Search - Rednex :: Sex & Violins

Leave it to the Swedes to feed us back only the best of American kitsch. The gimmick: Techno as made by country bumpkins, bluegrass house music. Utterly dumb, but thoroughly enjoyable. Even a little subversive, perhaps, given the international smash hit "Cotton-Eye Joe," a helplessly catchy disco reworking of an age-old traditional folk tune, slyly coded, and implying what? "Had it not been for Cotton-Eye Joe / I'd been married long time ago." Maybe a botched abortion, maybe venereal disease; either way, a hot-button still today. But don't be mistaken, any political sentiment is almost certainly unintentional. Rednex is all joke, from the banjos and fiddles to the sequencers and drum loops. On a level with the Village People (anyone say subversive?), the Rednex were concocted by producer Pat Reiniz, recorded with a cast of studio musicians, and fronted by five hillbilly role players. Though Rednex fails when it deviates from the formula, it more often works on the knowledge that bluegrass and techno share a fast and steady beat, and can thus stand fusion. It also succeeds simply because it's never been done before (not unless you count Malcolm McLaren or Big Audio Dynamite). Besides, wasn't it obvious that square dance and rave were on a cultural collision course from the start? --Roni Sarig