To mark my centenary post (ok, and I'm bored off my tits) I've decided to ask you all for foreign music recommendations. I've recently been listening to Arash. He's an Iranian bloke who moved to Sweden when he was 10 or thereabouts. I like Temptation best, featuring Rebecca - some Swedish girl who sings the chorus in english. He sings in Persian. It's a .mov for anyone wondering. video of 'temptation' Belanova - Tus Ojos is another favourite. video - 'Tus Ojos' It's flash, but there's a 'watch .wmv' option if you want it on the page. Os Mutantes have found a slot in my car thanks to someone on these forums suggesting them in the Incredible Sex. thread. Thanks. What are your favourite foreign songs? (Part of the song must be sung in a language other than English Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!)
mumij trol. ukrainian rock singer...kind of like a mixture of frank zappa and kurt cobain, in russian.
That's a fun song. They play it a lot on the Spanish language cable radio stations. How about a Spanish song with parts of it sung in Arabic, will that do? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Ojos Así by Shakira.
Reminiscences: Back in the 1950s and 60s there was a small but steady stream of foreign music on American pop radio. "Nel Blu di Pinto di Blu," which is known in America as "Volare," is still a staple of lounge singers, but there were many Italian songs before that. The Italian community had a big presence in the music industry back then--Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Louie Prima, etc.--so I guess it was natural that they'd bring over music from the old country. There were also songs in German: "Die Liechtensteiner Polka" and "Morgen" were big hits. And French: "Chanson D'amour," "Dominique." One Japanese tune even made it, I don't know the real name but they retitled it "Sukiyaki" over here and you sometimes can still hear it when the Japanese team walks onto the field at the Olympics. I don't know what happened then. Suddenly the British Invasion happened, which was a breath of fresh air, but not only were they singing in English, many appeared to be striving to affect American accents. Rock and roll was the only music (even country and western became an offshoot of rock by then) and English was the only language for rock and roll. Foreign bands like ABBA, Kraftwerk, the Scorpions, Krokus and Roxette got airplay, even on MTV, but they all sang in English. Sometimes ridiculously bad English! There's a ton of rock and roll being sung in Spanish now, but you'd never know by listening to the U.S. Top Forty. They've even got Shakira doing arena ballads in English, which is a damn shame.
Die Toten Hosen are great if you like German punk music. Their album "Auswaertsspiel" is extremely good. Rammstein, Megahertz, Eisbrecher if you want German industrial metal. There are a ton of good Finnish metal bands, also.
Sigur Rós is a band from Iceland that is supposedly very popular over there and with many people that enjoy ambient music.
Sigur Rós (Icelandic). Einstürzende Neubauten (German). Nick Cave (Australian). But I presume by 'foreign' you mean African or Asian people singing about oppression and lost love for the appreciation of trainee social workers who drink fair trade coffee and knit their own muesli. God I hate 'world' music, it makes me vomit.
If you like Os Mutantes, then you might also be interested in Chico Science and Nacao Zumbi. Of course, Jorge Ben trumps them all Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! His Africa Brasil album is pure musical genius, same with the 1969 album. Though you'll never see Jorge on a 'greatest guitarist of all-time' list, he's a better than songwriter Page, Hendrix, Santana and any other technically oriented guitarist.
I love Bebel Gilberto. Brazilian bossa nova. I also like some Arabic songs like Tamally Maak by Amr Diab and Gafsa by Natacha Atlas.
I love Céline Dion's French-language songs. And that's the way her name is spelled on those CDs. She's a different person in her native language. And without the Hollywood Machine choosing the material and micromanaging the production, it's a whole different repertoire, with a good dose of blues, folk, and Euro-techno. She maintains a dual career, playing in Paris and Montreal, not just scavenging old Laura Branigan songs like "The Power of Love" and "Unison." I don't know if she's been able to keep it up since she got her own casino. She may have finally sold out. What a shame, for the chanteuse who was once hailed as "the next Edith Piaf."
if she took the title of the "next edith piaf", i would be forced to hunt her down and kill her. she cannot compare.
I don't think she never did more than acknowledge the compliment graciously and claim to be unworthy. Have you heard her French repertoire or are you judging her by the American arena rockers her handlers keep tossing at her? It's hard to speculate how Piaf would have handled today's music since she comes across so thoroughly as a figure of her era. But Dion acquits herself magnificently on plenty of old-timey songs like "Le Monde Est Stone" and "La Memoire D'Abraham." If we could send a vinyl copy of one of her French CDs back in time so the Legionnaires could hear it I'm sure they would be spellbound. I suppose calling someone the next Edith Piaf is as silly as calling someone the next Frank Sinatra or even the next Elvis. Music and its audiences have turned in a different direction.
Thanks for your responses Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Keep going though! Another favourite of mine is the music of the Katamari games. There's some brilliant stuff in there. Dokaka is featured in there and.. well, he's an interesting chap. He remakes songs by multitracking sounds he makes. So, he hums the bass part. Whistles the harmony and beatboxes the drums, then he puts it together to make the song. He's brought out an album, but it's JP only and I can't find it at any of the usual sources. *winkwink*.. Keep 'em coming!
