Musical Horizons

I ran across this first video from a new group out of Quebec, and I thought it was charming. It got me thinking about other music markets besides the American one. I figured, if songs like this one exist in French that I like, eventhough I don't understand the words, then there must be others out there. And when I started to take a look, there were lots to choose from. It was interesting to look through some of these artists, especially considering what conclusions I could draw about different cultures from the music they like and the subject matter of their songs. And, although it's such a small sampling, and not really remotely representative, it was still kind of enlighting. I hope you enjoy a little trip around our musical planet!

Coeur de Pirate

(Béatrice Martin)
Quebec, Canada

Béatrice Martin is an 18-year-old singer and songwriter. She began playing the piano at the age of three. After five years of music education, she started to compose her own songs. She played the piano and sang for the group Hello Brumaire. Her first self-titled album was released on September 16th. She's hit MySpace fame.

Here is her song, "Comme des Enfants" (meaning, "Like Children").

Amy MacDonald
Scotland, United Kingdom

Amy MacDonald was born in Bishopbriggs, Scotland. At the age of 15, she started playing on-stage at aucoustic gigs and open mics in and around Glasgow and has now played several shows across mainland Europe. Amy is a self-taught musician. After hearing a song at a music festival, she decided she wanted to sing, too.

Here's a song off of her album, titled "This is the Life."

Annett Louisan
Germany

Annett Louisan is from Hamburg, Germany. Louisan is a stage name that she derived from her grandmother's first name, Louise. Her real last name is Päge. Most of Annett's songs deal with love, failure, and disappointment. Musical influences include blues, soul, jazz, and swing.

This is her song, "Drück die Eins" (meaning, "Push One").

Giorgia (Giorgia Todrani)
Italy

Giorgia Todrani is an Italian singer, best known for her great vocal range. She has release ten studio albums, which all enjoy good commerical success in Italy. At an early age, Giorgia started out by performing in several jazz clubs in Rome. She grew up singing soul and jazz classics by artists such as Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald.

Here is her song, "Girasole," meaning "Sunflower."

МакSим [Maksim]

(Marina Abrosimova)
Russia

Marina Sergeevna Abrosimova (Марина Сергеевна Абросимова) was born in Kazan, the largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, a federal state of Russia. She performed in many places and eventually went to Moscow to make records. She has released two albums. Maxim is a popular boy's name in Russia. The singer's nickname, Maksim, comes from her brother's name and her mother's patronymic maiden name, which is Svetlana Maximova.

Here is one of her songs, "Мой рай" [moy rye] (meaning, "My Paradise")

Utada Hikaru (Hikki)
Japan

Hikaru is a Japanese songwriter, singer, and music producer. She is well-known for theme songs she wrote for a video game series. She was born in New York City to parents who had deep roots in the Japanese music industry. Hikaru began recording at age 12. She moved to Tokyo in 1998 and has continued to reside there except for one year in 2004. Hikaru is one of the best-selling artists in Japan.

This is her song, "Passion."

Falling In and Out of Love with Twilight

*No spoilers here. Although, I must warn you, if you haven't read the book yet, you better get on it before some loud mouth in a public place ruins it for you, as my co-worker just related today at lunch!*


I can’t believe I’m allowing myself to dedicate two blog entries to this topic especially since I’ve devoted precious little time to other books that I really love and deserve blog shout-outs, but alas, it must be done. For all of you Twilighters out there, I’m afraid you will be delighted and disappointed by the explicated opinions below.

My enthusiasm motivating this blog entry arises mainly out of my excitement over the new movie that’s due this fall. I’d forgotten all about it until I was browsing Stephenie Meyer’s homepage after I finished her final installment and found that trailers have already been released. (View above by clicking on "Videos" tab!) Despite my recent disillusionment with the fourth book, I am still in love with the first three and am, therefore, excited by the pending movie. Although, I don’t know if I’ll be able to bring myself to actually see the fourth movie, if it gets that far. (Which I’m sure it will, since movie-makers are guaranteed repeat audiences of screaming teens handing over their life savings before you can say “Edward Cull—” . . . swoon.)

