Non-English music

Coming from a country where English is not the main language, I have been brought up with some artists as well that sang their native tongue. And since I'm in Ireland it surprises me that hardly any record store has a single album in another language, apart from an occasional Rammstein record maybe.

I was just wondering, do Irish people listen to music in other languages, or do they show any interest in it ?



I mainly know many artists singing in English and Dutch, and apart from a very few (maybe 3 or 4) most bands singing in Dutch are crap :( Boudewijn De Groot and Robert Long are good, but the power of their songs is partly due to the excellent lyrics. For good music in Dutch where understanding the language is not necessary, check out Gorki, De Mens and Monza.

www.gorki.tv
www.demens.be
www.monza.be

My favourite band not singing in English however (in fact, the ONLY band I really love that sings in another language) is Indochine. French new-wave/rock with gothic accents and folk influences. The band started in 1981 and is still going strong. The music started off as new-wave/dance with eastern influences, which was never done in the native French language (France didn't really move along in time when it comes to music, until Indochine started, which made the French classify their music as a seperate genre of music). Later they evoluated more towards rock with dark androgynous image. Since the death of Stephane Sirkis, his brother and singer Nicola Sirkis is the only member of the original line-up who is still there. Despite singing in French, the band has a small yet loyal fanbase in the UK, Scandinavia and South America. The band currently records their new album.

Classics include Trois Nuits Par Semaine, L'Aventurier, La Troisieme Sexe, Les Tzars, Canary Bay, and more recently J'Ai Demande A La Lune, Mao Boy, and Marilyn.
My favourite song of theirs is the amazing Comateen I, a song which starts off with dark synthesisers, then gets Chinese folk influences, a chorus with electric guitars, and finally a semi-a capella finish. The song tells the story of a young girl who is in a coma after an overdose/suicide attempt, and Nicola sits beside her hospital bed begging for her to wake up, telling that he will always be proud of her no matter what she does, and that no one will ever replace her. (in the song Comateen II we see the final part where the girl passes and looks back on her life)

www.indo.fr
www.indo-paradize.com

ps: Indochine has some titles in English, but that's just the titles. The songs are all in French.

What about Plastic Bertrand?

Surely the most famous Belgian musician of the last 30 years?

:)

"Ca Plane Pour Moi!"

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Coming from a country where English is not the main language, I have been brought up with some artists as well that sang their native tongue. And since I'm in Ireland it surprises me that hardly any record store has a single album in another language, apart from an occasional Rammstein record maybe.

I was just wondering, do Irish people listen to music in other languages, or do they show any interest in it ?



I mainly know many artists singing in English and Dutch, and apart from a very few (maybe 3 or 4) most bands singing in Dutch are crap :( Boudewijn De Groot and Robert Long are good, but the power of their songs is partly due to the excellent lyrics. For good music in Dutch where understanding the language is not necessary, check out Gorki, De Mens and Monza.

www.gorki.tv
www.demens.be
www.monza.be

My favourite band not singing in English however (in fact, the ONLY band I really love that sings in another language) is Indochine. French new-wave/rock with gothic accents and folk influences. The band started in 1981 and is still going strong. The music started off as new-wave/dance with eastern influences, which was never done in the native French language (France didn't really move along in time when it comes to music, until Indochine started, which made the French classify their music as a seperate genre of music). Later they evoluated more towards rock with dark androgynous image. Since the death of Stephane Sirkis, his brother and singer Nicola Sirkis is the only member of the original line-up who is still there. Despite singing in French, the band has a small yet loyal fanbase in the UK, Scandinavia and South America. The band currently records their new album.

Classics include Trois Nuits Par Semaine, L'Aventurier, La Troisieme Sexe, Les Tzars, Canary Bay, and more recently J'Ai Demande A La Lune, Mao Boy, and Marilyn.
My favourite song of theirs is the amazing Comateen I, a song which starts off with dark synthesisers, then gets Chinese folk influences, a chorus with electric guitars, and finally a semi-a capella finish. The song tells the story of a young girl who is in a coma after an overdose/suicide attempt, and Nicola sits beside her hospital bed begging for her to wake up, telling that he will always be proud of her no matter what she does, and that no one will ever replace her. (in the song Comateen II we see the final part where the girl passes and looks back on her life)

www.indo.fr
www.indo-paradize.com

ps: Indochine has some titles in English, but that's just the titles. The songs are all in French.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Coming from a country where English is not the main language, I have been brought up with some artists as well that sang their native tongue. And since I'm in Ireland it surprises me that hardly any record store has a single album in another language, apart from an occasional Rammstein record maybe.

I was just wondering, do Irish people listen to music in other languages, or do they show any interest in it ?



