My top 5 songs for 2010

Here are my top 5 songs for the year. These songs are quite a surprise, plus there seems to be a theme linking most of them.

First of all, a special mention of my most favourite retro song of the year. That goes to the Russian shanson-rock band, the legendary 'Lyube' and their first ever hit 'Atas' (Alert). The band Lyube originate from the satellite city of Lyubertsy, located just outside of Moscow. In the lead up to the 1980 Olympics, Lyubertsy was selected as a place where specialised sports training in wrestling and martial arts would take place, which in turn created an interest in bodybuilding among the young guys of the otherwise desolate place. From this a new culture appeared. A gang of young bodybuilders and martial arts experts known as the 'Lyubers' appeared in Gorbachev-era USSR, who became notorious for routinely venturing into central Moscow and bashing people who appeared to be too 'Western'. Their music, which mixed traditional Russian tunes with hard rock came out with the band Lyube. Also, in keeping with the Lyubers spirit, their songs often drew on imagery and topics from Russian history, while honouring the bodybuilding basis, they would also have quite a few buff and shirtless guys around. They were also the first band to release a CD in the USSR, and their patriotic but catchy tunes instantly drew them a huge fan base that transcended age groups. Their 1989 hit, 'Atas' is about the two main characters, Gleb Zheglov and Volodya Sharapov, from the classic 1979 Russian film 'Mesto vstrechi izmenit nelzya' (You Cannot Change the Rendezvous Point). This film was significant as it starred the talented Vladimir Vysotsky just a year before he died from the effects of alcoholism.

More than 20 years on and Lyube are still performing at a frantic pace (in the 1990s it wasn't uncommon for them to perform 30 concerts a month), and its leader singer Nikolai Rastorguev has been awarded with Russia's highest honour - People's Artist.

So here is Atas. I just like this song as it combines so much that I am fascinated in, plus there's a tinge of nostalgia of a time when the USSR was trying to assert a new and more competitive image of itself which unfortunately did not succeed.


OK, my top 5 songs for 2010.

Number 5 goes to American Idol 8 participant Allison Iraheta for her new wave song 'Friday I'll Be Over You'. Just love it!


Song number 4 is another new wave girl - Israel's Michal Geva with 'Kerach' (Ice). Rock on!


Now the top 3 are really close in the favourite stakes, so it has been hard to choose which one was best out of them. So I have made the hard decision to award the Israeli electro-new wave girls Onili and Yael Deckelbaum with the third spot for their cool song 'Ba Li - Lo Ba Li' (I Feel Like It - I Don't Feel Like It)


Number 2 is, wait for it, electro new wave girls again, but this time it's from Croatia. The group Lollobrigida has this fun and ironic number called 'Volim te' (I Love You). Definitely for anyone who has a thing for Balkan pop culture. The best lines in it how they sing I love you like Krystle and Alexis, Desperate Housewives and how Jovanka (Broz) loves Tito - love them!!!


And my top song for 2010... drumroll... and I am even shocked by this. OK, to hold the suspense, just to let you know that it is not like me not to have so many rock songs as my favourites. As can be judged from my other 'best hits' posts for this year, I love pop-folk from across the Balkans, ex-USSR and Middle East. However, I have been able to shock my partner when I fall in love with a great rock ballad.

In January this year many prominent performers from around ex-Yugoslavia gathered in the Macedonian capital Skopje for a special concert in memory of the late Macedonian pop singer Toše Proeski. A new series of previously unreleased songs, some penned by Proeski himself before he tragically died in a car crash in 2007, were released. One of which was by a Croatian pop-rock singer who I have never ever liked - not a single song - ever! I'm talking about Toni Cetinski. However, when he sang 'Zajedno' (Together), with its positive love lyrics, I was taken away. It's a definite song that will stay with me. So here is Toni Cetinski with 'Zajedno' (and the lyrics so you can sing along)


So there are my top songs for the year. Let's hope that 2011 brings even more happy tunes and moments.

I hope that you have enjoyed and been informed by my posts. I will be back in the new year, and I promise you more Desperate Dictator Housewives and more news, current affairs, pop culture and details about things that don't get that much of an airing (if at all). Happy new year!