VEGANGELICA

Modena City Ramblers started off sounding exactly like an Iowa barn dance song! (Yes, there are still barn dances in Iowa.)

The song by Argine. Mmm...well, you know how I feel about Italian men! (I'm joking...I really just like that one sculpure!) The singer has a lovely, warm voice. Very pleasant to listen to. It's a beautiful, simple, restful song. I like the integration of strings in the piece. I didn't care so much for the opera singing or the drums at 2:40, but up until that point the song really drew me in. Thanks for sharing it, Petula!

This Orphaned Land Norra El Norra sounded very folksy, then metal, and I liked the mixture of traditional sounds. I felt the chords in the background during the metal portions tracked too cosely to the melody, making the song sound too simple or straightforward to me. I did like the lilting, jazzy piano at 3:00, though.

This video was funny and disturbing! Well-acted. I wish I could understand the lyrics, though the video makes the point of the song very clear! It made me laugh...and feel thankful I don't have a paper bag over my head.

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Zaqarbal

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Petula07

@VEGANGELICA Thanks, it's interesting to know your opinions how you analize these songs.
About Orphaned Land... I get your point of view, it's some easy traditional song... but I still like it a lot
And yes, they have some metal songs (folk-metal) but I am not sure if it's fit to this thread... But it's not typical metal so let's try







@Zaqarbal - Hmm, it seems you know really a lot of international music Can you share with us some your top 10 or something like that?

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♫ ♫ Some Song ♫ ♫ Last.fm ♫ ♫ Some Song ♫ ♫

Daktari

Hi there,

Scanning through this thread got me to thinking, even though it is Monday...

In this area of music which we seem to be calling 'International', how important is it for the band or singer to actually be from that country. By this I mean, surrounded by and soaking up the culture of that particular country.

Thing is, I have always loved reggae music even though I'm not Jamaican. I also happen to be a musician so when it comes to me writing a song, I tend to lean to the type of music that I have listened to the most. Hence, a lot of my songs are reggae influenced. I also like the guitar music from Zimbabwe, especially TUKU although I have never been to any part of Africa. I reckon I can come up with a pretty good version of TUKU style guitar playing even though I'm a white guy originally from the north part of England and via Scotland now live in Georgia, U.S.

Personally, I think it's fine for any musician or any other artist for that matter to be influenced by any music or art from any part of the world. Where it starts to get dodgy is when the songs tend to stray into areas which really can only be based upon the actual experience of growing up in that particular culture, whether it be African, Jamaican, Japanese, whatever...In these cases, the songs are starting to become based on guess work rather than actual experience.

There again, if I was to read a book on the suffering of slaves and this had a genuine effect on my emotions, would it be acceptable for me to try and put those feelings into a song even though my experience of slavery would only be second hand from the pages of a book....

What are your thoughts on this, anyone ?

Gordon.

VEGANGELICA

That's an interesting equation, Zaqarbal! I'll have to listen to those groups so that, like you, I can hear their styles combined in Argine!

Hi Gordon, I agree that it is completely fine to be influenced by music and cultures throughout the world, regardless of our birth culture. We are all human, after all!

Songs do not have to be based on our personal experience. I feel it is perfectly acceptable to write about an experience you have not had, such as being enslaved. Today, unfortunately, the world has many people who are slaves...children, women, men...and human trafficking continues to be a serious problem. I do not feel that the people enslaved are the only ones who may sing about the experience. In fact, they may not be in the position to make music at all. Part of trying to show or experience our empathy for others *is* to sing about how we feel life feels for them.

A more concrete example of why singing about slavery is okay: no one alive today, whether African American or tan with freckles and moles (Caucasian), experienced slavery in the U.S. South. This doesn't mean that people can't sing about it.

Also, I feel it is good to keep in mind that just because someone is viewed as part of a group (say, people whose great grandparents were slaves) doesn't mean that person has any more sense of affiliation with the group than you do. Just because an outsider might say that someone *looks* like part of a particular ethnic group, doesn't mean that the person *feels* part of the group. The reverse side of this observation is that someone born in England and living in Georgia could feel greater emotional ties to the experiences of people enslaved than someone whose own great grandfather was a slave.

Another example: I'm not Scottish, but I've done more Scottish dancing than probably most Scottish people, so I know the music and dance form quite well. I didn't have to grow up in Scotland to be familiar with Scottish music and feel influenced by it.

A listener might at first feel surprised to hear you singing in a Jamaican accent (as I was! ) but then hopefully will feel how wonderful it is that cultural influences aren't things owned, but rather creative expression and tradition shared.

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Daktari

Hi there,

Thanks Vegangelica for your point of view on my above question. I tend to agree with you on that although on the Jamaican thing, I would draw the line at becoming a rasta,I think I'm too much of a Pagan for that, ha, ha..

As for the different accents when singing. Honestly, that's a subconscious thing that just happens. If I write a song with a reggae beat I guess the natural thing is to be influenced by everything I've heard in that style and it may come out sounding a little Jamaican, not planned that way though. Same as on that bluegrass type song I recorded. There I sounded like 'Cowboy' Daktari. If I recorded everything in the accent I speak with, then everything would sound a little weird and forced. Same with musical instruments. If I joined a reggae band I would probably play guitar in that style. If I joined a thrashy, punky band, the style would change to fit that kind of music.

I've been working on a few Zimbabwe type guitar tunes. Thing is, the vocal on this type of music always sounds better in their local language to me. Never stopped Paul Simon though....

Cheers, Gordon.

ikvat

Little


Rose


Claire Denamur

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But who cares ?

Zaqarbal

That's very kind of you, but I'm afraid I'm not an "expert" at all. What happens is that, about ten years ago, I used to listen to a New-Age-music radio program frequently. So I remember several names and songs. But regarding other genres, I just know a few famous musicians, the ones who have had an International success, at least in Europe. And some Italians and Portuguese, due to their similar language.

Anyway, if you liked Rodrigo Leão, I can recommend you some similar Portuguese music. Portuguese have a reputation for making the most melancholic music in the World. In fact, they have a specific word (saudade) to express a particular feeling, a mix of nostalgia, sadness, love and emptiness.

R. Leão is a former member of Madredeus. This band's music speaks for itself:

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Guybrush

Guess I'll contribute with some musical culture from Norway. This song is called Fanitullen which name means "Devil's tune" because, as legend will have it, the first fiddler to play it learned it from the devil who, of course, is really good at fiddle-playing. There are a few variations of this tune being played in some of the inland valleys, but this 70s recorded version by famous norwegian guitarist Øystein Sunde and his band is quite popular.

An audible slice of Norway as it were.

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VEGANGELICA

Hello ikvat, I especially liked Rose's song, La Liste: very pretty and soft. I assume all 3 female French singers are singing about love? I thought I heard the first singer saying "je t'aime" quite a bit. I would also enjoy hearing French songs that are hard and gritty, because it is so hard for me to think of French as sounding anything other than sensuous and melodious.

How interesting that the Portugese have a special word, Saudade, for the feeling of nostalgia/sadness/love/emptiness! I agree with you that the Madredeus song has that feeling! The video unfortunately cut out around halfway through, so I couldn't hear it all.

Heh-heh...maybe this is why a heathen like myself wanted to play the violin as soon as I saw one being played when I was 6.

Hmm...have *you* been practicing this upbeat fiddle tune on *your* violin, Tore? Torturing people with high-pitched squeals? One of the benefits of playing a violin as a child, especially when one has siblings, is the violin's remarkable capacity for making excruciating sounds. ;-)

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