I mainly know many artists singing in English and Dutch, and apart from a very few (maybe 3 or 4) most bands singing in Dutch are crap :( Boudewijn De Groot and Robert Long are good, but the power of their songs is partly due to the excellent lyrics. For good music in Dutch where understanding the language is not necessary, check out Gorki, De Mens and Monza.

www.gorki.tv
www.demens.be
www.monza.be

My favourite band not singing in English however (in fact, the ONLY band I really love that sings in another language) is Indochine. French new-wave/rock with gothic accents and folk influences. The band started in 1981 and is still going strong. The music started off as new-wave/dance with eastern influences, which was never done in the native French language (France didn't really move along in time when it comes to music, until Indochine started, which made the French classify their music as a seperate genre of music). Later they evoluated more towards rock with dark androgynous image. Since the death of Stephane Sirkis, his brother and singer Nicola Sirkis is the only member of the original line-up who is still there. Despite singing in French, the band has a small yet loyal fanbase in the UK, Scandinavia and South America. The band currently records their new album.

Classics include Trois Nuits Par Semaine, L'Aventurier, La Troisieme Sexe, Les Tzars, Canary Bay, and more recently J'Ai Demande A La Lune, Mao Boy, and Marilyn.
My favourite song of theirs is the amazing Comateen I, a song which starts off with dark synthesisers, then gets Chinese folk influences, a chorus with electric guitars, and finally a semi-a capella finish. The song tells the story of a young girl who is in a coma after an overdose/suicide attempt, and Nicola sits beside her hospital bed begging for her to wake up, telling that he will always be proud of her no matter what she does, and that no one will ever replace her. (in the song Comateen II we see the final part where the girl passes and looks back on her life)

www.indo.fr
www.indo-paradize.com

ps: Indochine has some titles in English, but that's just the titles. The songs are all in French.

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What about Jacques Brel?

dcfc1928


Do you mean this song?

" Wham bang mon chat splash
Gite sur mon lit a bouffle mon whiskey quand a moi
Peut dormir vide brimet j'ai du dormir dans la guttiere
Ou j'ai eux un flash..... ooh ooh ooh ooh En quatre couleurs"

:)

Sigur Ros have a big(ish) fan base in Ireland don't they? Well I like 'em anyway!

I nkow of a few Spanish songs myself.Has anybody heard Daddy Yankee-Gasolina and Gunther-Ding Dong Song. :D their gas.

Sigur Rós are fantastic! And they seem to be well liked over here, but havce avoided us on their last 2 tours! :(

Einsturzende Neubauten are another classic non-English band, although some of their works are in English, much of their work is in their native German. These lads are industrial pioneers, forming in (I think) 1979 under a bridge that was under construction many of their early works involved barrels and bricks! They are banned from a certain venue in London for using jack hammers on the wall as percussion during some tracks, and after the gig, using pneumatic drills to try to dig through the floor to find the Queens' hidden tunnels! That said, they're not all loud and thrashy and banging sticks of metal together, they write some beautiful pieces of music (and even have an album devoted to the beauty of silence/quietness), and do this with uncontemporary insturments, i.e: Giant springs played with drumsticks, compressed air cannisters, etc etc. Their vocalist is one Blixa Bargeld, who spent 20 years playing with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, he recently quit The Bad Seeds to put more of his efforts into Neubauten (a band he had formed before joining up with Nick Cave).

Worth checking out. :)

Haha, oh, Rammstein of course! ;)

How about the Super Furry Animals? I Have a couple of welsh language albums of theirs if I recall correctly?

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Originally Posted by TheOwl

Sigur Ros have a big(ish) fan base in Ireland don't they? Well I like 'em anyway!

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Sigur Ros sing in a made up language, the so called "Hopelandish" :)


I do remember seeing a few Jacques Brel albums in Irish stores, never found any Indochine record though (I had fellow Shels fans importing the latest album from Lille because I could not find the record in ireland...)


The Romanian song was called "Dragostin tin dei" and their singer was quality totty :cool:

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Sigur Ros sing in a made up language, the so called "Hopelandish" :)

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Hopelandic I think they call it, apparently if you speak Icelandic then you "get the jist" of what they're singing about.

Counts as "non-english" music though.

A particularly favourite of mine is Untitled 4 (or the Nothing Song) which is used perfectly in one of my favourite films Vanilla Sky, which has just the best soundtrack ever. A pity the OST release is missing so much.

Check out 'Mana' - (wee spanish squiggle above 'n' ie man-nya :) ) they are a Mexican group, some class tunes, worth downloading a few and check them out, especially "Vivir sin aire" oh- such a romantic song, bring a tear to a glass eye, seriously, it's a smooth song ;) :D , actually i am listening to it now. I think they are good muckers of Carlos Santana, who also kicks arse, he's a genius of sorts.

