Foreign bands

[Axamenta]

Do you often like foreign bands, even though they sing a foreign language? I saw a Kaizers Orchestra (Norwegian band) concert last week and I immediately bought their debut album and I thought it was simply brilliant.

Now, after five days, I have discovered the translation booklet and read the lyrics in English. And now I see the lyrics are great, too! But it wouldn't have mattered anyway, this band was great without me knowing what they were singing about.

Also, being Belgian, I listen to Belgian music mainly, and a lot of it is in Dutch or French, and I think it's quite a shame that they'll never break through in the world, because they've chosen to sing in Dutch.

So, the question : can you enjoy music when the lyrics are incomprehensible to you?

[jrgen]

I mainly listen to german metal.
I also listen to some(not much) music sung in English
which is foreign to me since I'm from Sweden.

[Breine]

You should all listen to Danish music! Most of it rocks :D

[gokufusionss1]

Ramstien wouldn't work in any other language then German, it can depend upon the type of sound the band makes to wether the language works or not. for example i can see no way how you can sing a rock song in welsh.

[jrgen]

Originally posted by gokufusionss1
Ramstien wouldn't work in any other language then German, it can depend upon the type of sound the band makes to wether the language works or not. for example i can see no way how you can sing a rock song in welsh.
Exactly.
The german language sounds great with metal.

If you want to rap for example you're better off with english.

It's "Rammstein" by the way.

[Axamenta]

Originally posted by jrgen
Exactly.
The german language sounds great with metal.

If you want to rap for example you're better off with english.

It's "Rammstein" by the way.

Have you ever heard any French rap? Manau for example? It's really cool mostly.

[jrgen]

Originally posted by Axamenta
Have you ever heard any French rap? Manau for example? It's really cool mostly.
French doesn't sound like a rap-friendly language.
But I'm not into rap so what do I know?

[Axamenta]

The thing with French rap is that they never conjugate their verbs and stuff, which makes it incredibly simple and easy to understand if you know the slightest bit of French.

And the French 'r' is very convincing in rap music.

[Casey]

I like Sigur Ros there Icelandic band and they sing in different languages in most of there songs.

[jrgen]

Yeah, I also listen to stuff like In Extremo.
They do Medieval Metal in Languages such as:
Swedish, Danish, Norweigan, Icelandic, German,
German from 12th century, German from 9th century,
Spanish, really old spanish, French, really old french,
english, hebrew, latin, cantiga, ladino asnd other wierd languages.

[SomethingBig]

I listen to J-Pop more than I listen to English music, regardless of whether or not I understand it.

[TheAbominatrix]

I'm mostly into Japanese music myself, from pop to rock to punk. Cant understand it, but I love it, and there's a few English punk bands I like but still cant understand. There's a French pop song I like at the moment, and a Mexican song that I find to be really rockin.

[escobert]

no only English speaking bands!

[Skogs]

American music is foreign as far as I'm concerned. :o But I assume you mean non-English music. I quite like Mana (Spanish) and Saez (french).

[Meow]

Though i consider myself well-ranged in my musical taste, i do essentially limit myself to the American scene. And though that covers a staggeringly vast spectrum, it still doesn't mean i'm too well versed.

So long as i'm more explorative than some of my more musically elitist friends, i feel pretty okay about it. i'll get to foreign music eventually, eh?

[eestlinc]

Stereolab sings half in English and half in French. Both are very good.

[Doomgaze]

No, I can't say it's very common that I listen to a band that's not from the US, Canada, or the UK.


Though Rammstein is great, of course.

[ChibiInuYasha]

NovaSonic is a Korean rock band. Very awsome. Better than any J-Rock I've heard.

[Strider]

Rammstein and Puya. Yep.

[Spatvark]

Originally posted by gokufusionss1
for example i can see no way how you can sing a rock song in welsh.

*gets to work on that right away*

[Heath]

I could do a very basic song in Welsh.

[Bright Eyes]

I like a lot of French and Spanish bands, namely La Ruda Salska, Tryo, Kyo, Mano Negra, Saez, Manu Chao, Matmatah, Louise Attaque, and Ska- P

Thing is I can understand the French ones =D

[War Angel]

I like certain foreign bands. I especially love the Beatles.

[TheAbominatrix]

Yeah, a lot of really awesome bands have come from England, that's for sure.

[Big D]

French rap sounds great. It's odd... French is one of the most lyrical spoken languages, yet many French songs don't sound so good. Especially conteporary stuff. Yet it's a good rap language. German, on the other hand, is a 'harsher' or sharper spoken tongue, yet virtually every style of singing sounds just fine in German.

I listen to a lot of foreign stuff, whether it's old German and Italian opera, or the French, Japanese and Portugese tracks from the Final Fantasy Vocal Collections (Risa Ohki <3).

I can enjoy songs in any language, but reading a translation of the lyrics adds to the enjoyment. However, if a song's extremely well sung and written, you should be able to tell what they're singing about just from the emotion in the voice and music. Many of Faye Wong's Chinese songs are like this.