the future of Dutch and German lyrics |
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Sean Trane
Special Collaborator Prog Folk Joined: April 29 2004 Location: Heart of Europe Status: Offline Points: 20251 |
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Posted: August 01 2023 at 11:10 |
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Spanish is definitely the second-biggest pop/rock language on the planet.
As
a Belgo-Franco-Canadian working in North Holland (West-Friesland), I
must say that communicating is not always easy, because ABN is not
exactly the norm in either the NL or VL. Isn't Focus' Harem Scarem's vocals in Dutch?? I have
no problem with Dutch or Flemish films (except that I won't understand
everything). In rock, whatever few attempts to sing in "Dutch" have been +/- convincing (Clouseau or the excellent Spinvis), but indeed,
if Golden Earring had stuck to Dutch texts, I doubt that Liefde Radar would be known worldwide (maybe in Aruba and Sumatra).
Tons of people listen to international pop songs without having an idea of what the lyrics are all (or not) about.
Italians and Germans have much wider home markets than NL+Vl. However, if a singer sings in "Dutch", he's obviously not aiming outside the home market. I have no idea if the Schlagers have important social/political texts , but there were bands in the turn of the 70's that were calling their music Polit Rock (Ihre Kinder, if memory serves). Grobschnitt was more credible in German than in English, IMHO. The French world is a bit of an exception, because a lot of singers have a certain way with lyrics (les chansons ā textes) and
Edited by Sean Trane - August 01 2023 at 13:13 |
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let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
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moshkito
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 04 2007 Location: Grok City Status: Offline Points: 17529 |
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Hi, This is the part of our discussion and the type/style of music that hurts everyone, and makes it once again, the new law that the one who sells the most is right, and that would mean that anything in any European or worldly language could not possibly compete with English. French has its emotional side and expression, that is less mental, than English if you start with Shakespeare. Italian is very expressive on a personal level, and has been for a long time, even in opera. Spanish has done well, but I think their tradition to the flamenco and the guitar, have hurt the development of new music styles. But the singing style still stood up ... a sort of "solo" voice amidst the instruments. Germany is a bit different for me. The schlagger is a copy of western music. The "krautrock" is something that is completely anti-western music in its expression, in favor of something else that we have a hard time describing and discussing. But you know that it is intense and strong. Reminds me of some AD2 lyrics, that we think are psychedelic and in the end, they are much less psychedelic than they are a really pointed finger at various things. And the translations of a lot of these things falls off badly, since we do not understand or get the feeling behind it. You can see Italian quite well in the translations for PFM, Le Orme and Banco. In all cases, the Italian sounds much prettier and the words do not throw off the singer's ideas and concepts. But in English, the words are a bit less clear and make the understanding of the pieces more difficult. Result? If they have to sing in English ... their inner soul is probably already gone, because they can not express in English the soul that their language possesses, they were born with ... and it won't sound quite right. And here, many folks are letting metal and growl hide the language altogether .... which is another story.
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Sem__
Forum Groupie Joined: April 22 2023 Location: The Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 78 |
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Dutch sounds great in music, not biased! Sounds better in something like kleinkunst than in rock IMO because it's not a very melodic language. But its Americanisation, it's the worst in East Flanders, the amount of random English lingo in regular speech is honestly quite annoying. You just have to look for it, and you will spot it all around you, everywhere.
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David_D
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Another album with German lyrics, I enjoy very much, is Hölderlins Traum.
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quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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someone_else
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English may sound smoother and more familiar in songs than the native language of German or Dutch speaking peoples, so many artists (at least in the prog niche) have adopted it as a language of song. It seems unlikely to me that this is motivated by attempts to reach the Billboard Hot 100. Most Italian prog artists seem to have less problems with singing in their own language. It seems unlikely to me that this is motivated by attempts to reach the Billboard Hot 100.
You can find some rare examples of prog in Dutch in this thread.
Edited by someone_else - July 27 2023 at 03:13 |
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David_D
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I think the question of liking vocals in various languages is much a matter of being open and getting used to listen to them, but it might be a good idea to include translations of the lyrics to English - it can be done much easier today.
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quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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David_D
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I can enjoy very much German vocals like for instance on Nina Hagen Band's debut (1978). |
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quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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moshkito
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 04 2007 Location: Grok City Status: Offline Points: 17529 |
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Hi, Having been involved in several languages and literature. the one thing that one learns really quick is that translations stink and then some. So, I have seen several translations from the Portuguese original of Camoes famous poem (Alma Minha Gentil) and have read at least 5 translations and they were all awful to my mind, in that the original feeling and flow of the words is simply not there, and an elegant academic translation is not the answer for something that is dramatic and (in modern terms) cinematic! A couple of translations were literal, and they missed the point also. My dad also did several translations of Shakespeare, two of which are (apparently) still used in Portugal ... I find that weird ... but in comparing the two, I found that he tried hard to make sure that you knew how the character felt ... and that made for a nice translation. Rock music is tough. We have not "allowed" several cultures to develop these things ... we automatically dismiss ANGE, MONA LISA and some other French folks, and their music is so very much like the emotional material on a lot of their history and arts ... so we still won't bother listening to the Decamps Project, because it is in French, and the music itself is far out. The idea of the Euro was to facilitate the commerce in Europe between so many nations. The idea of a "common language" had the same idea, with one serious issue here ... the market for the material was in America more than anything else ... if you took America out, no one would be complaining about the different languages, but here, it is a problem ... and the inevitable comment is that folks won't listen to anything out of their comfort zone which is true ... you're not quite going to change the country and western music over here on the West Coast in Oregon and Washington states ... but as soon as you leave Portland, you will rarely hear anything else.
