I'm going to try an experiment this morning, and I'd appreciate it if you, dear readers, would please let me know whether you like it. I'll decide whether to continue this in future posts based on your responses.
I've long enjoyed foreign-language singers and songs, even if I don't always understand their lyrics. Having learned French at school and as a student with Alliance Française, I listened to French folk and popular singers in my younger years. I still do so from time to time. One of them was a young lady named Marie Laforêt. Her heyday was in the 1960's, contemporaneous with artists better known in the English-speaking world such as Francoise Hardy, with songs such as those I'm going to list below.
Let's begin with a quiet, meditative number, "Mon village au fond de l'eau" ("My village at the bottom of the water").
Next, here's "Mon amour mon ami" ("My love[r], my friend").
We continue with "Viens Viens" ("Come, come").
Finally, here's one of my favorites, "Julie Creve-coeur" ("Julie Heartbreak" or "Julie heart-broken").
Lovely songs by a lovely singer, rendered in a lovely voice.
If you liked this morning's choices, please let me know in Comments. If you'd prefer not to hear foreign songs, but stick with English or instrumental pieces, please let me know that, too. Thanks!
Peter
11 comments:
Foreign language songs have a wonderful quality: many people cannot understand the lyrics. Especially with modern pop music, how many songs have truly catchy tunes that get you singing long, only to realize that the lyrics are morally horrible?
I've taken to trying to find songs that I cannot understand the lyrics for that particular reason.
Half of the Latin chants I listen to I couldn't decipher if you paid me, but they're still lovely. Sometimes you don't need to understand the lyrics in order to feel the beauty of a piece. Heck, if understanding lyrics was a requirement, the opera houses would be half-empty.
I say keep the furriner stuff.
Excellent practice, one reason I'm drawn to Runrig and Capercaillie's Gaelic offerings, you concentrate on the voice and the music. Then when you're learning a language, the clear diction and slower rate of most singing Vs normal speech helps train your ear. Ps I also used Alliance Francaise (in Nairobi) as a teenager to improve my French.
Check out Tatiana Stepa, She was a Romanian singer, now passed, who I think had a lovely voice. A friend in Pitesti Romania recommended her work to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oVCApAYVDg
What about a little Edith Piaf next time? La Vien Rose or something like that. But I do like the selection above.
Marie Carmen ''J'ai l'blues de vous''
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbtT-syaR94
Liane Foly - Laisse Pleurer les Nuages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6vicV_uAO4
Yes please keep the wide range of music as I enjoy learning of new(to me) talent.
Uh, your blog, post what pleases you. That said, I like your eclectic taste in music.
Please, please, keep this coming. Find music I really like here, that, otherwise I would never be introduced to.
Thank you.
Listening to the music and songs you post is something I enjoy. It is a reflection of on your tastes and likes. Nothing to change.
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