Goddammit I can't believe I wrote an entire article about this without ever mentioning my early 20s obsession with Manu Chao and how much the whole multilingual, hostel life, "L'auberge espagnole" kumbaya shit meant to me back then. How everyone knew his songs no matter where I went and "¿Que hora son mi corazon?" was like some sort of nod and a wink way of identifying another one of your own. Like surely that at least deserved a footnote? Anyway HERE IT IS I GUESS.
Gabbie, it’s just amazing to read about your love for the Bremen Town Musicians having grown up with the cartoon. I have shown it to quite a few of my anglophone friends and they’ve been fascinated with the composition of the music pieces. It’s extremely progressive and rooted in western music genres which was really special for the USSR broad culture. So much chromaticism and so much style!
There are in fact some videos on the Russian segment of YouTube that analyse how this music works harmonically - unfortunately they’re in Russian but I think the auto-generated subtitles are pretty good as well if you’re interested :)
[older-head here - i.e. Gabbie's sister] OMG, you just blew my world (and my planned workday...! lol) Between having grown up listening (on never-ending repeat) to this (among other) Russian music song-story records, and being a bit of a music geek (classically trained though theory-deficient), this is utterly fascinating! Plus, "neskuchniy sound"... lol
Hahaha I’m happy I blow not only my own working days with stuff like that! :D also, nice to meet you! I feel like I’m entering the area of Substack with exactly my type of people 👽
I myself am a massive music geek with a synth next to my work station so that I can analyze/decompose my favorite songs and write some songs as well every time I get up!
Can’t wait to get to writing those nerdy song decomposition articles!
My Music League is in the voting stage of a "not in English" round. I submitted Sakuran-Zensen, a Japanese garage-rock band. A couple other favorites from the round:
CHAI - Japanese "pinkish punk"
Tarta Relena - multi-lingual modern folk from Spain
I mostly listen to English language music, but you remind me that I had a "not in English" round for a music league and submitted "A Pack of Lies (Les menteries)/Cedulie's Reel (Reel à Cédulie)" by Grey Larsen & André Marchand (they released a great album joining traditional Irish music and French Canadian music) here is a video of them performing it live --- https://youtu.be/5x8eMPWhQyc
One of my favorite albums from the last 30 years is “Immobile” by Autour de Lucie, a French pop band that released four gorgeous albums between 1994 and 2004: https://open.spotify.com/album/0vgloGiXv4JogNR0xIqdks
Yes, I love Ivy also! I discovered both bands at a similar time and fell in love with Apartment Life. Apparently Ivy has a new album coming later this year, “Traces of You”
I liked the way Barbara Morgenstern used to sing in German and English, often in the same song. In The Operator the verses are in her native language. I had to root out a translation online. The choruses are in English.
I know I'm a week late to this party, but here are a few non-English bands I've really liked in recent years, with links to a great song from each one.
Statuette on the Console - BODEGA - is this an album or a single? The same song, 11 times in 11 languages.
Mdou Moctar - if you haven't seen him referred to as the Moroccan Hendrix multiple times then I don't know what corners of the music internet you've been hanging out in.
I have playlists of music that I like from multiple continents and countries in many other languages in various stages of development that aren't built up and curated enough to share yet: Africa, Arabic, China, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Palestine, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Taiwan, Thai, and more. I've tend to approach them through an aesthetic, especially a 60s/70s, psychedelic, or funk ear, that is keeps me somewhat focused but also limited. I'd prefer to build large playlists of music that I like from each place and/or language (e.g. India: Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, etc.), then separate playlists for eras/genres. Only so much time through.....
I had a lot of Hebrew music to share as well, but I didn't want to face any public backlash, so I decided against it. It's very deeply rooted in my heritage and culture. If I had the time I would also break everything down into all of the continents/countries/cultures you suggested, and what I'd really love to do is dive into any particular scenes therein. But as you say... only so much time in the day, especially when we're going beyond just new music. It's all so fascinating though. I'm excited to dive into what you've shared. Thank you so much.
I’d love any recommendations along the lines of that playlist. I tried to have a vibe with it. I found a lot more that I like but I curated that list for my old radio show.
We’re on the same wavelength! I’m currently working on my multi-lingual spring playlist. (Not exclusively non-English, though) Looking forward to checking out some of these artists!
I tried to learn Setswana because I listen to so much music from Botswana. I tried to learn Shona because I listen to so much music from Zimbabwe. It would be nice to know what the lyrics are about, but I've arrived at the conclusion that learning new languages is not my area of expertise. :)
learning new languages is one of my favorite (constantly uncompleted) hobbies. however i am a terrible old white man when it comes to this and never stray from slavic and romance languages, so i'm really giving myself a huge advantage when i say "i'm good at languages." it's frankly cheating. i suppose there's google translate for everything else?
Otyken have been rocking my playlist a lot lately. Rock with indigenous Siberian folk inspirations and a bit of Ondar-style Tuvan rap? Heck yes. And not a word of English.
