Would you listen to music in a language you didn't understand?
 

i remember when i started my quest to hear every song in the world (an endeavor that would turn out to be fruitless), i started listening to stuff i didn't understand, it was really hard to be interested because it just didn't sound good to me, until i found a few russian bands that i fell in love with (and tried to learn russian because of, i know some, not alot) and listened to even tough at the time i couldn't understand.. i can't explain why one language sounded good to me and all the others didn't at all, but i was wondering what other people think of this.

i only put this in the punk forum to show love to two russian punk bands that ROCK, korol i shut and tarakany

Of course!

I love a lot of 60s garage rock and pop music from Europe - namely sung in French. I only understand half of it, but tend to be drawn to French music in general.

Some French punk bands I really like are Plastic Bertrand, Les Wampas, and Edith Nylon (the early stuff).

Definitely. I think there was a point in my life where I probably would have said no. But I think my early appreciation for certain music styles with incomprehensible vocals (ie industrial, some punk & metal, etc) made me realize that lyrics aren't as important to me in music as the overall sound. In the past few years I've gotten into a lot of progressive rock from various countries, and I love it. I'd probably like it less if I could understand the lyrics, it would probably end up being some cheesy stuff.

Anyway this is a good discussion for General Music...even if you show love to a few punk bands. It's inevitable that in a discussion like this someone would post examples.

This song pretty much answers the question for me:



This thing's ballin. I really need to get the album...

I listen to a lot of foreign post-hardcore (Envy is the first band that comes to mind), but since you can't understand half of what they're saying anyways, the different language thing doesn't matter too much.

Highlife African music is one of my favorite things to :). I also have a couple of German rock bands I'll listen to occosionally, it's interesting stuff. Oh and it sounds odd but I adore Spanish language music.

Yep. Of course the language barrier is what fails to make such music as much a staple in my listening habits as the English-speaking stuff, but if the music as a whole's good enough, you learn to get past that and treat the vocal as you would any other instrument.

For example;


^ Baaba Maal - Jamma/Jengii




etc

Not quite punk, but there you go.

Right so, when I was younger I spent most of my summers in Turkey, so Turkish music came sort of like a second nature to me. Bearing in mind I was really young and had no taste in music whatsoever, don't judge me :laughing:. But when Holly Valance’s – Kiss Kiss came out all my friends loved it, I really recognised it but I never liked it. I found out once I went to Turkey that summer it was Tarkans – Kiss Kiss translated and obviously sang by her. I basically hated the English version yet, loved Tarkans and knew all the Turkish words even though I never had a clue what they meant. I think that just goes to show if a songs in English it doesn’t necessarily make it any better and foreign songs should definitely be left foreign.

I wrote that 3 times and made spelling mistakes 3 times so pressed backspace, it took me to my search results, and deleted the whole paragraph. I stopped trusting Firefox by this point and wrote this whole thing on Microsoft Word. :(

Someone please listen to the song I posted. It's so awesome, I need some appreciation.

Also Conan I love Spanish music too. One of my favorite acts is Rodrigo y Gabriela, and though they're instrumental I think that kind of ties in with the theme of not understanding what's being said. In this case there's just nothing being said!

honestly, it was good for what it is, i just personally hated it, but if you notice some of the bands i talk about, its obvious i wouldn't listen to that style in english

but i do agree with the vocals as an instrument, i never would have had the balls to sing before i realized that, and i love to sing now (never mind the quality of my voice), and they do kind of build to fit in the song in a way where, if you understood it, you would hate it because you've takin the song somewhere completely different

that happened quite a bit to me, as i learned more russian and understood the songs better, certain ones just became uninteresting to me, i didn't want to hear the message anymore, especially when it applied to a group of people 5000 miles away.

I felt as if I knew what it was saying, I know some words were English, but wither they meant something else in that language I don't know, wasn't bad though :p:

Of course i would, and i do. Not all music with vocals is strictly about the lyrics, what's really important is how the vocals are used and how the vocals and the music compliment each other. Vocals in another language can leave you to focus more on the vocal melodies and how the human voice can be used as a musical instrument. Also some languages can be really beautiful to listen to and have certain qualities that english doesn't have.

Take Sigur Ros for example, they have some songs in a made-up language as well as their native Icelandic and they are both beautiful to listen to, Icelandic especially. When you listen to Sigur Ros all language barriers are blown away and you're left to focus on their soundscapes, Jonsi's vocal melodies and how they compliment each other. It also allows the listener to make up their own interpretations of what the songs are about.

I do a lot and mainly Spanish and German songs. Not understanding the language makes me focus more on the melody and the performance of the artist. But I do usually search for the lyrics' meanings (or just the lyrics) when I get obsessed with the song.

Tho a lot of times I memorize a song entirely by sound without understanding a single word (usually I'd be pronouncing everything wrong, but who cares as long as I'm singing along :D)

Edit:

Here's an example, from an album I memorized entirely and still don't know that's which language:

[QUOTE=storymilo;758454]Someone please listen to the song I posted. It's so awesome, I need some appreciation.

QUOTE]

What song is it and where?

