Do You Listen To Music That Don't Have English Speaking Singers?

[wstsidela]

I've been listening to Antonio Carlos Jobim. I have no idea what he's singing about and I don't care. I'm mesmerized by that voice & guitar.

Talking Timbuktu with Ry Cooder & Ali Farka Toure is another one.

How 'bout you? What is your favorite non-English speaking music?

[marsellus]

Sigur Ros.

[sinner]

Magma--I think it's some form of gutter Klingon but I like it.

[dkaplowitz]

Tons! About 1/3 of what I listen to has lyrics in languages I don't speak.

[Luke]

Satriani?

[googoobaby]

There's a J-Rock band called "Bump of Chicken" that I've become fond of. Killer hooks and the fact that the words are in Japanese don't seem to matter.

[dkaplowitz]

P.S. If you're digging on Jobim, check out Toco - Outro Lugar, a really nice CD from 2007.

[teleharmonium]

Yes, lots. And I had this theory that vocals always sound cooler when you don't understand the words. I proved this (at least as far as the way they come across to me) by accident once when I picked up an English language version of an album I was already familiar with in the original version with vocals in Italian (Fetus, by Franco Battiato, which is an avant/prog/rock classic from the early 70s). What had seemed profound in Italian, seemed relatively cheesy and pedestrian in English, and I don't think it's entirely attributable to the difference in the way the two languages sound although that is a related thing.

[michael30]

I listen to a lot of Bollywood soundtrack music with lyrics in Hindi. I remember going to see a British/Indian band (Pardesi Music Machine) in the 90's and the follwing scenario:

Singer: "the name of the next song is (long phrase in some indian language)...
Me (thinking): "Hmm, that probably has some deep philosophical meaning..."
Singer: ....which means "Shake your pants"...

[Scott Miller]

Tons of it. Some of it is interesting when you find out what they're singing about, such as the happy, jaunty West African pop where they sing things like "I found out you were cheating on me so now I will slit your throat, you dog." Most of it, though, is your basic "let's party" or love and alcohol themes.

[Yngtchie Blacksteen]

Of course, who doesn't? Some of my favourite bands and artists:

Dum Dum Boys
Hellbillies
Jussi Björling
Lisa Ekdahl

[lagomorphian]

Cajun music.

[greggorypeccary]

Los Lobos!

I'll hit the local Mexican station once in a while here too. Morning DJ banter sounds the same even in a different language!

[?&!]

Cocteau Twins, Rammstein, Brujeria. All in my car, right now.

[Terry Hayes]

Mostly Brazilian music - Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Djavan, Ivan Lins, etc.

Terry