It's been far too long (yep,at least a week or so) since I posted anything to do with Dima Koldun.So I just found this camp and fabulous performance of V Ritme Tantsa (nope,I've never heard of it either),and thought I should share :)
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Just when you thought...
...the festive season was all over,it was Russian Christmas a few days ago.Which of course makes sense seeing as New Year is on Sunday...So if anyone with any vague Russian connection is reading,I wish you a belated Shastlivova Razhdyestva (or something like that :) ),and here's a nice madly colourful Russian version of Jingle Bells sung by Dima Bilan and a woman called Kristina who I've never heard of before.
And another thing...
Today marks the start of what's going to be a long,long,long 2 months for me.I'm going back to Surrey on Saturday,which means I won't be able to watch any more ski jumping until my return on March 14th.Which is the last day of the season!Admittedly it's the Planica competition,which is one of the most exciting,but still,I'm going to miss 12 competitions,including the one at Holmenkollen :( The Four Hills was a big disappointment in the end as well,particularly yesterday at Bischofshofen when at least half of the top 10 didn't even get through to the second round because of the shocking weather conditions.At least Anders Jacobsen finished the whole tournament in 9th place though.That was quite a nice surprise :)
Monday, 7 January 2008
Cosa nostra… cosa vostra… cos’è vostro?
I've said before that I don't listen to enough Italian music.My one Paolo Meneguzzi album and 2 Tiziano Ferro ones and a couple of random mp3s don't really constitute a good collection.So that's my mission for this year,to find more good Italian music.
I must admit though,sometimes it is quite difficult- it's easy to appreciate a bit of (not too much though) Swedish schlager,cheesy Russian pop and a bit of German rock,but Italian music I think is a bit of an acquired taste.It has its own sound which I think is more similar to Balkan music if anything,and can be quite hit and miss.
I know virtually nothing about Italian pop.Maybe it's just my family,maybe it's a Southern Italian thing,or maybe it's the annoying inevitable international spread of English language music,but even my younger cousins don't seem to be that interested in their country's own music.My first encounter of Italian music however,happened the first time I went there,13 years ago,and all over the piazza in Piano di Sorrento were posters announcing the big and exciting event that Mango would be performing there.This is him.
He had a lot more hair in 1995....
Anyway,I'm quite liking that song,but I can imagine that a big proportion of the Europop-loving public wouldn't.(If you do,here's the actual video to Mediterraneo,bit odd,think of a chilled out version of Fatboy Slim's Praise You,set on a nice beach :/ ).So yeah,Mango's alright,but not really worth all the frenzy I seem to remember going on in the piazza that evening :)
Then of course there's the songs everyone knows.Good old ancient (almost anyway) folk songs that get covered every once in a while to varying degrees of success.As lovely as Dima Bilan's version of O Sole Mio is,my favourite version is Dalida's,done in 1960.
I love it because that video is meant to be set in Naples,which is (almost) where my family are from (well,just over the water a bit,on a little island,but whatever,it's the same county :) I also remembered last night that I have another,rather tenuous connection to Naples,but that's another story...),and also because it reminds me of holidays.I've travelled quite a bit in the last 17 years,and the best times I've had in holiday terms have been in Italy and Croatia,two countries that,from my experience,share a few cultural similarities,music being one of them.
My original reason for doing this post was to talk about the San Remo Music Festival,because I read about this year's on ESCToday .I've heard of a few people who are in it this year,Paolo of course,Tiromancino,Toto Cutugno...,but generally I've never taken much notice of the festival.Simone Cristicchi won it last year,with the song Ti regalerò una rosa (I'll give you a rose),a song that makes me cry every time I hear it.The winner of the Best Newcomer category last year though,was Fabrizio Moro and his song Pensa (Think),which is also quite sad.It's an anti-mafia song with pretty strong lyrics.If this is the future of Italian music,I like it.
I must admit though,sometimes it is quite difficult- it's easy to appreciate a bit of (not too much though) Swedish schlager,cheesy Russian pop and a bit of German rock,but Italian music I think is a bit of an acquired taste.It has its own sound which I think is more similar to Balkan music if anything,and can be quite hit and miss.
I know virtually nothing about Italian pop.Maybe it's just my family,maybe it's a Southern Italian thing,or maybe it's the annoying inevitable international spread of English language music,but even my younger cousins don't seem to be that interested in their country's own music.My first encounter of Italian music however,happened the first time I went there,13 years ago,and all over the piazza in Piano di Sorrento were posters announcing the big and exciting event that Mango would be performing there.This is him.
He had a lot more hair in 1995....
