Dana International VCD's!

Dana International

VCD 16-30 (1)

On a large, light-rich stage, Dana -- in her best Aphrodite finery and Bettie Page hairdo -- performs "Diva" in a relatively straightforward way. She's got the usual four backup vocalists with her, but this time they all stay strangely motionless...maybe because the stage is so big, and if Dana did too much jumping around she'd rip the train of her dress.

The vocal performances are pretty good on this version, particularly during the soaring bridge, where Dana and one of the backup singers keep admirably in tune (not trying anything crazy...just singing it like it is on the regular single version). As nice as the vocals are, however, there's very little soul...though the audience graciously applaud her at the end, after a somewhat reserved and uncharacteristically solemn bow.

It's hard to see what's going on in this one sometimes, as the bands of interference and blotchy colour obscure some of the details, particularly since the camera never seems to zoom in very much on Dana or the singers. But since there doesn't seem to be anything visually spectacular about this performance -- except for her dress, of course -- the poor quality of the recording doesn't cause me too much pain.

Aha, here's the Dana I love, bouncing around on stage in her pink tube dress with her two backup dancers (sporting somewhat distracting fluorescent white & lime shorts and crotch bulges). The audience is clapping and shrieking, and take a look at the backup musicians for a second...usually they appear bored (since they're not doing anything, after all), but for once they're grinning and having fun. It must be a thankless task pretending to play drums to a Dana International song. The least they can do is smile.

A particularly cute moment (excuse me, I'm always watching what goes on in the background): after a somewhat raunchy bit of grinding-up-at-Dana, the omnipresent dancer Shmulik Sa'aida walks away and self-consciously pulls down the butt of his shorts when he thinks nobody (me) is looking. Aww, who would have thought he was shy? I also get a kick out of the seemingly stoned (or just overwhelmed) young girl in the audience who puts her heart and soul into singing along (fortunately, you can't hear her).

This is definitely one of the more enjoyable -- and high-quality -- clips on the VCD's. It's vivacious and bubbly and everything I expect Dana is like in a live show.

From the same show as the previous clip, Dana proves that she really CAN sound like a rooster without any studio trickery. A more "with-it" vocal rendition of Maganona than the version on VCD1, this time she seems to have it all worked out. Growling, squeaking, clucking, and crowing...good job, Ms. International! Say hi to that eggplant for me!

Just when things are getting good, though, the show is invaded by a credit roll which partially obscures much of the second half of the song, including what looks like a very captivating "kukuruku-riku" stage jog on behalf of Dana and her boys. At the end of the song I think she's saying thanks to Haifa, and the camera pulls back to reveal that this show is on an outdoor stage. For some reason there's a little red car parked in front of the audience.

Even stranger than the car is a picture of Bambi that appears after the show is finished. I can think of no rational explanation for this. But then, that's nothing compared to what's coming up next...

Dana pauses to wonder how all of this happened.

This must be from some kind of wacky Israeli TV special or something, because both this number and the next two are full of "extras" in outrageous costumes. Since the final song is (I suspect) a prayer said on Purim -- a day where, among other things, people wear disguises -- I think that Dana was taking part in a Purim special for these clips.

Spurred on by two men in glittery bondage masks and silver chaps, a gigantic pregnant bat-woman gives birth to Dana International who is dressed...well, sort of like a chicken. And wow does she look good. Believe me, for sheer weirdness you do not want to miss this clip.

Wait, not strange enough, you say? Don't worry, Dana is joined on stage by her dancers, an overweight woman with a rubber chicken, a kinky nurse, a female doctor with a buzz cut, two belly dancers, and a guy who looks like one of the three wise men (coming out at the end to accost her). They all engage in some very cool synchronized dancing, and it's nice to see her strutting her stuff with such a large, bizarre and talented group.

"Don Quixote...what's with the bedpan on your head?"

This song has always confused me a bit, and makes me wonder if the songwriters actually know who Don Quixote was (a very deluded, confused, comical, pathetic, fictional old man). With nothing to do with Cinderella, incidentally (I don't believe that Dulcinea could be considered a Cinderella metaphor, somehow). The picturization of this song further convinces me that all anybody associated with it knows was that Don Quixote was Spanish, and since Spanish is sexy and romantic, Don Quixote must have been too. Hmm.

All of that aside, this is quite a lavish and pretty clip, somewhat more restrained than the previous one but still pretty weird. Dana arrives, carried in by her (nipple-pierced) dancers, accompanied by two confetti-tossing angels in feathery bikinis and a bunch of flamenco dancers and a bullfighter (who I think is supposed to be Don Quixote!) They do a quick bit of choreography (quick because the instrumental bridge has been shortened).

Basically a sweet and dramatic picturization of the song, with emphasis on the "drama." I wish Dana had done some more of these "lots of extras in costumes" numbers. But Purim only comes once a year...

A "Maganona" flashback during the credits.

I'm really out of my depth here. This is not a Dana song I've heard before, and I can't find the title in any google searches on the internet, but I DID find references to "Shoshanat Yaakov," a prayer recited during the festival of Purim. This might explain the elaborate costumes worn by the people in the videos. Most of the outfits are combinations of the ones from the previous two clips, though there is a Viking in there somewhere...

Sadly, the video portion of the song shrinks down to a tiny size in order to accommodate the rolling credits and various clips from the TV special: a belly dancer, a contortionist, and other wacky characters. Must have been quite a show.

This isn't a bad song...the actual "Shoshanat Yahakob" portion is a little dry, but it frequently segues into Betula, which seems to be the base that it was built on ("Ticka-ticka tacki!") and there are some neat percussive clappy moments near the end. I wonder why Ofer & Dana never released it...?

Like some of the other clips on these VCD's, "Yesnan Banot" alternates between black & white and colour...but this time it's supposed to. An inexpensive (or at least, it aims to appear inexpensive, with changes in film stock and jagged cuts) little video featuring Dana -- in a similar style to the cover of the Umpatampa album -- singing and dancing through a diverse crowd of people: brides, shoppers, orthodox Jews, and what may or may not be club girls or street prostitutes. She is extremely cute prancing through the crowd, followed always by her faithful sidekick Shmulik, playing...an accordion.

I'm no accordion expert, but I suspect he hasn't taken any lessons. Other than watching her dance around and trying to spot Shmulik playing a chord, not much happens...she briefly marches with a small marching band and primps for the camera an awful lot.

All-in-all a wonderful, carefree video that sums up the song nicely, I think. How Dana manages to push her way through the crowd -- all engaging in back & forth choreography and blinded by a spotlight -- is truly a marvel.

Dana appears (for a split second) on a show introducing what appears to be an "alternate" version of the Chinquemilla video (see clip 10 for the one I'm more familiar with). Visually, it's exactly the same as the other version but without some of the nifty "flame" effects (burning eyes, lightning, etc.) Still a nice clip but I'm fondest of the other one (so I'll describe the video in that writeup), and of the other version of the song as well.

This remix is a bit sparser, more echoey, and it doesn't have the same dancefloor punch to it. It sounds more like a trance song as opposed to a sharp rave song. Most of the keyboard lines have been removed and replaced with drones (or punchier drums). I haven't heard this particular version on any of her releases so I don't know if it is available anywhere, but I'm not too enchanted with it. There is a nice "space" theme sort of sound that comes in during the "rhythm...rhythm" middle portion, though, which is neat. Incidentally this portion of the song has been cut slightly in this version, and has a much louder keyboard hit.

It is particularly weird to see her staring down at the wires of her microphone near the end WITHOUT the lightning coming out of her eyes...but then, much stranger things happen in the video anyway...