I cross post The Daily Music Break at Daily Kos, a political/cultural site. In December, I did a post on the influential ska/reggae band The Skatalites. A comment there pointed to a Slovkian band called Polemic. The usual sources of information — Wikipedia and AllMusic — have next to nothing. I finally found a MyPage listing and the band’s website. Neither of those were fonts of enlightenment.
In any case, they do a terrific version of Jimmy Cliff’s You Can Get it if You Really Want, below. But if you only have time to check out one video, please choose the one above, entitled Svetlá Mesta. My universal knowledge of language — actually, Google Translate — reveals that it indeed is Slovak and means “city lights.” It’s a great song — though I don’t understand a word of it. Please check it out. The video (and presumably the words) actually tells the story of an old man being picked up by a couple of beautiful young girls.
The band identifies themselves as in the reggae/ska category. Svetlá Mesta has a Latin feel to it. I almost felt like I was listening to something from The Buena Vista Social Club, especially after the first minute or so.
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