Anyway,I'm quite liking that song,but I can imagine that a big proportion of the Europop-loving public wouldn't.(If you do,here's the actual video to Mediterraneo,bit odd,think of a chilled out version of Fatboy Slim's Praise You,set on a nice beach :/ ).So yeah,Mango's alright,but not really worth all the frenzy I seem to remember going on in the piazza that evening :)
Then of course there's the songs everyone knows.Good old ancient (almost anyway) folk songs that get covered every once in a while to varying degrees of success.As lovely as Dima Bilan's version of O Sole Mio is,my favourite version is Dalida's,done in 1960.
I love it because that video is meant to be set in Naples,which is (almost) where my family are from (well,just over the water a bit,on a little island,but whatever,it's the same county :) I also remembered last night that I have another,rather tenuous connection to Naples,but that's another story...),and also because it reminds me of holidays.I've travelled quite a bit in the last 17 years,and the best times I've had in holiday terms have been in Italy and Croatia,two countries that,from my experience,share a few cultural similarities,music being one of them.
My original reason for doing this post was to talk about the San Remo Music Festival,because I read about this year's on ESCToday .I've heard of a few people who are in it this year,Paolo of course,Tiromancino,Toto Cutugno...,but generally I've never taken much notice of the festival.Simone Cristicchi won it last year,with the song Ti regalerò una rosa (I'll give you a rose),a song that makes me cry every time I hear it.The winner of the Best Newcomer category last year though,was Fabrizio Moro and his song Pensa (Think),which is also quite sad.It's an anti-mafia song with pretty strong lyrics.If this is the future of Italian music,I like it.
Saturday, 5 January 2008
I want to go to Iceland
There seems to be an ongoing conflict in my musical brain.As much as I like to listen to music from Europe's more obscure places,it's generally Russian or Scandinavian music that I like the best.Whenever I start getting excited about the Russian stuff,something Scandinavian comes along and reminds me that it's better.And vice versa.Anyway,last night while I was trying to find something decent to watch,I came across the new series of Grumpy Old Men on BBC2.This made me happy,because although I am neither old or male,I am very grumpy and love to moan about...everything really.Particularly technology,which was what this episode was about.Anyway,after this,The Culture Show was on,which is something I've never seen before,but last night it was about Sigur Rós,so I thought I'd watch it.
I can't say Sigur Rós have ever been one of my favourite bands,but I have Takk,one of the latest albums,which is ok,and a few of their older songs which I love.A lot of the time though to be honest,I think a lot of their stuff sounds pretty much the same,which is why I tend to not listen to them that much.As odd as it might seem though,from what was on this programme last night,they seem to be a band that I'd enjoy much more if I actually saw them perform live.You wouldn't think that there'd be much going on at one of their gigs,but I don't know,seeing Jónsi,the vocalist,singing one of their songs in what is essentially just a made up language,seemed to really add something to the music.It was nice.
They were also talking about the 2002 album which had no artwork,no track names and minimal lyrics sung in this made up language.It seems a lot of people thought this was all very 'pretentious' (a word that I've also heard to describe Mew,one of the greatest bands ever),but I'm not so sure.I like the idea of drawing your own conclusions and interpreting sound and nonsensical words for yourself,I think that's what good music is.Maybe I'm just turning into an indie snob,I don't know.Only real indie,not the pathetic "we're 4 guys from London who play guitar (badly) and sing supposedly witty songs to a tune that sounds exactly the same to every other band around at the minute" excuse for music that is now classed as indie.
This programme also mentioned Heima,the band's first film which was made over last summer when they held a series of unannounced shows all over Iceland,in places such as an abandoned herring oil tank.Although the original film was edited so it didn't look so much like it was made by the Icelandic Tourist Board,there are still loads of shots of the beautiful Icelandic landscape,which fit with the music very well.The presenter of this programme said both the music and the country are 'mystical,' which I think is a good description.I really want to see the whole of this film,and I also really want to go to Iceland!
I'll leave you with part of Heima- it's Olsen Olsen,my favourite Sigur Rós song,and what I think is one of my all-round favourite pieces of music ever :)
I can't say Sigur Rós have ever been one of my favourite bands,but I have Takk,one of the latest albums,which is ok,and a few of their older songs which I love.A lot of the time though to be honest,I think a lot of their stuff sounds pretty much the same,which is why I tend to not listen to them that much.As odd as it might seem though,from what was on this programme last night,they seem to be a band that I'd enjoy much more if I actually saw them perform live.You wouldn't think that there'd be much going on at one of their gigs,but I don't know,seeing Jónsi,the vocalist,singing one of their songs in what is essentially just a made up language,seemed to really add something to the music.It was nice.
