Melodifestivalen

[mippy.livejournal.com]

Sir Terence of Wogan, on the radio just now:

'Pop music's an anglophone thing. In French or Finnish, it's just not right...'

O RLY? Can you judge Eurovision for anything here? Does all English music sound like Canal Street hi-NRG then? Or is it because the only European music 'we' - 'we' being yr Radio 2, maybe Radio 1 audience - hear is in English, save dancehall shows which I guess are already targeted at a patois-speaking audience, radio-wise. But like I said earlier, I'm musically rusty, and probably don't listen to enough non-English pop save 'Initial BB' and Jacques Dutronc.

Comments

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

Wogan might have a point with some languages, but Finnish and French certainly are not good examples - both are GREAT languages for pop.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

When I hear some non-Anglophone thing I really like, I often find myself thinking "ah yes [language] is a great language for [genre]" on the flimsiest of bases (this weekend I decided Polish was a great language for cod-reggae, for instance).

"French is a great language for hip-hop" is one you hear a lot. Is it, though?

Are there some anglophone pop vocal techniques which just don't work with some languages, I wonder? Are there languages where R'n'B style melisma would be useless, for instance?

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

"French is a great language for hip-hop" is one you hear a lot. Is it, though?

It is in that French has a long tradition of clever wordplay involving homophones and the like which fits well with the way rappers use these devices in their rhymes.

I would give this question the attention it probably deserves if the statement hadn't come from Wogan, who has raised Xenophobia and little-Englander mentality to a high art on his radio show recently. The latest being some crap about Mutya Buena's name.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I guess he thinks he is trying to stir up some national pride ahead of Saturday.

[mippy.livejournal.com]

The wordplay thing would probably be lost on a non native speaker, though - I doubt somehow Wogan is a Francophile but this is something that really gets lost in translation.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I don't think it matters what language a song is in for any genre - although if your language included loads of clicks and whistles it would be AWESOME for making minimal techno...

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Argh I meant to expand upon this a little but got carried away with attempting to beatbox at my desk. AHEM: yes, I propose that the language in question doesn't matter because either you are used to it, or you are not (and it will automatically sound strange/interesting/awful/amazing/different), whether it is Hebrew or Japanese. Terry is obviously going for the 'awful' option which I think is very closed minded of him.

[mippy.livejournal.com]

Like I said, I'm not sure whether Eurovision entries are the best guide to the pop temperature of each country, despite the oft-quoted maxim 'but they take it really seriously over there!'

I heard some Spanish boyband, for example, the other day who sounded just like 911-era UK chart pop, but then I'm used to the language and British boybands being huge in Spain, it's probably heavily influenced by things relatively familiar to me.

[mippy.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, they should have techno missionaries sent to the Congo then.

[mippy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've heard that a lot too. The only one I can name off the top of my head is MC Solaarm who must be pretty aged now. There's a big resurgence in Algerian immigrants doing hip-hop in France, though, which makes sense.

I doubt very much melisma could happen in German or Dutch, it's not soft enough.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Wrongest thing Wogan has ever ever ever said.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

German group Tocotronic have a song called 'über sex kann man nur auf englisch singen' (You can only sing about sex in English) which I believe is making the point that Germans are so used to hearing (even German bands) sing in English that it's weird, as a German, to hear songs about sex in their own language.

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

Hmmm DAF?

Wogan gaffe

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I noticed yesterday that the BBC basically blamed Tezza for announcing the wrong winner on Making Your Mind Up, issuing a statement to say that the correct winner had been piped to his earpiece. He seems to have taken his role as 'curmudgeon' to extremes this year, if his point then was that Scooch were rubbish, and now that everyone else is rubbish. How yawnsome. Perhaps he is angling to be pensioned off.

Re: Wogan gaffe

[mippy.livejournal.com]

It's his schtick, though, isn't it, to be enormously cynical about the contenders.

Re: Wogan gaffe

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

He's always been cynical about it, but in the past he occasionally seemed to genuinely like at least some of them. He now tends to be cynical about all of the entries, which makes his commentary tedious to say the least if you have any interest in the contest for anything other than 'ironic' reasons.

Re: Wogan gaffe

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

He's been getting increasingly annoying even though I can't really imagine it without him. His constant banging on about the bloc votes for instance - YES WE GET IT TERRY. I do find it endearing how his "tips" are always such dreadful no-hopers: "Keep an eye out for this lot" he says of what turns out to be an atrocious Maltese ballad sung by a human yak.

Re: Wogan gaffe

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

it's always the maltese one as well innit. it's like he's some sort of GARY NEVILLE (http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:LttAaJ8kYFIJ:www.maltatourismauthority.com/uploads/483/427/GaryNevillePR_amendedbyAirMalta.doc+gary+neville+malta&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5)...