Hymns of No Resistance features classic and cult pop songs revised to address issues of territorial dispute, language and geopolitics within greater Eurasia. Here Stuck in Ossetia with You (originally Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel) looks at the recent Russian-Georgian conflict.
The repertoire includes an adaptation of Michael Sembello’s Flashdance track She’s a Maniac comes She’s Armenian, replacing the struggles of an aspiring dancer with those of a diaspora Armenian. Meanwhile, Young Kurds – a retelling of Rod Stewart’s Young Turks – tells the story of Massoud and Shirin, a Kurdish couple trying to carve out their own identity, while Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off (from the Gershwin original) debates not the pronunciation of produce, but rather the contested names of cities resulting from historical conflicts.