[QUOTE=kouki;758542]I posted a video on the first page

I just think it's a really cool song. People seem to not agree as much:p:

[QUOTE=storymilo;758546]Name and artist? I'm at work,and the work internet wont let me see :(

[QUOTE=kouki;758606]Oh. It's called Murderer by Dub Incorporation. It's French reggae, not sure if that's really your thing...

[QUOTE=storymilo;758612]Interesting,it sounds like it would be similar to the selector.I'll give anything a try,never heard french music.

[QUOTE=kouki;758622]They sing in French and Arabic. I just think it's a really fun track, I don't own anything else by them

^If you need Arabic recommendations I can help with that.

That's Serbian I believe...

Anyhoo, don't really care what language a band sings in, I rarely pay attention to the lyrics...:shallow:

Btw, I think you totally messed up the word sequence at the end there...;)

I read that but I wasn't sure, thx anyway :P

Yes, i suspect the most popular group for this are Rammstein, famous world wide and all in German.

Definitely. In fact I'd also say there are quite a few bands I wish would sing in their native language instead of english because I think it would sound a lot better if they used the language they were more comfortable with (I'm looking at you Sepultura).

I don't think I'd listen to music in ASL

Really? I'd think it would appeal to someone who is all eyeball.

I have a few Ratos De Porao cds where Gordo sings in his native tongue which are pretty damn good but i admit the first time i heard them they had released english versions of their South American releases, so i heard the songs first time round in English

Most definitely.

The Mars Volta have a lot of songs that are sung entirely in Spanish, or Spanish/English mixed.
And I dig NOFX's version of "Les Champs Elysees" even though, I have no idea what the words are.
That, and I've also been known to bust out some Dimmu Borgir, whose early repertoire was completely in German.

Right so a few years ago a song called Boten Anna was released by Basshunter (I welcome a slagging I deserve it) and I remember listening to it and knowing all the words (In Swedish) and having no idea what it meant. I enjoyed the lyrics, but the song not so much. Even though I couldnt fully apreciate the lyrics cos they were in swedish, but they were still catchy. Someone told me it was translated into the song we all know and hate, Now Youre Gone. I never bothered to look it up though. Anyways I was a pup when this all happend and its only been in the past 2/3 years I've developed a taste in music. So feel free to rip me a new arsehole. I deserve it for listening to him. :(

I listen to Polish music almost every day. My parents both immigrated here from Poland and brought with them a lot of records, many of which grew on me. When I moved, they gave their collection to me so whenever I cook I put them on and it reminds me of home. Sappy...I know. My poor boyfriend haha!

Sure. Even Immortal Technique uses some Spanish once in a while. I like Stereolab, and their music is pretty split French/English. Her voice works with the music so well that if it's in French and I have no idea what the words are, it still works as an instrument for the song. If it sounds good I really don't care what language the singer uses.

One of my favourite artists is Manu Chao and I regularly listen to him. I also listen to Yann Tiersen, Ska-P and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. They're all foriegn language music that I enjoy, I dont listen to much of it though in all fairness.

I'm going to his concert next week :tramp:
----

And in the subject, I usually listen to a lot of music with lyrics I don't understand. But then comes a time where I search for the meanings, cause I do generally give a high regard to lyrics, and it helps me learn a new language.

It is how I learned English (I guess it would be weird citing English as a foreign language in here)

Yup yup, I definitely listen to Rammstein! I love the way the german sounds with that kind of music, the overall sound of the language just fits.... i don't actually know anyone else who listens to them though.. which is interesting since they are as you say so popular otherwise.

I actually really like Basshunter, but its in the same way that i can say I like most pop music, like 3OH!3 for example. Its not because its particualarly good music, it just is kinda catchy. Nothing to be ashamed of in that


As far as other not-so-popular music in other languages, i must say my horizons are a bit limited in that area. I have yet to really explore music to discover what I really look for, but i know that harmonies and musical structure are just as important or more important than lyrics-- no matter what language its in, the meaning is going to communicate itself anyway.

I'm gonna go look up all these french artists now :P

I'm sure the guy has more potential than like "Electro/Pop" or whatever his genre is. But when I was younger I would listen to him.. Cause my friends did, it was a rut I kinda got into. Hes Swedish (I think), he should be a hardcore master by my calculations :D. Thats just my preference though, he definetly has a market, it just doesn't necessarily need to appeal to me.

I listen to lots of stuff in Japanese - Acid Mothers, Les Rallizes, OOIOO, etc - and a fair amount in various African languages ... I do wonder what they're singing about, but on the other hand I think I prefer not knowing a lot of the time, that way I'm not disappointed

I know what you mean, shit lyrics can put me off a song. But the lyrics being in a different language you never know what the lyrics are as long as they flow with each other. I'm not to bothered about the words, sometimes I get curious, like I know the words to Boten Anna & Tarkans Kiss Kiss in their original language and don't like them in English at all really.

They aren't spanish... at all.

Absolutely. My favorite band Sigur Ros sings in a made up language even.

I regularly listen to Gorky's Zygotic Mynci & The Super Furry Animals and to be honest most of the time their Welsh accents are so strong I can't tell the bloody difference between the English language songs & the Welsh language songs.