It's not Mexican Boyzone, it is like soft rock, nice guitar etc so please check it out..........NOW!!!! :D

I couldn't imagine listening to Rammstein if they sang in English. I love that...er..Tuetonic way that the lead singer lashes out his lyrics.
I like Rammstein, I must confess.
In fact, I love Germans. They are requent visitors to Shannonbridge, near me and I'll never forget the sessions had with them, in particular, one bloke from Bremen singing "Ze vild Wovah" which made Shane McGowan's version seem like Celine Dion. :D

Do you know the German evergreen "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich !" by Matthias Reim ?

Ideal song for a pub really... I picture a Bavarian pub where everyone sings along with the chorus while raising the pints in the air :D

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Do you know the German evergreen "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich !" by Matthias Reim ?

Ideal song for a pub really... I picture a Bavarian pub where everyone sings along with the chorus while raising the pints in the air :D

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The Bremen bloke I mentioned probably sang it but we were on the p!ss so understanding English after a time became difficult, let alone German, :D

amadou & mariam and manu chao spring to mind. (summer music ;))
quite a few decent african bands over the years with various influences- blues, traditional, soul, etc

I don't have many non-english (or irish) albums, but some of my favourites are:

Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares


Wedding Present - Ukranian Sessions




Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi! as previously mentioned
Harpo - Moviestar another classic
Cecilia Ann - Gris like a spanish Teenage Fanclub


and the obligatory Kraftwerk, Die Toten Hosen etc.

Listening to Noir Desir from France at the moment,good indie band,not sure if they're still together?, also the new Ali Farka :cool: Toure which is excellent

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Originally Posted by TheOwl

Hopelandic I think they call it, apparently if you speak Icelandic then you "get the jist" of what they're singing about.

Counts as "non-english" music though.

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Only ( ) is in Hopelandic. Von and Agaetis Byrun are both in their native Icelandic tongue. Definately non-English though! :)

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Originally Posted by Dublin12

Listening to Noir Desir from France at the moment,good indie band,not sure if they're still together?

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Well, yes, but on a hold as the singer (Bertrand Cantat) is in a Lithuanian prison for 7 years :eek:

Apparently he used violence on his wife/mistress and she didn't survive it. Circumstances were unknown, maybe something else caused death, but the guy was still sent to prison. It all happened in Lithuania, so therefor he's in prison there instead of in his native France (unless French diplomacy had him transfered to a local prison meanwhile)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheOwl

Hopelandic I think they call it, apparently if you speak Icelandic then you "get the jist" of what they're singing about.

Counts as "non-english" music though.

A particularly favourite of mine is Untitled 4 (or the Nothing Song) which is used perfectly in one of my favourite films Vanilla Sky, which has just the best soundtrack ever. A pity the OST release is missing so much.

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Yes yes yes yes this rocks. I have both film and ost, and felt utterly utterly robbed when I bought the ost as a present for the missus. A very very early underworld song, "doot doot", (the part where he relaises that everything is fcuked up and goes into the skyward elevator?) is missing from the album as is that song that the owl mentions.

As for non-english songs, rammstein are the fcuking business. There is so much energy in their performances. They've played the MTVEurope awards a few times recently and scared many people.

I like die fantastichien vier also, and sigur ros as many have mentioned are cool.

That Gasolina song is good, and their video contains a few nice bits of totty.

That Dragoesta song is the one with the numanuma video with it? With the infamous Gary?

http://www.jeffiscool.com/numanuma.html

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Originally Posted by EnDai

Only ( ) is in Hopelandic. Von and Agaetis Byrun are both in their native Icelandic tongue. Definately non-English though! :)

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..and reading the news today, it appears their new one will be in back in icelandic. have all their records and seen them once (very very loud), great band.

taraf de haidouks are a decent romanian folk outfit. avarus, a good finnish "free" folk and noise collective. beautifully-voiced 'lau nau' would be included in their orbit i'd say, she also a finn. circle are another finnish band that do repetitious rock, lots of growling finnery there too. ghedalia tazartes is a crazy frenchman. keiji haino a crazy jap. not sure if the latter sings in his native tongue..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Do you know the German evergreen "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich !" by Matthias Reim ?

Ideal song for a pub really... I picture a Bavarian pub where everyone sings along with the chorus while raising the pints in the air :D

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Ah! Brings back fond drunken memories of that beerhall in Munich in March!! :eek: :o :D

Autobahn by Kraftwerk; An Ubhal as Airde by Runrig; Harrys Game by Clannad (as Gaeilge); Im nin Alu by Ofra Haza; Ca Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand
Vado Via by Drupi.....

