Watch: Mandinga Release New Video: “Bling”

Romania’s Eurovision 2012 entrants, Latin band Mandinga, has released their new video for the summer hit “Bling”, which is heavy on, well, bling, but also Oriental beats and general summer hotness.

Mandinga singer Elena Ionescu, Eurovision Next Top Model 2012, is gorgeous as ever on 20-cm heels. She kind of reminds us of Nicole Scherzinger during her Pussycat Dolls days. Speaking of pussycats, a grumpy Sphynx cat offers an interesting, although unnecessary counterbalance to Elena’s beauty. Besides the cat, the singer is joined in the video by her fellow band members and by Muneer, a former “Romania’s Got Talent” contestant hailing from the United Arab Emirates.

“Bling” marks a departure from the Latin music that Mandinga has become famous for, towards a more Oriental sound. Maybe the fact that the band is huge in Azerbaijan after it finished 12th with “Zaleilah” at the Eurovision Grand Final in Baku last year has something to do with it?

Mandinga was even praised today by the Romanian prime-minister Victor Ponta, who is visiting the country. “I was pleased to hear from our ambassador that Mandinga is very famous and popular here. Maybe we should include it in the economic debates, to ensure the success of the Romanian counterpart,” he joked.

However, Mandinga is also highly regarded in the jazz world. The band has been included in this year’s line up of the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, which includes names like Prince, Devendra Banhart and Diana Krall, and will hold a concert there on the 15th of July.

So what do you think about Mandinga’s new video and the new direction that the new band seems to be taking?

Bogdan Honciuc is a Romania-based correspondent for WiwiBloggs.com.
You can follow him on Twitter @stingovision.