Members phaeton Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 I do. Just curious if anyone else does. It's an interesting concept, how music is different, yet the same, when you remove all lyrical meaning. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ed A. Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 I listen to Stereolab and Air even though I don't understand French. Not understanding the lyrics doesn't seem to take away from the music IMO. If you're a Cocteau Twins fan, you'll know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dean Roddey Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 I do fairly often, since I cruise around on NPR's All Songs Considered and they have a very broad range of music there. Here's an example: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15963491 The first song on that page, by Gaby Kerpel. Have no idea what he's saying, but it's an incredibly infectious song. It takes a minute or so to really get going. Of course there's Segur Ros as well, who have their own language so everyone listens to them in a foreign language. I can't find another one that I'd heard. Some Argentinian or Brazillian lady, who could pretty much sing a male to orgasm I think. It might not have been nearly as sexy if I'd understood it, I dunno. She might have been singing about dishwashing for all I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members John Sayers Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 My next door neighbour plays loud hungarian polka music and sings along with it when he gets drunk, which is every second day. Does that count? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members freetime Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Mexican music sometimes and not that {censored}ty constant alternating bass music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veracohr Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 that {censored}ty constant alternating bass music Oompa-loompa music! I used to work at a multi-cultural radio station in Seattle. It was mostly Spanish (at least half oompa-loompa music), but a smattering of other languages such as Vietnamese, German, Tongan, Scandinavian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Ukranian, etc. We had one Eritrean show, and the guy would come in every week and hand me a cassette which I would load into the computer. I absolutely loved the song that he used as his intro, and hadn't a clue what the words said. It sounded bad, obviously recorded from an old cassette onto each new cassette as he produced the show at home or wherever. I asked him about the song once, and he kindly brought me a cassette of a different Eritrean artist, saying he couldn't find anything from that one particular artist. I still have the cassette, but it got old very quickly because every song was pretty much the same. Exactly the same beat and rhythm. Still, I always loved that intro song, and I wish I knew who it was so I could track it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 About half the music I listen to are in languages I don't understand. I listen to a LOT of international music, and over half of my CDs are in this category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelSaulnier Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Does "cookie monster" singers count... I can't understand ANYTHING they're saying... NPR had a great Cuban woman performer on the other day... she was a classically trained guitarist, but her own music was more jazz pop... but even in Spanish it was very beautiful. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 I listen to a lot of African music. There was one particular album which was pretty "vintage" -- villagers with a field recorder, not expatriates in Paris using Pro Tools. The music was exquisitely lyrical, very beautiful. I found a translation of the words and they went something like this: "I went down to the stream today And there were some animals. I thought I needed some clothes washed So I talked to my wife. She took the clothes to the stream And she saw animals, too. Then it rained a little bit, and we got wet. After that, I ate something but it wasn't as good As what I ate yesterday. After the clothes were washed, they dried. The sun is good for drying clothes..." Ad infinitum. I probably would have dug it more if I hadn't found the lyrics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Come to think of it, there's probably a LOT more rock music I would enjoy if I didn't speak English! Anyone listen to French rap music? It actually works pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 English Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nerol1st Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Only Rammstein. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Come to think of it, there's probably a LOT more rock music I would enjoy if I didn't speak English!Anyone listen to French rap music? It actually works pretty well. Spanish rap does to. The dialect is perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beck Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 I used to enjoy going to opera quite a bit. It didn't seem to matter when it was in Italian and I could only pick out a word or two every now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff Leites Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Klingon Victory Song "YIjah, Qey' 'oH" (Yazjah kayoh) [YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members panthalassa Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 I've already posted my thoughts on the Cocteau Twins. But intelligibility doesn't count. Sorry about that.Noh opera is a really old Japanese style that takes getting used to. Even modern-day speakers have a hard time with it.And I really wish I could speak better French, especially the Belgian style of the late, great Jaques Brel. BTW I also studied Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, but I'm lost with French. Can't figure that one out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Another African music fan here...Salif Keeta, Youssou N'Dour, various and sundry others. I do dig up the lyrics from time to time, but mainly I'm listening to the rhythms and the otherness of the music compared to Western stuff. That french hip-hop sounds sooooo nasty - don't have to know the words, if they sung the Pledge of Alliegance it would still sounds skanky as....as...well I wouldn't want to say as what. nasty. nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Listen to Hindu chant on occasion. I also listen to Pearl Jam. Never sure what Veder is saying but I heard hes singing English. And of course, the occasional dose of ABBA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rabid Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Lots of Latin music. Latin jazz and Brazilian dance music. Some is in English but much of it is Spanish or Portuguese. Oh, just a bit of Opera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Lots of African and Spanish language stuff. I'm also a big fan of wordless (as opposed to scat) vocal music . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted October 9, 2008 Moderators Share Posted October 9, 2008 I like Mexican music. Traditional oompa stuff is fun and wonderful to eat and drink to and... you can always dial in a station when all the others fade. African pop is great, so much pure heart. Indian chants are beautiful. Early REM... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slight-return Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Anyone listen to French rap music? It actually works pretty well. MC Solaar and such?some, it really does work surprisingly well yeahm, I dig other-language music - I dig instrumental music too so it's not a huge huge leap. I bet I process the two differently, but can't really say I have a good handle on that (ah, self-examination in a system...can be a tough puzzle) hmmm, good question i'm going to have to chew on (how I experience the 3 -- lyrics I can understands, lyrics I can't,no lyrics) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lucasj81 Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Two come to mind, though I'm certain there are more. Dungen is a Swedish rock 'n roll band that seems to have stepped straight out of the golden age of psychedelia. Well worth checking out. www.myspace.com/dungen Os Mutantes was a really great Brazilian band that has been getting some exposure as of late. I heard one of their songs on a commercial recently. I read an article that referred to them as the Brazilian Beatles, as they were around at the same time and wrote really bizarre yet extremely catchy songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted October 9, 2008 Moderators Share Posted October 9, 2008 Oh yeah, Brazilian music form the 60's. Portuguese is horny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 9, 2008 Members Share Posted October 9, 2008 Sure... from the Cocteau Twins all the way to people who sing in real languages. (I'll admit, it's bee a while for the Cocteaus but there was a period some years ago when I listened all the time.) Lots of French, lots of Portuguese, quite a bit of Spanish. Those are the biggies. And like a few others, a number of African languages. I went through a big African music phase in the 80s and 90s when I saw a number of artists, Sunny Ade, Fela, Baba Maal, Manu Dibango, some others, and it's still a touchstone when I'm looking for something really funky or really cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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