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Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Autobahn by Kraftwerk; An Ubhal as Airde by Runrig; Harrys Game by Clannad (as Gaeilge); Im nin Alu by Ofra Haza; Ca Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand
Vado Via by Drupi.....

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Autobahn - love that song :)

MC Solaar
Rodrigo y Gabriela - granted they don't really have any lyrics but their native language isn't English
The soundtrack to City of God is class
Buena Vista Social Club
Daft Punk, Air and Royksopp are poplular too, but then again their lyrics tend to be in English.
Yann Tiersen is class, he's played in Ireland before, did the soundtrack for "Amelie."
Aldebert are good too.
Sportfreund Schiller had a class song on the Fifa2003 soundtrack I think, or maybe it was Fifa2002.

I listen to alot of French Stuff...its great really. Just sounds so well...Listen to a bit of The Super Furry's and of course the Eurovision. :eek:

France's Star Academy (TV Show) Much like the Fame Academy flop the brits had is class.

Johnny Hallyday...Legend!

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Originally Posted by onenilgameover

I listen to alot of French Stuff...its great really. Just sounds so well...Listen to a bit of The Super Furry's and of course the Eurovision. :eek:

France's Star Academy (TV Show) Much like the Fame Academy flop the brits had is class.

Johnny Hallyday...Legend!

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you like s. gainsbourg? that concept album (girl's name) - i forget what it's called. something nelson, master album, must pick it up.

I also like a little ditty called "Claudia" by Die Artzen I think is the name of the band. About a woman with a distinct fondness for horses... :D

Lenka Filipova is a Czech female artist that I have grown to like on my visits there. You can hear snatches of her most recent album on www.lenkafilipova.cz and that is the one where she is in the White Leather outfit with the guitar over her shoulder.

I recommend track 1, the name escapes me now, and track 7, Mlyny Melou I think is how it is spelt.

Here is the website of the band from Mexico I was talking about, Mana. Really great, easy-listening music. If you want to unwind, relax etc it is perfect.

Check out prob their best song, so famous in Mexico, Vivir Sin Aire, in the album ; grandes mana.

http://www.mana.com.mx/

http://www.mana.com.mx/htmls/discography.html

:D

I know them.They're CLASS.

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Originally Posted by jorge

I know them.They're CLASS.

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Oh, good to hear someone else knows of them, a friend from Peru recommended them to me, thought I would like it. So are they REALLY big in south/latin america do you know?

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

Autobahn - love that song :)

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Ever hear the original versions of two songs which were hits in English by Laura Branigan?

I refer to "Gloria" by Umberto Tozzi and " Self Control" by RAF.. two Italian classics... also " Dove C'e Musica" by Eros Ramozetti.. is not bad. My local ristorante plays the Live Version regularly.

One of the most notorious black-metal bands on earth comes from Mexico: Brujeria. Has a whole legend behind them as they are believed to be involved in drug traffic and satanic rituals... Classic for a black-metal band, so classic that it becomes unoriginal ;) But must give them credit: never ever sounded Spanish so agressive.

The ones here that like Cel-tic music may like this one: Manau. They bring "Cel-tic rap" in French. Rap music with violins, harps, bagpipes... They scored a massive hit around Europe with "La Tribu de Dana". Their best song IMO is "Mais qui est la belette ?" based on a medieval story. Their album "Panique celtique" sold quite much.

The band Dan Ar Braz & L'Heritage des Celtes brings folk sung in the Breton dialect (Breton = North France). Sounds a bit like Irish or Scottish folk, but in a different ancient language.

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

The ones here that like Cel-tic music may like this one: Manau. They bring "Cel-tic rap" in French. Rap music with violins, harps, bagpipes... They scored a massive hit around Europe with "La Tribu de Dana". Their best song IMO is "Mais qui est la belette ?" based on a medieval story. Their album "Panique celtique" sold quite much.

The band Dan Ar Braz & L'Heritage des Celtes brings folk sung in the Breton dialect (Breton = North France). Sounds a bit like Irish or Scottish folk, but in a different ancient language.

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that sounds f*cking great! i wish modern irish folk to be more exploratory, but maybe it is..?

What about the grim and tr00 Norweigan black metal?!

http://mclub.te.net.ua/images/art/artist_950.jpg

:eek:

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Originally Posted by speedking

What about the grim and tr00 Norweigan black metal?!

http://mclub.te.net.ua/images/art/artist_950.jpg

:eek:

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Is that not Norway's Eurovision entry this year....... :confused: :D :D

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Originally Posted by kerr's tribe

Oh, good to hear someone else knows of them, a friend from Peru recommended them to me, thought I would like it. So are they REALLY big in south/latin america do you know?

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A friend from Peru you say??? :) What part if you dont mid me asking.Lima i supose.

Their not as big as they were about 6-7 years ago .