04 October 2008

Slovensko Má Talent - Slovakia's Got Talent

I've seen one or two episodes of America's Got Talent, with Jerry Springer and Sharon Osborne and various trained dogs, cute kids who sing, and breakdancing crews.

The Slovak version has all of that, plus some 'folksier' (though that word now has a bad connotation, thanks to Sarah Palin) elements. For example, a Roma folk group from Kežmarok in which the lead person introduced everyone as "This is my cousin, Sílvia. And this is also my cousin, Mária. And this is also my cousin, Lubo. And this is also my cousin, ..." Also quite impressive was a 40-year old man who was able to chug a pint of beer while also doing a handstand, then chug another pint standing up, and finally begin to sing a song extolling the virtues of beer. One of the judges then asked, "Sy ženatý? -- Are you married?" Somehow, it wasn't a surprise that he was not. If I had to guess, I'd say that the Slovak version has an exponentially higher number of accordions per hour, on average (I think I counted 4), than the American version, including one 6 year-old girl playing and singing -- supercute.

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