Karma Chameleons

A close friend is off to Prague for a week, which prompts me to find a Croatian-Czech connection for today's showbiz snippet. There's only one choice: Karma.

Karma (est. 2001) are a Croatian two-guys-and-a-girl dance band on the successful model of Colonia (est. 1997). Everywhere's got one, whether they let on or not: Lloret del Mar style Eurodisco with a hint of turbofolk, or whatever it was that jet-skied into their synthesiser at top speed. On their last album, they even took the DJ Sammy route and included a dance cover of Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer. Last year, long-legged lead singer Tara was ever-present in the Croatian gossip weeklies to show off her new nose.

They're arguably also one of Croatian entertainment's most successful exports, and knock up number 1s in the Czech Republic and Slovakia with inexplicable frequency. (Not to mention Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro, ie. the places any self-respecting Croatian star/let needs to have gone.)

Inexplicable, that is, until you visit the Adriatic at any point in summertime and find it full to the brim with Czech tourists. Reportedly, up to a million holidaying Czechs now flit south to Croatia every year. They hear Malo pomalo or Zemljotres endlessly at the beach bar, go home, send the album gold, buy the DVDs, flock to their Czech concerts, and generally make the Croatian balance of payments look that little bit more optimistic.

Yes: they're the Czech Vengaboys. And they're proud of it, too.

The Gazette realises, too late, that it has just brought a Karma cover version of Karma Chameleon on the world...