Michael Jackson dies aged 50: eastern EU grab their crotch in tribute
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On 25 June, the king of pop died after a cardiac arrest in LA. He remains a firm musical reference for the 'eurogeneration’ growing up in the seventies and eighties. Ukrainian folk rock, Lithuania’s late MJ and Bulgaria’s Wacko Jacko wannabe – soundtrack tribute in videos
Ukraine: ‘Black or White’ by Selo and Ludy
The Ukrainian folk rock cover band transform the 1991 hit song thanks to the help of an accordion and balailaika, a Russian string instrument
Bulgaria: ‘Bad’ by a baker on ‘Music Idol’
Nicknamed ‘the Michael Jackson of the croissants’, baker Trifon Aleksandrov did his best impression of the 1987 hit Bad. Watch him bash out his shoulder-popping Bulgenglish on the 2008 version of the popular music show version of Britain’s ‘Pop Idol’ here
Lithuania’s own Michael Jackson
Copyright didn’t exist in the soviet era, so 'Wacko Jacko''s songs (as the British media branded him) were often ‘freely translated’. However Rolandas Janavicius didn't cover MJ songs himself. The lead singer of the band Rondo was simply known as the ‘Lithuanian Michael Jackson’, inspired as he was with his long locks and airy fabrics. Janavicius also lived a short life, dying of cancer aged 37 in 2007
Plus a cafebabel.com favourite
Additional reporting fromTeodora KostadinovaandDaiva Repeckaitein Sofia and Vilnius