Tajik Jimmy is the new Susan Boyle

September 21, 2009 9:02 PM

Tajik Jimmy is the new Susan Boyle.Baimurat Allaberiyev, a diminutive native of Tajikistan, can perform Bollywood show-stoppers as a one-man band, equipped with nothing but an uncanny falsetto and a metal bucket. More of his story here. Here is the original song from the 1983 Bollywood musical Disco Dancer. Previously.
posted by Daddy-O (13 comments total)

Gosh jolly, I heart the internets.
posted by ageispolis at 9:05 PM on September 21

Not to be confused with the late Zámbó Jimmy.
posted by grounded at 9:16 PM on September 21

My Tajik woman, who has just reviewed this footage with me, agrees with my assessment that this man is not Tajik. The guy don't look Tajik, and his name ain't Tajik. We peg him as Kyrgyz or potentially Kazakh, but grant that he might, at a stretch, be from the Regar region along the Uzbek border, populated by Uzbeks and Tatars.

And yes, reading deeper into the links, we are vindicated. Another point for Russian chauvinism - all those cheap labourer untermenschen from the near abroad are Tajiks as far as they are concerned.

They've even got a popular TV comedy about it: Nasha Rasha, in which we make fun of the hairy ignorant ape-men Tajiks.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:19 PM on September 21

My Tajik woman

Uhhh...
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 at 9:28 PM on September 21

Swine flu is the new Susan Boyle.
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:43 PM on September 21

Meatbomb, from the story at the first link:

Allaberiyev -- who is widely known as "Tajik Jimmy" despite the fact that he is actually an ethnic Uzbek.

He's all sorts of awesome, I wish I could wail like that.
posted by jamaro at 9:48 PM on September 21

Allaberiyev -- who is widely known as "Tajik Jimmy" despite the fact that he is actually an ethnic Uzbek --

Allaberiyev spent some time herding sheep in Tajikistan, then picking cotton in more prosperous Kazakhstan.

Cotton Jimmy.
posted by Tube at 9:48 PM on September 21

This is utterly delightful.
posted by salishsea at 10:15 PM on September 21

My Tajik woman, who has just reviewed this footage with me, agrees with my assessment that this man is not Tajik.

What does your Usbek woman say on the matter?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:44 PM on September 21

For all the haters please replace with "my life partner, who happens to be of Tajik ethnicity".

And I should never have shown her this thread, she has gone into a Soviet Bollywood nostalgia binge ever since.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:47 PM on September 21 [3 favorites]

Tajik Jimmy cooks. Tajik Jimmy swings. He's got the look. Tajik Jimmy, he's the king.
posted by Joe Beese at 5:42 AM on September 22

Totally loved that! What fun!
posted by nickyskye at 7:31 AM on September 22

As a Hindi speaker, I just want to add that the accent is spot-on perfect.
posted by Lucubrator at 9:29 AM on September 22