Many political scientists have drawn an analogy between the 1993 dissolution of the former Czechoslovakia and the 1974 breakup of Sonny and Cher, wherein the Czech Republic surprised the world by developing a vibrant economy, becoming a mecca for young European entrepreneurs, dating KISS bassist Gene Simmons, winning an Oscar for its standout performance in Moonstruck and scoring a club hit with "Believe"—while its former partner, Slovakia, careened rapidly downhill until it collided with a tree.

Oddly it was Slovakia who got custody of happy-go-lucky hippie chick Sui Vesan, whose latest release on the World Village label, Merging with the Brook (or, as it's known to the rest of us, "drowning"), is astonishingly upbeat despite the fact that her homeland is basically a hazardous waste dump with a border. Sui seems content to strum her guitar or pluck her kalimbo (it's a type of thumb piano, you sick pervert) while chirping out pleasant little unpretentious tunes in a wonderful voice that combines a uniquely feral quality with a hint of grittiness, a sure sign that Sui's macrobiotic diet hasn't precluded her from smoking three packs a day. Sui is accompanied in this joyous revelry by her buddy, Rado Spicka, who bangs on pieces of scrap metal—no doubt scavenged from old, Soviet-era tanks—with a stick.

The CD also includes of video of Sui walking in the woods and explaining her philosophy of life (which seems to boil down to "plants are good"). Meanwhile, there's Rado, in a clear violation of the Warsaw Pact, hitting things with that stick.

AID!

While I'm certain the U.S. has already established a secret prison or two in Slovakia, as long as this bleak and hostile land can still produce a plucky, uncomplicated spirit like Sui Vesan, we should properly thank its hardy inhabitants by providing each and every one of them with a guitar, a kalimbo and a stick.