The two Korean songs that I want to share today are "Thorn Tree" covered by Jaurim(original song by Poet&The Village Chief), and "Mirror" by Guckkasten
The amazing features of these songs are explosive vocal sound and poetical lyrics that captivate a listener's ears.
"Thorn Tree" is a song about solitude. In the song solitude is described as a thorn tree that nobody attempt to approach. The sorrow that prevails throughout the song is accentuated by powerful and skillful vocal of Jaurim, one of the most complelling, long-lasting rock band in Korea.
The second song "Mirror" is the original song by the indie rock band Guckkasten(means kaleidoscope in German). Most of Guckkasten's songs are characterized by abstract and somewhat puzzling lyrics, psychedelic melody and high-pitched, energetic vocal sound. In personal, this song seems to be the most representative song of Guckkasten, as this song is the title song of its first album, and it has everything that Guckkasten pursue through their music.
MATZKA is an award winning Taiwanese Reggae band. The band vocal and leader, Matzka, and most of the band's members come from a Taiwanese aborigine background. Therefore, most of MATZKA's songs have a strong sense of Taiwanese tribal musical style. The band often incorporate Jazz, Folksong, Heavy metal, Rap, and Hip-Hop elements in their songs, thus creating a diverse yet unique genre. This particular piece is called "Yi-Duo-Hua" (one flower), the band's most well-known song. Its humorous lyrics and catchy melody recounts a tragic story of a guy fails to pickup a girl.
The artist I am introducing is the late P Ramlee, one of the most
successful Malaysian artists during the 60s. He was a notable singer, musician,
songwriter, composer, actor, producer and director. His many artistic talents
are not commonplace even among the modern artists today in Malaysia. What I
like about him is his voice. When performing, his voice can be very captivating
and time just seem to stop whenever I hear one of his songs on the radio or
television.
One of the most admirable qualities of his songs was and always
has been is the passion in his songs. The lyrics he composed are so full of
energy and life. Don't believe me? Try hearing this one:
Wang Feng is a rock musician and composer in China. He is also the founder of the band No. 43 Baojia Street in Beijing. In this song, he traced back to the years when he was young, and he also imagine the days when he becomes old in the future. This song became popular after sung by two migrant worker named as a group Xu Ri Yang Gang. The following is an unofficial version of lyric:
Have a home without 24 hour hot water
But then I was so happy
Although with only a broken guitar
In the street, under the bridge, in the fields
Singing songs that nobody cares
If one day, I'm an old man
Please leave me there at that time
If one day, I leave quietly
Please bury me in the spring
Remember the lonely spring
I have not grown a beard at that time
Without Valentine's day without gifts
Without my sweet little princess
I feel that nothing is so bad
Although I have only the illusion of love
In the morning, at night, in the wind
Singing songs that nobody cares
Maybe one day I'm old man
Please put me there at that time
If one day I leave quietly
Please bury me in the spring
Now gazing the spring in full bloom
Looks like the old warm time
I cut long hair, grew a beard
The pain was all gone with wind
But I feel it is so sad
Lost years left me confusion
In this sunny spring
I could not help the tears flowing
Maybe one day I'm an old man
Please leave me there at that time
If one day I leave quietly
Please bury me in the spring
If one day I am an old man
Please leave me there in the spring
If one day I leave quietly
Please bury me in the spring
Spring
Eason Chan, my most favorite singer, has
sung a large number of well-known songs which touched countless people. He is
not a handsome guy with charming smile, but he still attracts tens of thousands
of fans including me. I fancy him for he expresses his life philosophy through
songs, which is quite thought-provoking.When listening to his songs, I can feel his emotion and inspire some new understanding to my life.
The song I want to introduce is
Tuofeilun. The song shows a man, who strived for career, money and status when
he was young, feel regretful for missing some people and something because of
the concentration of the career. The lyric is quite thoughtful and the melody
is beautiful. Hope you guys enjoy the song J
Thank you, everyone! I enjoy reading about and hearing some of your favorite songs. I look forward to hearing more!
Meanwhile, I thought I would post a few more things in case you are interested.
Butch is (or was) a Russian alternative rock band about whom I know very little. But I like this song very much -- it creates a dreamlike mood. Elena Pogrebizhskaya's voice is forceful and haunting. She apparently was a TV journalist before she began her singing career. (Max, do you know anything about Butch? Are they still performing in Russia?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiwfWNNPKOg Puya is a heavy metal band from San Juan, Puerto Rico. I love the elements of salsa and other Latin music they incorporate into their sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdewA_Ut80k Superman Is Dead is a punk rock band from Kuta, Indonesia. They are clearly influenced by classic American punk rock bands such as Green Day and Social Distortion. I find their music enormously fun to listen to -- it makes me feel good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNa1ehyKxzA Cherry Filter is a South Korean rock band that mixes in elements of hip hop, electronica, pop, and metal. Youjeen is one of my favorite singers. I love the gritty passion in her voice. I'm very excited about this new single, because it's the first new music they've released in four years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5lWvBG77yQ
The Japanese singer I'm gonig to introduce is Kumaki Anri (熊木杏里), female singer song writer. The reason I like her is because of her beautiful voice. She's not simply a good singer, but her voice makes Japanese sound much better than other singers. The way she makes high-pitched tone is what makes her special.
Moreover, the lyrics of the songs are also important. She is just like a poet, singing her poem with music. The way she depicts the world is different and beautiful.