Goddammit I can't believe I wrote an entire article about this without ever mentioning my early 20s obsession with Manu Chao and how much the whole multilingual, hostel life, "L'auberge espagnole" kumbaya shit meant to me back then. How everyone knew his songs no matter where I went and "¿Que hora son mi corazon?" was like some sort of nod and a wink way of identifying another one of your own. Like surely that at least deserved a footnote? Anyway HERE IT IS I GUESS.
(liking my own comment just to bump it up the comment chain lol)
my sister wants me to make sure i tell you guys that the animals were part of the rock band in bremenskii muzikanti ;)
Gabbie, it’s just amazing to read about your love for the Bremen Town Musicians having grown up with the cartoon. I have shown it to quite a few of my anglophone friends and they’ve been fascinated with the composition of the music pieces. It’s extremely progressive and rooted in western music genres which was really special for the USSR broad culture. So much chromaticism and so much style!
There are in fact some videos on the Russian segment of YouTube that analyse how this music works harmonically - unfortunately they’re in Russian but I think the auto-generated subtitles are pretty good as well if you’re interested :)
I speak Russian fluently ;) It's my first language. Please send them to me! They sound fascinating, that's a deep dive I would love to take.
Oh what?! Mine too!
I’m not sure if substack favors YouTube links but let me try:
https://youtu.be/-lpwR8pTsL4?si=ShIj5gVWT-8eypwF
Ahh this thread is so much fun! I haven’t watched Бременские музыканты in decades but you all are inspiring me to revisit the childhood bangers!
I’ve been very into 90s-00s Russian euro trash lately but that’s decidedly not the same vibe 😂
Just this weekend I rediscovered Seryoga’s Чёрный бумер and it’s kind of good, in a campy kind of way?
There’a definitely some good stuff from the 90s-00s! My heart still belongs to Hi-Fi ;)
Yesss! Седьмой лепесток is a banger!
[older-head here - i.e. Gabbie's sister] OMG, you just blew my world (and my planned workday...! lol) Between having grown up listening (on never-ending repeat) to this (among other) Russian music song-story records, and being a bit of a music geek (classically trained though theory-deficient), this is utterly fascinating! Plus, "neskuchniy sound"... lol
Hahaha I’m happy I blow not only my own working days with stuff like that! :D also, nice to meet you! I feel like I’m entering the area of Substack with exactly my type of people 👽
I myself am a massive music geek with a synth next to my work station so that I can analyze/decompose my favorite songs and write some songs as well every time I get up!
Can’t wait to get to writing those nerdy song decomposition articles!
I'm so excited to listen/watch... thank you so much for introducing me to this channel! My childhood is bursting right open!!
You guys, this is too heartwarming :) nothing to make your day quite like a sudden connection over a childhood gem!
My Music League is in the voting stage of a "not in English" round. I submitted Sakuran-Zensen, a Japanese garage-rock band. A couple other favorites from the round:
CHAI - Japanese "pinkish punk"
Tarta Relena - multi-lingual modern folk from Spain
Kikagaku Moyo - "psychedelic" from Tokyo
i love CHAI. can't wait to check out the others.
I mostly listen to English language music, but you remind me that I had a "not in English" round for a music league and submitted "A Pack of Lies (Les menteries)/Cedulie's Reel (Reel à Cédulie)" by Grey Larsen & André Marchand (they released a great album joining traditional Irish music and French Canadian music) here is a video of them performing it live --- https://youtu.be/5x8eMPWhQyc
One of my favorite albums from the last 30 years is “Immobile” by Autour de Lucie, a French pop band that released four gorgeous albums between 1994 and 2004: https://open.spotify.com/album/0vgloGiXv4JogNR0xIqdks
i'm on it!
I liked Autour de Lucie too! They're a little like Ivy, in case you know Ivy. My favorite of theirs is L'echappee Belle. https://open.spotify.com/album/4VAOYh2Rjouzwjsii9qOkZ
Yes, I love Ivy also! I discovered both bands at a similar time and fell in love with Apartment Life. Apparently Ivy has a new album coming later this year, “Traces of You”
I liked the way Barbara Morgenstern used to sing in German and English, often in the same song. In The Operator the verses are in her native language. I had to root out a translation online. The choruses are in English.
It took me a while, but this post inspired me to write a beginner's guide to Spanish music. Please check it out! https://sharpenyouraxe.substack.com/p/a-short-introduction-to-spanish-music
sorry I'm only just seeing this!!
No worries! You might enjoy this one too... https://sharpenyouraxe.substack.com/p/three-artists-and-one-genre-to-keep
I know I'm a week late to this party, but here are a few non-English bands I've really liked in recent years, with links to a great song from each one.
