Geordies Go Global

My recently arrived niece Maya is half-Geordie (for our international readers that is someone who comes from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne) but living in London. So she will expected to be rightly proud of her cultural heritage yet at the same time entirely at ease with the cosmopolitan ways of 21st century London.

This may be a tricky balance to strike. In an effort to help her do so, here is an example of how it can be done. Take an old Geordie classic like "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by The Animals and give it a sort of Gypsy/ Middle Eastern remake. The end result is "Lolole" by Alabina, a French based group consisting of some Spanish gypsies fronted by an Israeli Jew of Moroccan descent. And very good it is too.

Here are both versions:

http://www.box.net/shared/qgs41gcl9x

I think it certainly works better than the hairiest member of Lindisfarne attempting what appears to be an Italian accent at about 1:15 in this rendition of the Geordie National Anthem from 1971:



Or indeed these Geordie attempts at a Caribbean accent from a few years earlier: