The 1980s are alive and well and living in Moldova!
…well, not forgetting France. And Sweden.

With their mix of rhythmic electronica and wistful vocals, the French group AIR seem to be the natural inheritors of ‘80s electro-pop. http://www.intairnet.org/ On the other hand, if you want a blast of up-tempo 80s-style electro dance music, the Swedish group, Alcazar is hard to beat. Their online Media Room has a great selection of their videos online plus a library of free downloadable MP3 remixes of their hits including some fine versions of The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me.

But my personal vote for The Spirit Of The 80s goes to the Moldovan ‘boy band’, O-Zone. You may be familiar with the Internet cult song known as the Numa Numa Dance, in which the American teenager, Gary Brolsma, mimes Romanian lyrics into his webcam http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/numa.php. Entertaining as this video may be, the original video by the group themselves is better. According to an O-Zone fan site http://fan.edgeofnight.net/ddt/ the ‘theme ‘ of this video is the 1980s. If you watch it you may spot a few ‘guest appearances; from ‘80s icons such as Freddy Krueger.

The song itself is very much in the ‘80s spirit of, say, Duran Duran or Bros. But it definitely isn’t just a rip-off of other bands. O-Zone are real originals and, of all contemporary groups, they are one of my personal favourites - even if I have no idea what the lyrics mean! Watch their video on Yahoo http://search.uk.music.yahoo.com/search/?m=all&p=o-zone or download it from the video director’s site (this may be a slow download) at: http://www.moldovanin.com/ .
Man, the numa numa, on albinoblacksheep. com is funny shit! its awesome!!!
Becky Millman () - 12 06 06 - 19:02