Statuette on the Console - BODEGA - is this an album or a single? The same song, 11 times in 11 languages.
https://open.spotify.com/track/6m1D4wz7mvFFhyq93yHkIQ?si=f0kgLrO0SFWHGwWLZFY-0g
Shirushi by TEKE::TEKE - it's such a joyous album, great overlapping percussion and harmonies from wildly diverse instruments - from Japan
https://open.spotify.com/track/4HtXaWrZolj2cJO46vH9LN?si=4U9FNdUoRIiQTQGlFxyG9g
Don Bolo - BAHAMUT - what good is freedom if you don't act free, right? this album is as free as any. From Ecuador.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1n7l0hhEWOEUSlvVpKDe7h?si=XZNAFD5QTgG2ImC6XbotYg
Teatro d'ira Vol. 1 by Måneskin - fun rock from Italy
https://open.spotify.com/track/776AftMmFFAWUIEAb3lHhw?si=yWTGQHSfSvK7rIYENt2DRA
Sabotør - SKYGGEKÆMPER - good-time hard rock from Denmark
https://open.spotify.com/track/5TC7MqYhRKq5toDcbPEiNq?si=Hs0lyH1PRvWswcedFo6hHg
Mujeres Podridas - garage punk from...Texas?
https://open.spotify.com/track/1W6AB8tGaOqXhxa2uaazd8?si=Jxfo6KSYSKaJGXxwa4Fy9g
Talco - Italian ska!
https://open.spotify.com/track/5MYhfAYJaGxyoX2iAzr9AM?si=MqqAQnGnR8mzc82yXlAZ1Q
Mdou Moctar - if you haven't seen him referred to as the Moroccan Hendrix multiple times then I don't know what corners of the music internet you've been hanging out in.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4EwVCBiXHzunO6vZrM7xEX?si=dA-lGrltSTil1c4_nr9KNw
god I love Bodega and I love that specific song
Oreskaband is, well, a ska band, from Japan. All women. https://open.spotify.com/album/6VRZvJEeywpbXU6CAFQsx0
great article. thanks for sharing. i just saw some good bands. one from australia that i've never heard of before. hope you like it... https://open.substack.com/pub/robbydarling/p/guitar-hero?r=12wdb2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I shared a French-language playlist before for your article about ye-ye.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/70Wu35d0krITXW2MikQpfQ?si=a6d43ea123fb4042
Some others in progress:
Turkish:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2XxFU6ww5DClrZQDP5qU6r?si=61f0fe3a72ae4f73
Khmer/Cambodian:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2OolgYqwsRyyZwMnj9iYvS?si=b6970030e54d4e8c
Brazil:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5RHzY7cURREHnWJktadPm2?si=b5aacc91f303462f
Brazil, specifically from 1968:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/32vdC6hq7TkSLVS8gIsLn4?si=9179300b2c674795
Hebrew:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/42fz0FFiACrn8wqwzewwkT?si=433b6c8e7171489b
I have playlists of music that I like from multiple continents and countries in many other languages in various stages of development that aren't built up and curated enough to share yet: Africa, Arabic, China, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Palestine, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Taiwan, Thai, and more. I've tend to approach them through an aesthetic, especially a 60s/70s, psychedelic, or funk ear, that is keeps me somewhat focused but also limited. I'd prefer to build large playlists of music that I like from each place and/or language (e.g. India: Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, etc.), then separate playlists for eras/genres. Only so much time through.....
I had a lot of Hebrew music to share as well, but I didn't want to face any public backlash, so I decided against it. It's very deeply rooted in my heritage and culture. If I had the time I would also break everything down into all of the continents/countries/cultures you suggested, and what I'd really love to do is dive into any particular scenes therein. But as you say... only so much time in the day, especially when we're going beyond just new music. It's all so fascinating though. I'm excited to dive into what you've shared. Thank you so much.
I’d love any recommendations along the lines of that playlist. I tried to have a vibe with it. I found a lot more that I like but I curated that list for my old radio show.
Ohhh this is great! Thanks for the darkwave recommendations!
Interesting stuff! I'm gonna scope the list deeper.
please do and let me know what you think!
We’re on the same wavelength! I’m currently working on my multi-lingual spring playlist. (Not exclusively non-English, though) Looking forward to checking out some of these artists!
i'm excited to hear what you pull together (as always!)
I tried to learn Setswana because I listen to so much music from Botswana. I tried to learn Shona because I listen to so much music from Zimbabwe. It would be nice to know what the lyrics are about, but I've arrived at the conclusion that learning new languages is not my area of expertise. :)
learning new languages is one of my favorite (constantly uncompleted) hobbies. however i am a terrible old white man when it comes to this and never stray from slavic and romance languages, so i'm really giving myself a huge advantage when i say "i'm good at languages." it's frankly cheating. i suppose there's google translate for everything else?
Otyken have been rocking my playlist a lot lately. Rock with indigenous Siberian folk inspirations and a bit of Ondar-style Tuvan rap? Heck yes. And not a word of English.
oh hell yes, i learned about them specifically for this exercise and one of their songs is on the playlist!