Foreign Lyrics

Sure it is personal taste. If you notice many
reviews and import record sales sites make mention
of the use of foreign language, sparse use of foreign
language and wordless vocals. This can be a
hinderance for some. I think it is easiest to digest
foreign language bands that are not vocally oriented.
I recognize the musical capabilities of many of these
bands but trying to introduce them to non prog music
fans or your average listener is difficult. After all most
english speaking music is very vocally oriented and
they are trained to follow the story. I think the great
bands of england and america have a story to tell
also that adds to the musical text. The biggest
movement of foreign language bands in progressive
rock is italy. The italians probably due to the time
period of their best output sang mostly in italian
which is a great romantic language, no doubt! But
they later saw the need to record in english for a
broader audience. Most all of the italian reedits with
english are inferior to the originals. Later 70's in
continental Europe many bands followed the
Kosmiche thread from germany focusing on the
music and away from the vocals. The europeans
saw the need to capture the international audience
as the language barrier was a part of their everyday
life. Dont think we should necessarily downplay the
need of americans or english to learn the many
foreign languages that are in europe. Its just not a
necessity for many people to know many languages
in some parts of the world because it will never be
used. I prefer the music that was made for the
international audience and applaud the great
wisdom used to devise such. Many great bands
such as Mezquita, Jose Cid, Bacamarte, the whole
italian scene, Atoll, Ange, Eskaton, Harmonium,
german progressive folk, etc should be listened to
for their great contributions. Very few are actually
enhanced by vocals(words as another instrument) to
my ears. Samla Mammas Manna, Atila and Il Volo
are a few that come to mind that benefitted the music
by their use of foreign vocals, wordless vocals and
sparse use of the native tongue to capture the
international audience.

IMO

    

Edited by DallasBryan

Poxx wrote: goose wrote: What are you talking about? You say it's impossible to convert lyrics into English without losing meaning, but if someone's native language isn't English, he has to convert his ideas into English, losing just as much, if not more, meaning. I honestly thought you were trolling at first... Ideas aren't dependant on the language. Ideas are not words. Doesn't that mean when one makes a song in English, one's saying that people who don't speak English don't deserve it? You might want to look at http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html I have no idea where the sources are but it tied in with what my ideas were... Yeah, no sh*t. It just so happens that English is something that most people will be able to understand. It is the international language. "But, Poxx, lol more people people speaks mandarin. lol". More people has mandarin as native langauge, than English, yes, but there are more people who understands English.. You nitwits should get a grip, it seems like you are offended by my foul language, but respond to it with inane babble that doesn't make any sense.

i dont think much else can be said... the most ignorant posts i've read in a while.

why do you think so many european artists recorded
in english or rerecorded in english during the early to
mid 70's?

the germans, with help from the french solved the
problem in the latter 70's and many of the bands
cranking out goodies in this time period polarized
towards the instrumental expression, though
progressive music was evolving into more synthesis
and electronics during this period in some areas.

hocus pocus by focus had a dramatic affect on the
continental artists as the wordless vocals broke
open the english speaking markets for record sales.


this is fusion also!

Edited by DallasBryan

Man Overboard wrote: "Bush, for instance, doesn't seem to think at all, but, apparently, utterly unaware of <span ="high">Descartes</span>, he simply refuses to see that he doesn't exist." - Daniel Gildenlow

You just converted me to PoS!

I believe that the troll is actually arguing that music should be created for
the majority, rather than for oneself (or one's fellow countrymen). If this
would be the case, his point according english lyrics would be valid.

I see it more like this: Music is (well, should be) created by the composer
for himself. We others ought to be very happy if we are allowed a
glimpse of this personal treasure, not complaining for not
understanding it. It is quite natural for everyone to write in his native
language, be thee english, italian, swedish or mongolian.

Personally, I find foreign lyrics to be a free portal to another culture, and
this experience usually overshadows the need of understanding the
message. For this reason I like a lot of folk music too (goose already
mentioned Empyrium and Tenhi).

Eemu Ranta wrote: Man Overboard wrote: "Bush, for instance, doesn't seem to think at all, but, apparently, utterly unaware of Descartes, he simply refuses to see that he doesn't exist." - Daniel Gildenlow You just converted me to PoS!

I was about to say the same thing ... hilarious ... well done, Dan!

Thanks for the link paulindigo, I'm headed there now ...

Poxx aku pun berseteju dengan ingantan kawan-kawan lain, mais je crois que c'est seulement parce que, du hast keine mutaa, talar eelar mutrum, nayr nanacha

(which is what you get when you send a Malaysian citizen of Indian descent to international schools ...

Eemu Ranta wrote: Personally, I find foreign lyrics to be a free portal to another culture, and this experience usually overshadows the need of understanding the message.

Personally I find instrumentally the music to be a free
portal to another culture, and this experience doesnt
overshadow the need to convey an occultic or new
age philosophy message(opposed to some
adolescent fairy tale) that the the mystical preacher
at the microphone is trying to sell or dilute your
understanding of the choices of life!

Who?

 

 

Thank you Paulindigo, thank you ... got some of the most crucial albums include LDF ... great to know at least what themes some these guys are singing about ...

ANd Fitzcarraldo ... I'll admit I do get frustrated with our local pop scene which has too many copycat bands (then again which pop scene doesn't) ... it's good to hear some enjoying it from the outside ... my personal favourite artistes are M.Nasir and Zainal Abidin ... both do a nice job of putting a world music feel (musing mainly Malaysian elements) behind the more formulaic Malay pop song ...