19
votes
Share a link to good singing in a language that you don't understand
I thought maybe we'd play this game again? This time the "iron chef" ingredient is good singing, but in a language that you don't understand.
Ground rules:
- One song per comment, so we can vote for them individually.
- One top-level comment per user, so pick your favorite song.
- If you want to post more than one song, reply to yourself to add more comments.
Previously in this series:
Popplagið is one of my favorite songs of all time, and my wife and I walked down the aisle to Hoppípolla - I'm very glad to see some Sigur Ros here.
This request made me think of Infected Mushroom & Tuna - Lost in Space (feat. A-Wa). Tuna is an Israeli (as are Infected Mushroom) rapper, and the lyrics are in Hebrew, which was the first time I'd heard any Hebrew singing (or spoken Hebrew at all) and it really caught me! There's a section sung by A-Wa at the end which is in Arabic and makes a nice contrast.
Infected Mushroom's cover of Send Me An Angel was likewise the first singing in Hebrew I'd ever really heard.
The original music video is also...interesting.
Here is some good singing that nobody understands. (Nonsense lyrics that sound like American English.)
Adriano Celentano & Raffaella Carrà - Prisencolinensinainciusol. And here's another version.
Wikipedia has some background on this song.
Davy Sicard - Maloya Kabosé
Curses! You got to it first!
I had an unfair advantage, since I just happened to see this song on Twitter yesterday and it inspired me to start the topic. :)
Garmarna - Vänner och fränder
Lyrics in Swedish, and English translation
Carabao - Sam Cha Carabao
(cheating a bit, but I'd recommend this entire "20 Years Carabao" album. I spent a month in Thailand ~15 years ago, heard this album, and it's stuck with me)
Lyrics in Thai, and English translation
Just thought you might get a kick out of this one then Garmarna - Varulven
Crowds - White Ash
The Japanese lyricist was going for a song in a foreign language that you could try to sing along to but didn't really mean anything. It's a really interesting effect when the song is using recognizable English language but is still incomprehensible.
Trio Mandili - Pidmanula
If you're going to link to Trio Mandili (who I also love!), the original song/video that made them a bit of a viral sensation is worth mentioning too: Trio Mandili - Apareka
BTW, the other two girls in that original lineup who are no longer in Mandili have their own trio now too:
Trio Lavdila
I actually hadn't seen that one before, since I discovered them rather recently and have only listened a little. A whole other trio is good too, plenty of great not English singing there!
Oh. Cool to see they are still getting new fans. Out of curiosity, how did you first hear about them?
I think it was just a lucky youtube recommendation of one of their other videos, but I'm not sure now. I wish they would put more on Spotify since that is where I do most of my listening, but such is life.
From Egypt - Philip Glass from Powaqqatsi
There's something so plaintive and yearning in the vocals that I had literal goosebumps all over my arms in the movie theatre when I first saw this and this music came on.
My best guess is that it's a field recording of a call to prayer. A couple of other random examples on youtube for comparison:
On the album it's nestled between 2 other tracks call Mr. Suso #1 and Mr. Suso #2 With Reflection so I always imagine the vocalist is called Mr. Suso.
Yelle - Tristesse / joie
This song got me into Yelle, I love their music. Also I have no idea what they sing about (beside what the title suggests)
Nada - Senza Un Perché
Prins Póló - París Norðursins
Fever The Ghost - SOURCE (glossolalia with a lil English in places)
Sanah Moidutty - Kannadi Koodum Kootti
Letta Mbulu - Mahlalela
According to the youtube comments, the language is IsiXhosa, which is spoken in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
sudno (Boris Ryzhy) - Molchat Doma
Wardruna and Aurora - Helvegen (Live)
Apparently they are singing in old Norse. There's something wild and primal in those long, sustained notes.
Your link doesn't work.
Ah, sorry. Fixed it.
https://youtu.be/YqyVP5bN7hw
Pe4enkata ft.Desislava Todorova – Petar Plet Plete
Arrangement by Adriana Nikolova – Pe4enkata
Mastering: ANP
Director: Daniel Delchunkov
Camera : Lora Topalova & Daniel Delchunkov
Editing: Adriana Nikolova-Pe4enkata & TIMELESS
The arrangement of the composition is inspired by music works of “Trakiiska suita” and ” Ruchenica” written by Petko Stainov and Libomir Pipkov.
That was great. Kinda reminds me of Imogen Heap a bit.
Also worth noting, Pe4enkata is apparently a Beatbox World Champion too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1AXdM0Ro_o
She is amazing.
Generals Of The Civil War, by Zoe Yaschenko. A mournful song about the Russian Civil War. I looked up the lyrics online, and now I can understand a word here or there.
Parvaaz - Katyi Rov , Language - Kashmiri
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Manam Mehve Khayal-e-oo, Language - Persian
This is a Qawwali (which is a form of sufi/devotional singing). The style is probably not something most of you might be used to and they are usually very long (15-20 minutes) but worth it :p
People might remember Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from the club remix of Mustt Mustt, and here is a live version of the song.
I actually got to see him in concert in Berkeley. I went with a friend who was a big fan of his music.
I love Nusrat. He usually sings in punjabi (my language) or urdu. If anyone's interested, I highly recommend to check out his album Night Song with Michael Brook.
Agam - Mist of Capricorn, Language - Telugu
Avial - Chekele, Language - Malayalam
Baba Yetu, Language - Swahili
Yes of course!
(Known to some as the theme from Civilization IV in 2005, but this is a newer recording.)
Žoržs Siksna - Pasaulīt
That's a good one!
I think there are a zillion songs that fit in this category, but sometimes you don't think of them right away.
Today I realized that "99 Luftballons" and Heart and Soul use the same chord progression. (With a different rhythm.)
No mashups yet that I could find.
Amadou & Mariam - Le Dimache a Bamoko
Beautiful African pop.
Pápai Joci - Origo
One of my all-time favorite Eurovision tracks, from Hungary. I don't understand a damn word (other than "Samurai" ;) but it still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
I'm not really into opera, so I haven't really listened to much of his music and can't recommend a specific song, but a friend recently introduced me to Dimash, a Kazakh singer with the most incredible vocal range I've ever heard. His singing is truly beautiful.
What's one song you liked?
Oh, this got bumped, so i'm going to use the opportunity to sneak another one in :)
Did you know that before the revolution, Iran had pretty good rock music? Kourosh Yaghmaei - Havar Havar