Just take a minute to listen and you'll know what I wanted to say :)
The Jasmine Flower (Mo Li Hua) is my
favorite Chinese traditional music, and I can experience the warmth of Chinese
traditional culture and the beauty of my hometown. Most Chinese traditional
music origin from informal melodies sung by workers in the ancient times. The
Jasmine Flower (Mo Li Hua) is one of the most famous songs among different
types of Chinese folk songs. The lyric of The Jasmine Flower (Mo Li Hua) is
based on my native dialect, the Yangzhou dialect, which is particularly close
to the official language of the Ming and Qing courts. The music depicts a
delightful rural scene in ancient China, and it also embodies people’s pure and
quiet heart. Every time I hear the peaceful melody, I am immersed in the
homesickness.
Here I would love to share a song was really popular in the past year. The song is " Suffering " by Jess Lee, which is a story about a heart-broken girl. This song created an instant mania in Taiwan. The song features really high notes, yet the singer uses her real voice rather than implementing the technique of falsetto to reach such high note, which make the song extremely difficult to sing. Besides its melody, the song was also released a really gross music video and became the first Taiwan music video to be banned by Youtube.
I want to share a traditional Chinese
music: Liangzhu. The song’s name, Liangzhu, consists of two
person’s last name: Liang and Zhu, the main characters of a tragic love story, a
Chinese edition of the Romeo and Juliet.
This song is inspired by this story, listening
to this music will remind you of the plot of this story, and evokes you several
kinds of feelings, delight, sadness, etc. Also the soft melody never fails to
help me calm down and get rid of the stress.
It is a typical style of Chinese traditional music, wistful, tender and peaceful. Although the video I found on YouTube is not originally correspondent to the music, the atmosphere it created is perfectly the same. "Juanzhulian" means gently drawing the bead curtains, usually by a young lady. She, beautifully dressed, carefully made up, elegantly gifted, and tranquilly rested, draws the bead curtains as if thinking of something, as if waiting for someone. There is no particular reason for her emotion in the song, but that is why the song can arouse wide resonance among audience. The lyrics focus much on creating an elaborate visual picture on our mind with the beautiful things, rather than telling a full story. That approach is also typical of Chinese poetry and song in creating emotion.
This is currently my favourite Indonesian song. Tulus is a rising Indonesian singer, who, I believe, has the perfect balance between a pop singer and an indie singer. I love listening to his songs not only because of his soothing jazzy voice, but also because of the meaning of his lyrics. In this song, especially, Tulus gives a different view on love, as he refuses a relationship where both parties merely accept each other, no matter what their flaws are. He believes that both parties should ask for more from each other, such that their relationship will be able to move forward. Below is the link for the song, enjoy!
The first song is from Eason Chen a famous Hongkong singer ( you guys must know him).
The song <Fua Kua> means"exaggerated". It describes a nobody's inward world. He is always neglected by others and he wants to be extraordinary but he cannot find the way to be considered, comprehended and noticed, because audiences always focus on the brightest star in the sky and they don't care about others. He feels bitter, sad, frustrated and hopeless.This song is actually a kind of satire to the society's indifference, partialness and repression. Like the words of song " If you are not the one of lucky guys, you must know why he is so ostentatious."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8RJFTgZAak
The second is from a famous Japanese heavy rock bank Wands. < 世界が终わるまでは> (Still the end of the world) I really like the melody of this song. It begins at 1:50 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wIQUQOfm_Y
Fally Ipupa is a well known singer from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At the beginning of his career, his songs were more representative of our culture. However with the time, his work is more influenced by other cultures. He is a very open artist who is not afraid of adding other styles to his songs while keeping his original style too. So he really tries to mix many African styles, including ours, with american and European ones. That's why he made a lot of featuring. And what's really interested me about him is how he mixed all of these to make something really original.
My favorite song is a featuring with Lynnsha, who is a french singer originally from Martinique. They both sing in french and lingala. The majority of the song is in lingala and the story of it is a common fact in Africa as well as in India for example. Here is link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdrAETzyaw4
Hello!
A really nice Chinese song that I love listening to and would love to share with everyone is 那些年 (Na Xie Nian) by Hu Xia. I really enjoy the melody and the tone to this song because I think it is really calming. This song is from a movie where a girl and a guy break up and the girl ends up marrying another guy. You can listen to the song if you would like in the link provided below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z736SDWdes4
To get things started, here are a few bands I love:
Hanggai is a band from Beijing, China that combines traditional Mongolian music with modern rock music. I enjoy musical hybrids -- combining different styles and traditions into new sounds -- and Hanggai is one of my favorites. This song from Hanggai's latest album showcases their mix of traditional and modern instruments:
Konono No. 1 is a band from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many of their instruments and amplifiers are created out of salvaged car parts. Their sound features buzzy distortion and energetic percussion. It's hard not to want to dance while listening:
GO!GO!7188 is a three-piece band from Kagoshima, Japan. I was sad to learn that they broke up in 2012, because they are one of my favorite bands. They have an unusual style of rock musicianship that impresses me (for example, listen to the bass lines in this song). And they have a playful way of creating songs that draws from surf rock, enka, and punk music. This is one of the first songs I heard by them:
I may post more later. Meanwhile, I can't wait to learn about some of your favorite music from your home countries!
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Hello to my students from Writing 120, section 003: College Writing for Multilingual Students! I created this blog as a space for members of the class to make occasional posts about cultural topics inspired by our class discussions, etc.
The first topic is music: I would like everyone to identify one band, musician, composer, or song from your home country that you love. Tell us a little bit about what you love about this music (3-4 sentences). If possible, include a link so that we can hear a sample for ourselves. I look forward to discovering some new music through your recommendations!
