Foreign songs

[Hellbreaker]

Hey!

You should all know what music is, right? Most of what you listen to is in a language you can either say you speak or speak fluently.

Today I had a strange urge to listen to music in languages I don't understand, like French. For example a friend showed me some song with a French singer, and I didn't understand squat more than at one point she said 'me lasar'. But I really liked the flow of it, and since I couldn't understand anything I didn't have to bother with thinking about lyrics.

Thus I have decided to make a playlist with songs in foreign languages I don't speak. Or really cheesy songs.
So since I have no idea how to actually find music. I can google already, kthxbai. But I need something to search for other than 'Songs in [language]'.

Do you know any bands that sing in languages that aren't English or Swedish(+the rest of that linguistic group)?
As mentioned simply cheesy songs work too. I have Always - Erasure and YMCA in the playlist already for instance.

[Loplod]

I know a fair bunch of like.. Japanese/Korean singers/artists


What genre are you into? I'll drop you some names.

[Hellbreaker]

Jan 2, 2011 4:22:58 GMT Loplod said:

What genre are you into? I'll drop you some names.

I don't listen to Screamo, ever. That's about it.

[WestRider]

Let's see. Manu Chau sings often in French or Spanish.

I don't know too much about specific groups, but Conjunto is a Spanish-language musical style that I rather like. It does draw pretty heavily on Polka traditions and styles, which is a problem for some.

Similarly, Chorro, from Brazil, has some great stuff in Portuguese.

Transmetal are old-school Death Metal, in Spanish.

Loituma and Korpiklaani do some good stuff in Finnish. Korpiklaani might be heavier than you care for, though.

Most of the stuff I have that's not in English, though, is in something Germanic or Scandanavian, which is probably linguistically closer than what you're looking for.

[Phaaze]

If you like Koren SNSD is a really good band.

Swedish I will recommend Caramell

Japanese I can recommend EXILE, AAA, Mizuki Nana, Nami Tamaki and The Pillows.

None of them are scremo; SNSD and Caramell are pop. I think Mizuki Nana and Nami Tamaki are as well. EXILE is kinda hard to nail down but they are extremely good. AAA is working on getting a song of every genre out and The Pillows are a rock band.

[commandersasha]

Justin Bieber seems alien to me, does that count?

Seriously, I have always said that the human voice is my favourite instrument, but I have never bothered with lyrics much.

If you want the voice taken to an extreme, I don't think you can beat Diamanda Galas, an operatically trained singer with a 7 octave vocal range, whose recordings use everything from whispers, through perfect singing, to outright screaming. The album "The Sporting Life" is accessible, before you head into the nightmare world of "Wild Women with Steak Knives (The Homicidal Love Song for Solo Scream)"

What sort of music are you after? Contemporary but just in a different language, or a wider range of world music? A UK magazine is excellent for experimental music, and ignores world- and language barriers:
www.thewire.co.uk/

The world of music is huge, well done for exploring the boundaries of your immediate experience!

[drdan]

I mostly listen to death metal, so the vocals are mostly unintelligible regardless of the language.

But anyway,

!T.O.O.H! - cool Czech metal band, highly unusual and lots of fun
Arcturus - Some early stuff is in Norwegian
Ulver - ditto (I linked to their classical album, the other early ones are black metal, the later ones are electronic and in English)
Solefald - Avant metal band that sing in English, French, German and Norwegian
Brujeria - Mexican metal band, songs in Spanish

That's all I can think of right now...

Well there's also Rammstein, obvious one.

[Psychodrake]

While I was in Singapore I enjoyed just about everything on the music channels (Chinese pop singers usually). Also
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bAN7Ts0xBo
Tunak Tunak Tun is always good fun Only with the video though.

[gauntinator]

I listen to Ramstien. Its a German band. I'm not sure exactally how to spell their name but it should be close enough.

[andy089]

its Rammstein ^^
what about Falco? (austrian/german, also did some english stuff)
I also like oldies like "so happy together" by the turtles or "you are my curiousity" (dunno the artist). Many EBM-artists are german/austrian (i think there are quite a few spanish ones as well but i dunno any) but i suppose you arent really into that music. I wouldnt even call them "songs" haha =D

I also grew fond of "Kontrast", a german Band. Not the kinda music everyone likes tho!

[CephaSquiddy]

You want a band that sings in another language!? One band: Sigur Ros!

They are Icelandic. Not only is Icelandic the weirdest language I've ever heard but they also have their own language they use in their songs called Hopelandic. Not only that, but the music is amazing too.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgEGVKwURKc

I also like quite a bit of German bands, but I have a feeling there will be quite a bit in this list. Sometimes, when my inner weeaboo breaks free, I'll listen to Japanese bands like L'Arc~en~Ciel and stuff.

[Helonion]

Oomph! and Eisbrecher are German and rather good.

Also, Oomph inspired Rammstein, so suck it!

[drdan]

Ooh, I just remembered Ladytron. Ok, while their name may not inspire confidence check them out, they're good. They have loads of songs in Bulgarian. Quite interesting synth/electro band, if you're into that kind of thing.

Another one

[Psychodrake]

Jan 3, 2011 0:51:30 GMT CephaSquiddy said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgEGVKwURKc

Really nice song.

[CephaSquiddy]

Jan 3, 2011 2:22:14 GMT Helonion said:

Oomph! and Eisbrecher are German and rather good.

Also, Oomph inspired Rammstein, so suck it!

Oomph! is definitely amazing.