They were also talking about the 2002 album which had no artwork,no track names and minimal lyrics sung in this made up language.It seems a lot of people thought this was all very 'pretentious' (a word that I've also heard to describe Mew,one of the greatest bands ever),but I'm not so sure.I like the idea of drawing your own conclusions and interpreting sound and nonsensical words for yourself,I think that's what good music is.Maybe I'm just turning into an indie snob,I don't know.Only real indie,not the pathetic "we're 4 guys from London who play guitar (badly) and sing supposedly witty songs to a tune that sounds exactly the same to every other band around at the minute" excuse for music that is now classed as indie.
This programme also mentioned Heima,the band's first film which was made over last summer when they held a series of unannounced shows all over Iceland,in places such as an abandoned herring oil tank.Although the original film was edited so it didn't look so much like it was made by the Icelandic Tourist Board,there are still loads of shots of the beautiful Icelandic landscape,which fit with the music very well.The presenter of this programme said both the music and the country are 'mystical,' which I think is a good description.I really want to see the whole of this film,and I also really want to go to Iceland!
I'll leave you with part of Heima- it's Olsen Olsen,my favourite Sigur Rós song,and what I think is one of my all-round favourite pieces of music ever :)
Friday, 4 January 2008
Don't stop dreaming coz it never gets better than this
Ugh,it seems the rumours were true and Lene Alexandra is going to be in Norway's Melodi Grand Prix in the Bodø semi final.Great.
Anyway,thought I'd just mention 2 songs that I'm really liking at the minute,by 2 of my favourite Scandinavians :)
The first one is Live For Today by the ever fabulous Kjartan Salvesen,it's from his latest album Then Silence,which seems really really good.Not sure if it's available on itunes,because every time I try and access the store bit,my computer gets stuck.If not though,it's probably on one of those nice Scandinavian music websites like cdon or something.One that only accepts the sort of credit cards that I don't have.Anyway,here's the song.It's good,very happy,reminds me of some sort of 90s Britpop or something.
I finally got Teitur's second album Stay Under The Stars on Christmas Eve I think it was.Although I haven't had a chance to listen to it properly like I did with Poetry and Aeroplanes,this is my favourite song from it.It's called Hitchhiker,and it seems he released it as a single (something with escaped my notice at the time somehow),because there's a video to it,which I also really like.It fits the song very well,not just because she's a hitchhiker,but also because it's just kind of...dark I guess.It's good.
Anyway,thought I'd just mention 2 songs that I'm really liking at the minute,by 2 of my favourite Scandinavians :)
The first one is Live For Today by the ever fabulous Kjartan Salvesen,it's from his latest album Then Silence,which seems really really good.Not sure if it's available on itunes,because every time I try and access the store bit,my computer gets stuck.If not though,it's probably on one of those nice Scandinavian music websites like cdon or something.One that only accepts the sort of credit cards that I don't have.Anyway,here's the song.It's good,very happy,reminds me of some sort of 90s Britpop or something.
I finally got Teitur's second album Stay Under The Stars on Christmas Eve I think it was.Although I haven't had a chance to listen to it properly like I did with Poetry and Aeroplanes,this is my favourite song from it.It's called Hitchhiker,and it seems he released it as a single (something with escaped my notice at the time somehow),because there's a video to it,which I also really like.It fits the song very well,not just because she's a hitchhiker,but also because it's just kind of...dark I guess.It's good.
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Love is like popcorn
This year's series of Fabrika was won by Mark Tishman,someone who I know nothing about,but feel that I should find out about,because he's going to be at the Russian Winter Festival next Sunday (ooh,next Sunday...getting very excited now).Of course I'd much rather see the winner of last year's series,but I think Mark will do.He reminds me so much of Prohor Shalyapin,who I have written about before,in terms of his voice and the type of songs I've heard him sing so far anyway,I don't know if he was as camp and fabulous as Prohor in the house.Anyway,this is a nice little tune called Lyubov kak Popkorn,which I'm sure means Love is like Popcorn.I haven't listened to the lyrics enough to know if they're as philosophical as the title,but I think it's quite a nice song.Apart from the backing vocals in the performance,which are shocking to say the least.Victor Drobysh- if you're looking for backing singers for your Fabrika winners,you could do a lot worse than give me and Keira a call :)
This is another of his songs,which he wrote himself.It's called Ya Stany Tvoim Angelom (I'll Be Your Angel (?) ),it has Prohor Shalyapin written all over it,and it's a very nice bit of what I like to call ethno-pop :) He'll blatantly be singing this next Sunday.
Edit: OK,so he didn't actually win Fabrika Zvezd,one of my sources was a bit unreliable.But he was second :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