As I mentioned, I was horribly disappointed by Meyer’s last book. It read like a first draft. The fact that she's not an experienced or necessarily gifted writer is so blaringly obvious that it's painful. She still managed to create some moments of surprise and fascination as with her other books, but these small moments were so wrapped up in idiocy that I couldn’t even enjoy them. Before you get angry, I just want to say, I think the book could have been a masterpiece, if an editor would have taken the time to help her cut down to the meat of what was good about the story—which would have made it shorter than Twilight.

That said, I’m still glad I read it. It’s nice to know the end of the story, even if I didn’t like it or how it was told. It is true that the reason I disliked the book so fiercely is because I expect a lot of Meyer. I enjoyed her pace, tone, and storytelling so much in her other three books, that I was just astounded that she could not produce the same in the conclusion. If you’d be interested in my full review, you can find it here.

Back to the positive—I had my doubts about the movie. It would be pretty easy to slaughter the story with a horrible movie, I think, especially considering some of those love scenes that brought me close to gag-age in the book. But, I am genuinely excited about it. The screenwriting has serious potential, it seems. (I reserve the right to retract my optimism.) At least from the previews, it seems like it could turn out to be quality. Hollywood, Please don’t ruin my image of Bella and Edward. Here’s hoping!

On a different note, I do like the music she puts up on her site. I’ve made an abbreviated list of my own from her playlists for the different books. She’s a little obsessed with Muse, which I just have a hard time getting into.

Addendum
Ok, now I feel really bad for trashing on Meyer so much. Truthfully, I do think she is a good writer in some respects, I just went into her fourth book expecting the same caliber as her other books, and it just wasn't up to snuff, for me. But, I still think she's wildly creative, and I am very happy that I've bought her books. I'll give her another shot. There, now I feel better. =)

Movie Tunes

I was browsing through a music enthusiast’s blog when I came across a post she put together of some of her favorite songs from movie soundtracks. I thought that was a great idea! As I read through her thoughts on the subject, it occurred to me that there are a lot of songs that I really like simply because they were in a movie. Somehow, those songs get forever linked to that moment in time, so that whenever you hear them again, you instantly remember a futuristic spaceship learning about the concept of radio, a girl straddling a state line so she can be in two places at once, a boy manically performing strange acrobatic moves in a dark storage room, a woman emerging from a giant seashell to sing, and of course, the moments when two people find themselves in love , even if they are cartoon characters. They say that the sense of smell is the one that is most closely linked with memory, but I think sound has got to come in as a close second, especially musical sound.











I imagine a lot of artists consider their songs being picked for a soundtrack like unto how authors consider their books being picked for Oprah’s bookclub: instant popularity, which equals instant sales. I remember seeing an interview with the lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls about their song “Iris” and City of Angels. The interviewer asked how he liked recording a song for a film. He was very eager to say how much they loved it and hoped they could do another in the future. Yeah . . . I bet you would!

But maybe all artists wouldn’t feel that way, who knows. Maybe some consider it “selling out” to be so closely involved with films, especially if said films are not really that great. But, if I was a singer/band member, I think I’d be willing to give it a shot. Especially because, some of the songs I like I first heard in a movie that wasn’t so wonderful, but I still like the music, so the film just served in exposing my ears to music I wouldn’t normally seek out. Plus, there’s always that chance: so many songs have become classics because their movies have become classics. I wouldn’t mind riding that rocket if it meant so many more people would hear and like my music.











But alas, I am not a singer or band member. I am simply a lowly listener, and my ever-growing “listening” pool has been much expanded by movie soundtracks. I assembled a little list of ones that I’ve really liked over the years. I hope you enjoy it and assemble little lists of your own! (See below for your listening pleasure.)











