How could I forget this one: Ievan Polkka - Loituma
Some foreign songs that don’t necessarily “move” me, but I at least like the sound of:
Sentimental Journey by Yuki (largely for the video.)
Had Gadia by Chava Alberstein
Kaze no Toori Michi by Horishita Sayuri.
Under the Blue Sky by The Indigo
Gentle Feelings by Chara
This song from the movie Naisu no Mori (around 1h02m into the movie, if the direct link doesn’t work–but watch the whole movie.)
(There were others I wanted to post that YouTube has apparently made a concerted effort to scrub away.)
“El Gran Varon” by Willie Colon.
At the time I first heard the song in the late 80’s, I was still learning Spanish…
I actually looked up the lyrics and was happy that I was correct in my understanding of the song.
All these years later, my wife and I still listen to it from time to time.
.
Plaisir d’amour, here performed by Nana Mouskouri. There are many recordings of this song, and my favorite is by Jean Redpath (in a medley of similarly-themed songs), but I can’t find it on line anywhere. The melody of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” is based on “Plaisir d’amour.”
Águas de Março in the original Portugese by Elis Regina and Tom Jobim.
Olvidala- a duet in Colombian Vallenato style. The title translants as “Forget her!”
It is an upbeat yet plaintive song, with the lead pining for his lost love and his friend urging him to forget her. I first heard it when I first met my own Colombiana, the now Mrs Iggy. She was a bit *horrified *that I so liked the song and took the role of the lead when singing it.
[spoiler]The song seems routine enough until the next to last verse when the countering voice starts…
Spanish Translation
Mira que tú jugaste a dos amores Look, you played with two loves
Cuando lo eras todo en sus miradas When you were everything in her eyes
...
It’s a song sung by a lead who is a two timing cheat lamenting that his girlfriend dumped him and moved on to another guy.
[/spoiler]
My Spanish has much improved since then.
On the album Rock en Español, Vol. 1, Los Straitjackets teamed up with Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos and Big Sandy for Spanish covers of classic rock songs. My favorite, which gives me goose bumps when I hear it is Dame Una Seña.
Also great are Hey Lupe and La Hiedra Venenosa
It’s an awesome album all around.
Peaceful, calming and beautiful, Flower Duet.
Some personal favourites:
To nie ptak - Kayah & Bregovic (Polish)
Velha chica - Dulce Pontes & Waldemar Bastos (Portuguese)
A csitári hegyek alatt - Oi Va Voi (Hungarian)
I recently uncovered these two and sent them to my sister, who agreed that they have stupendous voices, so I’ll share them with you.
Jobim’s been mentioned in a few posts since I introduced him in post #12. Amazing talent.
Let me introduce you to Marie-Jo Therio. She’s French-Canadian, from Moncton, New Brunswick, about 200 miles east of where Maine ends. (I used to live there, and probably knew her family, but I was long gone before she was born.) She does her own thing. She sits at the piano and sort of lays out whats on her mind, it goes where it goes and ends when it ends. No musical structure, a refreshing unpredictability. There’s a pretentious cafe in Moncton called Cafe Rodinson, on Robinson Street, where old ladies eat quiche, and she tells us that a guy invites her to lunch there, but she’s a free spirit, and “Holy Shit”, this is not the life for her. “I want to draw birds that come from places you don’t even know.” This song was a landmark in the development of my appreciation for music. I love it, I love her. Holy shit.
[Purposefully misuderstanding “moves”]
I can DJ, show me your moves!
(Hopefully these aren’t singing about torturing puppies, I really couldn’t tell for sure.)
Borhesia - Ni Upanja Ni Strahu (No Hope No Fear) Slovenian
Mueran Humanos - El Círculo Spanish (Argentina)
ИБВЖ – Ты Называл Это Место Домом (demo)(IBVZh - You Call This Place Home (demo)) Russian
Xarah Dion - Sillage Et Caprice French
Kælan Mikla - Kalt (Cold) Icelandic
Dissidenten - Telephone Arab Moroccan Arabic dialect
1984 - Tu Nie Będzie Rewolucji (???) Polish
Grauzone - Eisbaer (Polar Bear) German
P-Model - Pinky Trick Japanese
Roberto De Simone - Secondo Coro Delle Lavandaie (Second Chorus of the Washerwomen) Historical Neapolitan dialect?
Wumpscut - Your Last Salute (Datom remix) Catalan
[Danish
[URL=“MUSTA PARAATI - Romanssi - YouTube”]Musta Paraati - Romanssi (Romance)](Kalashnikov - Oedelaeg Og Haerg - YouTube"Kalashnikov - Ødelæg & Hærg[/URL) Finnish
Olho Seco - Nada (Brazilian) Portugese
Crossover - Phostographt Gibberish made up to sound like German?
And if you made it this far:
Doctor Kissinger’s Homemade Chocolate Penises - Schön! English Google-translated to German, sung guessing at German pronunciation
Thought of another interesting example that qualifies as "moving’.
Dead Can Dance - Avatar I’ve heard the Lisa Gerrard sung parts are phonetics forming an imaginary language.
There is a huge repository of Russian music, virtually unknown in the west, with many beautiful and moving songs. Maya Kristalinskaya was one of the most popular singers of the Soviet era, and considered a national hero in post-Soviet Russia for her renditions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGFpwZngFVINo idea what language it’s in:
Eweroun by Falkenbach
[quote=“glowacks, post:76, topic:778974”]
No idea what language it’s in:
Eweroun by Falkenbach
[/QUOTE]I tried to find out, but the best I can get is Wikipedia saying “Most of Falkenbach lyrics are in English. They also write lyrics in Old Norse, Latin, and Old German”. It’s probably not Latin, and Old Norse and Old German are probably very similar anyway.