel computer to share this with you, gentle reader.

The group is called FETTES BROT, and they are a German hip hop group. According to Wikipedia, " ´Fettes Brot´is German for FAT BREAD. Although "fat" is a German slang term for "excellent", the phrase has no meaning at all. The band took the name from a fan who called them "Fettes Brot" after an early gig, which was probably meant as a compliment, but the members considered it so bizarre that they took it as the name for their new group. Fettes Brot's longevity has meant that it is sometimes referred to as "Hamburg's hip-hop-dinosaurs" by its members."

Um, hip-hop dinosaurs? Did they forget who they were appropriating? The title of the song I had the pleasure of viewing was "Nordisch by Nature"!
I kid. you. not.
Do not confuse this jam with the early 90s group "Naughty by Nature" and their hit jam OPP. Looks like Fettes Brot got down with some other people´s property!

For once, I do not think my skills as a woman of color and writer can do this song justice. I will simply embed the video so you can see for yourselves, and experience what I thought was another fever-induced hallucination.
It wasn´t.

2 comments:

Nina said...

Holy Carp!
I really enjoy Fettes Brot, particularly that song. Guess who introduced them to me?
Being sick in a foreign country is no fun. Is it just a regular bug?
-N

Nina said...

And now, having watched the video -- Jesus that must have been disorienting!
The song (according to Johann) is sung by a number of different German artists in all different German accents. How weird that you saw it in Spain...
-N