Cars – “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts
Ghost – “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers
Stranger than Fiction – “Whole Wide World” by Wreckless Eric
About a Boy – “Something to Talk About” by Badly Drawn Boy
Flight of the Navigator – “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys
Martian Child – “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Symphony
City of Angels – “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls
Shrek – “Accidentally in Love” by Counting Crows
South Pacific – “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair” by Mitzi Gaynor
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – “Oh Yeah” by Yello
Bourne Movies – “Extreme Ways” by Moby
A Walk to Remember – “Dancing in the Moonlight” by Toploader
Dirty Dancing – “Love is Strange” by Mickey and Sylvia
Transformers – “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park
Finding Forrester – “Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” – by Israel “Iz” Kamakwiwo’ole
Pretty in Pink – “If You Leave” by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark











Breakfast at Tiffany’s – “Moon River” by Audrey Hepburn
Catch and Release – “What If You” by Joshua Radin
Footloose – “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins
An American Tail – “Somewhere Out There” by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
The Princess Diaries – “SuperGirl” by Krystal Harris
Meet Me in St. Louis – “The Trolley Song” by Judy Garland
Bed of Roses – “Independent Love Song” by Scarlet
Hope Floats – “I Can’t Get Next to You” by the Temptations
Princess Bride – “Storybook Love” by Mark Knopfler
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” by Bryan Adams
Center Stage – “I Wanna Be with You” by Mandy Moore
Pretty Woman – “Wild Women Do” by Natalie Cole
The Rocketeer – “Begin the Beguine”
Sleepless in Seattle – “Bye Bye Blackbird” by Billie Holiday
The Breakfast Club – “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds

Just Sing—Sing a Song

When my family moved to Boston the summer after my first year of college, I got a job at a daycare center about 20 minutes from home. We lived in a sort of rural area, and I didn’t get great reception on my car radio. Plus, we’d just moved from Texas. In those days, I was listening to a lot of country, of which there wasn’t much to be had over there. So, instead of trying to get something else besides fuzz on my radio every morning, I would pop in a Carpenter’s tape that I’d found in the unpacking wreckage. (My little car was made before the era of CD players.) Every day I’d listen to Karen belt out tunes as I drove through little town after little town, until I finally arrived at Discovery Day Care in Plainville, Mass. I’d make it through the first side and almost half of the second every time I made the drive. For three months, I never got tired of that voice or those songs. That truly amazes me, now that I think back on it.

Although, I had every word of those songs memorized long before I made my Carpenter-filled treks twice a day through the summer of 2000. Growing up, my dad loved music and would play the Carpenters, the Beatles, and a dash of the Beach Boys on the stereo on Saturday nights. These are really the only artists I remember hearing, but I’m sure there were others. Or perhaps, these were just the ones that were deemed (undoubtedly by my mother) as “child proof.” The famous Dance Night at the ----s was born, and our little ears were filled with Beachwood 4-5789, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and Barbara Ann, as we’d take turns dancing, or just being flung from side to side by dad. As we were awaiting turns, we, or in my brother’s case, he solely, would flail around, making up our own “dance” moves to the beat. I still enjoy doing this sometimes (mostly at the end of a movie during the theme song), to the chagrin and wonder of my husband, who mostly laughs awkwardly and stares at me. I guess that’s one reason why I love the Carpenters so much; it takes me back to the freedom and happiness of unabashed youth.

My mom used to tell the story on dad about how he had a crush on Miss Karen. She’d say, “Well, your dad here said if he ever met a woman who could sing like Karen Carpenter, he’d marry her, no questions asked.” Hmmm. . . I’d imagine. I could have had a smooth-as-butter voice like her if that’d happened. But then, dad would just smile sheepishly, and laugh. As if to say, “I guess I did say that, but I certainly didn’t mean it.” And all doubt would disperse as soon as he started that same story about seeing mom for the first time in her blue jeans and t-shirt.

I've been listening to music a lot at work lately. It makes the time pass by more quickly, and I find it helps me avoid contracting my normal daily computer headache, somehow. Karen's soothing, rich voice comes through my headphones, and suddenly rainy days and Mondays don't seem to get me down as much.

To be honest, I don’t really understand my affinity for the Carpenters—it’s something that just exists. Like the way I love soft cheeses, ocean waves, and reading. There’s something about Karen’s voice that strikes a chord within—and resonates.

Playlists

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