Agreed. Silent Night and O Christmas Tree are just awful.
For German songs, Xavier Naidoo did some very good stuff that had a nice smooth sound.
For tonal languages, I have heard some stuff that is not bad, Loso for example. This is Thai and not Chinese, and tones are a bit lost on me, so it could be that he is singing nonsense, although his ballands sound plaintive to me.
Count me among those who are baffled by the “American style.” Is Guns N’ Roses the American style? Does Leonard Cohen, Canadian though he may be, sing in the American style? How about Devestatin’ Dave, the Turntable Slave? Zip, Zap, Rap!
Anyway, if you’re looking for pop rock in French with a beautiful melody and lyrics that rhyme (some of the time), check out the following artists/groups:
Francis Cabrel
Catherine Durand
Alain Souchon
Stephan Eicher
Beau Dommage
Harmonium
Zachary Richard
Cabrel in particular has a boatload of stuff on YouTube.
I’ll just go ahead and make this explicit: I think English is a superb language for singing.
Trust me, as I explained above, the tones are not sung in most contemporary songs. You get by on context. Beijing Opera (and some other traditions) does incorporate tones, but modern pop/rock ignores them. Ambiguities sometimes result, and this is probably why they show the lyrics in music videos (even those not meant for karaoke). As it seems you don’t want to believe me, this is what Indopedia has to say on the subject:
Curley-Poo enters stage right singing A Wandering Cowman I. Immediately Laurie-Yum falls in love with the handsome tenor and counters with Many a New Sun Whose Rays. Lord High Executioner Jud-Jud is jealous of their youthful love but cannot decide whether to commit ritual suicide by hanging or beheading (Behold the Poor Lord High Executioner is Dead).
It’s got some possibilities. . .
Anyone who thinks you cannot sing in French should listen to the original Les Miserables. A fine piece that had to half of it redone for English. And Les Miz and Jesus Christ Superstar prove that anything written in one language can be translated into another, as they both have been done in over a dozen different languages.
As I stated above, it depends more on the translator and the singers than the languages.
Missouri Synod, right?
I can’t say that the hymns are one of the reasons I converted from LCMS to Reform Judaism, but it certainly didn’t help.
Hebrew, IMHO, is beautiful when sung or chanted, but quite hard on the ears when spoken.
Eh? Give me a shout when some Hawai’an singer is as famous as Miriam Makeba.
Don Ho?
I was talking about the languages, not the artists, anyways.
Ever try singing in Pascal? Probably not that great a language for singing.
hands you a shout Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
I’ve found Hawai’ian to be a gorgeous language to sing in–as well as Lnuísimk, the language of the Micmaq. Tagalog rap is really interesting.
I said “as famous as” the Grammy-winning, married to Stokely Carmichael & Hugh Masekela, Paul Simon- and Harry Belafonte-collaborating Miriam, not some (very) big fish in a small pond. I’ve never heard of the guy or his music, which doesn’t say much (I see he was on the world music charts) but is a data point.
By Hawai’ian Singer I meant someone who sings in Hawai’ian
That’s why I brought up Makeba. Her Click Song serves as a wonderful illustration that a language doesn’t need an emphasis on vowels to be enjoyable. Xhosa clicks serve as percussion in that song, with the rest of the lyrics winding about them. Try doing that with Hawai’ian.
Not that Xhosa is light on the vowels, anyway. Ever heard our anthem?
It’s probably better than brainfuck, though.
… Like Bob Dylan? It’s true that in some forms of French chanson, the melody can somewhat be incidental. For instance some songs by George Brassens:
If you can’t understand what he’s singing, you’re probably missing 80% of what makes this song great.
However, there is a lot of French songs that rhyme. Someone mentioned Alain Souchon upthread, he’s a masterful lyricist in the pop-rock genre: listen to this song for instance:
French chanson is a lot more than just Edith Piaf. My favourite signer, Barbara, was a bit more laid back (and sadder!) musically than Piaf. To my ears, the following song is incredebly flowing:
There’s also a German version of the song above. It’s a lot more choppy, but I can’t tell if it’s German or her accent.
Here’s a song by Charles Aznavour, in English:
Compare it with the French original, starting 2:10 in this video:
To me the French and English versions of this song always sounded like two completely different songs, even though this singer is the same and the arrangements are very similar.
It’s hard for me to judge French strictly for its sounds and I feel anyone posting to this thread would have the same difficulties assessing English.
I love singing in Latin. It was always a treat when we got to do this at church choir (and since this was the United Church, it didn’t happen too often).