In Your Face-Disguise

Through the Roof n' Underground- Gogol Bordello

When there is trap set up for you
In every corner of this town
And so you learn the only way to go is underground
When there is a trap set up for you
In every corner of your room
And so you learn the only way to go is through the roof

Ohoh, through the roof, underground
Ohoh, through the roof, underground

And we crossing border after border
We realize the difference is none
It's underdogs who, and if you want it
You always have to make your own fun

And as the upperdog leisurely sighing
The local cultures are dying and dying
The programmed robots are buying and buying
Secluded freaks they are still trying, trying

Just like their meanings they lay between the lines
Between the borders their real countries hide
Their strategies, they advertise
Their strategy of being is one of in-your-face disguise

I listened to this song a lot when I was writing my last thesis. I thought about quoting it but I never found a good place for it. I just wanted to post part of the lyrics which touch on a lot of the things I've been thinking about when it comes to East-West relations, culture and displacement. When Gogol Bordello got popular some years ago, I remember how strange it was to actually be able to connect this music to my eastern European background. This was, in a way, my music. Originally from Ukraine, now based in New York, Gogol Bordello are displaced, enticing the West with their charming hybrid-music, and in the end bringing it back East again. Full circle.