A Brief, Possibly Drug-Induced Peruvian-Chasidic Interlude

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Charles Mann forwarded me this video, along with a post by Alma Guillermoprieto that attempts to explain the video, nearly successfully. I don't know what to make of much anymore, especially this, though I will say it is pleasing to hear Peruvian pop stars singing so happily about Israel, and to see guest appearances by both the Bratslaver Chasidim and the headquarters of the Israeli Defense Ministry in a campy Andean music video:


Guillermoprieto writes:

 In the prologue the Delfín, who likes to begin his socially-conscious music videos with similar scenes, is shown relaxing in his living room, watching the news. In this case, the faces on the screen express their doubts about Israel as a tourist destination. "There could be bombs in the street," one woman says. "It scares me." The Delfín springs to his feet in outrage at this distortion: "This cannot be!" he cries, and the Andean disco/huayno beat kicks in. "Israel, Israel," the singers chant in the chorus, How pretty Israel is! Israel, Israel In your lands one day I'll dance. Once viewers have finished admiring the costumes (The detailing on the Delfín's fly, the Tigresa's metallic bodysuit), the changing backdrops (an Andean village with wandering camels, an underwater scuba-diver waving at the camera), the ebullient dancing, and so much more, an inevitable question arises: who are these people?
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Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and a recipient of the National Magazine Award for Reporting. Author of the book Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror, Goldberg also writes the magazine's advice column. More

Before joining The Atlantic in 2007, Goldberg was a Middle East correspondent, and the Washington correspondent, for The New Yorker. Previously, he served as a correspondent for The New York Times Magazine and New York magazine. He has also written for the Jewish Daily Forward, and was a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.

His book Prisoners was hailed as one of the best books of 2006 by the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The Progressive, Washingtonian magazine, and Playboy. Goldberg rthe recipient of the 2003 National Magazine Award for Reporting for his coverage of Islamic terrorism. He is also the winner of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists prize for best international investigative journalist; the Overseas Press Club award for best human-rights reporting; and the Abraham Cahan Prize in Journalism. He is also the recipient of 2005's Anti-Defamation League Daniel Pearl Prize.

In 2001, Goldberg was appointed the Syrkin Fellow in Letters of the Jerusalem Foundation, and in 2002 he became a public-policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

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