Okay, folks. By now we’ve all consumed Thanksgiving dinner, which, in the world of Cammy, means it is now kosher to make with the jingle bells and crank up the Christmas tunes.
For those few of you who may not have known both members of My TV, My Peanut Butter for Christmases past, the official kick-off song of our holiday playlist is an obscure and hilarious bit by a fellow called Kølig Kaj. The song is “Kaj i kanen” but we prefer to simply call it “Juleman.” Not familiar with this Christmas ditty? Allow me to explain it very, very simply:
Danish.
Santa.
Rap.
The only source I know of for the song is a European compilation known as Absolute Christmas 2–an album I’m still trying to get my hands on. You see, the entry of this piece in our lives had a lot to do with shared files on a campus network which resulted in completely random things ending up on one’s hard drive. Most of them were things long ago ditched, but in the midst of all the renditions of “Jingle Bells” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” something as unique as Danish Santa Rap is an absolute gem that you can’t allow to escape.
I love remakes, new takes, variations and alternative renditions of all kids of Christmas music, but even my love for hearing a new take on an old tune gets tried by mid December. It’s a shame there aren’t more explorations of funky jewels from non-English speaking sources. So, gentle readers, before you berate the repetitive nature of Christmas tune-age this holiday season, give a shot at branching out into new and uncharted territory, and when you find your own Juleman, share it with good friends and spread the multi-cultural holiday cheer.
And if Christmas isn’t your thing, then break out the sounds of the winter holiday of your choice and share with the class already. What? We’ve heard all about baby Jesus already–give us something else to work with here!
Danish Santa Rap is out, as is the rest of my Christmas music collection. It’s nonstop holiday goodness at Casa Mary. Decor goes up this week.