Edited by moshkito - July 23 2023 at 11:56 |
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
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David_D
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I may doubt if that's true when talking about Prog, but if it is, it would be good in my opinion to appreciate more other cultures. Edited by David_D - July 23 2023 at 12:58 |
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quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic Joined: October 05 2013 Location: SFcaUsA Status: Offline Points: 15254 |
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It's how a native language is used. While German is a difficult language to put to song at least for non-German speaking ears, there are cases where it works quite well and can be popular. Industrial metal band Rammstein has enjoyed great success singing exclusively in German. |
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https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
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moshkito
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 04 2007 Location: Grok City Status: Offline Points: 17529 |
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Hi,
If the music itself ... DOES NOT SING ... it won't matter what language it is on. PERIOD. I had no issues to Sadistic Mika Band singing in Japanese. I had no issues with Amon Duul 2 singing in German. I had no issue with Banco singing in Italian. I had no issue with Ange singing in French. We might as well say that we forgot what "progressive" meant ... and are now bitching because it ain't the format that we think it should be! C'mon, if you want a lollipop go get one in your favorite flavor, but stop telling others their flavor is wrong and should not be licked!
Edited by moshkito - July 23 2023 at 07:08 |
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
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Cristi
Special Collaborator Crossover / Prog Metal Teams Joined: July 27 2006 Location: wonderland Status: Online Points: 43763 |
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Most people do not listen to music out of their comfort zone, let alone in a language they do not understand.
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David_D
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^ Well, it's meant as a suggestion not only for German and Dutch bands but for other nationalities too, as I see it as a more general problem.
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quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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suitkees
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^ I think most are not even looking for a compromise, and why would they. For the Dutch, and I guess for the Germans too, English is the second language and most speak it rather well. Other than audience reach and commercial reasons, it might also be that writing/singing in English also create a kind of distance and maybe in English we accept silly lyrics a bit easier. As an example: "There are nine million bicycles in Beijing That's a fact It's a thing we can't deny Like the fact that I will love you till I die." In Dutch this would sound utterly ridiculous, in English this - apparently - was very popular... If it was for the beauty of the language everybody would of course sing in Italian or French. |
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The razamataz is a pain in the bum |
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David_D
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A fine example of this is the Polish album Cosmopolis (1992) by Brygada Kryzys, and it works very well to me.
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quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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Lewian
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Lewian
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I think they perceive prog as an international thing, they think that they may get noted more abroad if they sing in English, and bands with English vocals are their major influences. There's no shortage of new German language music if you look at other genres. I for sure would happily listen to new German language prog. (And the Dutch can do their thing as well if they want.)
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Stressed Cheese
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That's because you're not Dutch. I'm not speaking for all Dutch people, but I find it hard to take Dutch vocals seriously. I also can't stand Dutch movies or shows unless they're comedic. I like some Dutch-language songs, but that's more despite of the langauge. I know some other people who feel the same, and know some Germans who don't like their own language that much either. Of course trying to appeal to markets outside of the Netherlands and Belgium, and the fact that over here, everybody speaks English anyway play a role too. But for me at least, it's not an appealing language at all. Not for music, at least.
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moshkito
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 04 2007 Location: Grok City Status: Offline Points: 17529 |
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Hi,
I'm not sure this is slightly overblown ... there was a band that got really well known, and is still appreciated a lot for their efforts, and no one knew what language the guy sang in ... and it was never an issue. And he is remembered and appreciated like so few folks out there. Hello Damo Suzuki! Somehow, I have this feeling in my bones that there are times when singing for a specific audience, in this case, where the money is ... is not the answer ... most of these bands won't last long enough to be remembered or recognized, is my guess, because there simply exist too many of them, and they are not doing anything that is different or special. I do wish there was more room for the creativity, and not quite the idea that if you can sing in English you can sell more. It just brings me a suggestion that the material/music is simply not good enough. The music has to sing on its own, even with a "singer" .... and I'm not sure this is happening.
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
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Mirakaze
Special Collaborator Eclectic, JRF/Canterbury, Avant/Zeuhl Joined: December 17 2019 Location: (redacted) Status: Offline Points: 4072 |
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This is definitely the case in the Netherlands. Almost everyone here has at least a basic understanding of English and since prog is a niche genre anyway singing in English instead of Dutch is a very safe way to broaden your audience while losing virtually no one.
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