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Does anyone listen to music they don't understand??

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I've used to listen to some Romanian songs.
Original post by Winter_is_here
Have you heard mon bled? It's a French/ Algerian song that's soooo good. No idea what they're on about though


Yeah I have. I'm always listening to rai n b fever. My fave is i'ai décidé.

Yeah I have no idea what these songs are about either. I just like listening to them!
A large proportion of my music is Korean and Japanese.

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Original post by Manitude
I frequently listen to music with lyrics in languages I don't understand. This is an inevitable consequence of being interested in European folk metal where preserving national heritage/tradition/language is more important than being understood by native English speakers.

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Original post by AgnesWeasley
French rap


Yes and yes! It was rap that got me into foreign music, when I realised French was not just a dull school subject but actually a gateway into much better rap tunes than American or British ones. The tunes alone, I mean, though the lyrics are pretty awesome too once you begin to understand French 'argot' (slang), which is not an easy task. There are a couple of other countries which have decent rap as well, especially Dutch speaking ones since Dutch is so close to English its easy to get into (especially with groups such as Die Antwoord who use a lot of English words). Also there is some decent Polish rap, see the likes of GrubSon (can't understand a word but then I can barely understand a lot of American rappers these days, I just listen for the musicality).

But these days I am more into folk metal. I saw Korpiklaani live a couple of months back, absolutely brilliant. My favourite f metal band is probably Tyr, who sing in Faroese (in fact they're pretty much the only band who sing in Faroese on an international level).To be honest there isn't really any decent folk metal in English, since its not very popular in the UK and unheard of in the US, so if you're a fan of metal instrumentals mixed with folk instruments you have to listen to foreign bands.

I think rap and metal are the two obvious choices for foreign songs, since they are so focussed on the music rather than the lyrics.

I would like to listen to some Arab and Persian songs but I wouldn't really know where to start.
Original post by Copperknickers
But these days I am more into folk metal. I saw Korpiklaani live a couple of months back, absolutely brilliant. My favourite f metal band is probably Tyr, who sing in Faroese (in fact they're pretty much the only band who sing in Faroese on an international level).To be honest there isn't really any decent folk metal in English, since its not very popular in the UK and unheard of in the US, so if you're a fan of metal instrumentals mixed with folk instruments you have to listen to foreign bands.


UK folk metal is getting more popular. Obviously you've got Alestorm who are very well known and Skyclad who were pioneers of the genre internationally.

In the more underground scene there's Aethelruna, Askival/Arsaidh/Saor (same guy, different names), Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom, Forefather, Herne, Jaldaboath, Northern Oak, Oakenshield and Primordial (Irish rather than British and not especially folky). There's more I can't remember now but a quick scan through my Itunes library reminded me of those. Not all of them have *all* of their lyrics in modern English. In the case of Ildra and Aethelruna it's in Old/Middle English. There are a few US folk metal bands but, with the exception of bands like Agalloch who are more black metal, they haven't impressed me much.

A lot of Ensiferum and Falkenbach songs have lyrics in English too.
There's tons of great music out there - it just takes a fair while trawling on YouTube to find it!
Reply 45

Estonian song. Don't understand but sounds great. :h:
Original post by Manitude
UK folk metal is getting more popular. Obviously you've got Alestorm who are very well known and Skyclad who were pioneers of the genre internationally.

In the more underground scene there's Aethelruna, Askival/Arsaidh/Saor (same guy, different names), Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom, Forefather, Herne, Jaldaboath, Northern Oak, Oakenshield and Primordial (Irish rather than British and not especially folky).


But all of those are basically black metal or prog metal bands with folk influence. They aren't folk metal in its modern form pioneered by the likes of Korpiklaani, which is basically folk music set to a metal rhythm. Yes you have Alestorm and the like but they aren't folk metal, they're pirate metal. Plus there's a visible strand of Satanism and similar unpleasantness in the likes of Skyclad and their progeny. I realise not all black metal is like that, but I think folk metal, especially live, is first and foremost about having fun and feeling good, or at least telling some kind of story about your culture. Black metal is not fun nor can you discern anything from it, it's very negative and not very articulate. In short, as you can tell, I'm not much of a fan of it. Tbh I don't think the likes of Eluveitie are particularly influenced by Skyclad, they take after the British and German folk and folk rock bands of the 70s and 80s.

My favourite subgenre of folk metal though is Slavic Pagan metal, by Skyforger, Arkona and Leshak et al. There's also a less well known band called Lutaverje from Belarus who do very soft, but very musical stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2LodJjSLIY. Also Chur from Ukraine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn4XbKvILM8

A lot of Ensiferum and Falkenbach songs have lyrics in English too.
There's tons of great music out there - it just takes a fair while trawling on YouTube to find it!


A lot of folk metal bands have songs in English, but you have to be EXTREMELY fluent in English to write good lyrics for folk metal, which most folk metal artists are not. Tbh most native English song writers would and do struggle to write folk metal that sounds sufficiently old and majestic but not too faux 'olde Englishe'.

Anyway I fear we are derailing this thread a little, we need a dedicated thread for Folk Metal tbh :biggrin:.
(edited 9 years ago)
Was listening to yoiking today
Original post by Copperknickers
But all of those are basically black metal or prog metal bands with folk influence. They aren't folk metal in its modern form pioneered by the likes of Korpiklaani, which is basically folk music set to a metal rhythm. Yes you have Alestorm and the like but they aren't folk metal, they're pirate metal. Plus there's a visible strand of Satanism and similar unpleasantness in the likes of Skyclad and their progeny. I realise not all black metal is like that, but I think folk metal, especially live, is first and foremost about having fun and feeling good, or at least telling some kind of story about your culture. Black metal is not fun nor can you discern anything from it, it's very negative and not very articulate. In short, as you can tell, I'm not much of a fan of it. Tbh I don't think the likes of Eluveitie are particularly influenced by Skyclad, they take after the British and German folk and folk rock bands of the 70s and 80s.

My favourite subgenre of folk metal though is Slavic Pagan metal, by Skyforger, Arkona and Leshak et al. There's also a less well known band called Lutaverje from Belarus who do very soft, but very musical stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2LodJjSLIY. Also Chur from Ukraine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn4XbKvILM8



A lot of folk metal bands have songs in English, but you have to be EXTREMELY fluent in English to write good lyrics for folk metal, which most folk metal artists are not. Tbh most native English song writers would and do struggle to write folk metal that sounds sufficiently old and majestic but not too faux 'olde Englishe'.

Anyway I fear we are derailing this thread a little, we need a dedicated thread for Folk Metal tbh :biggrin:.


I agree this is somewhat derailing although it's still discussing the language in music so I don't think it's necessary to migrate tot eh rock and metal thread.

I think you have a somewhat narrow idea about how folk and folk metal should sound. To me it's not a black and white categorisation but there's some grey area. I and many others would not consider pirate metal to be a separate genre. The 'piratey' nature of Alestorm and other similar bands derives from the melodies played which are inspired by sea shanty tunes which themselves are folk music.

A lot of English folk music is actually pretty morbid, it's nothing like the lively jigs you might expect of a traditional/stereotypical Irish pub band. I have a book of English folk songs and a significant number are about infidelity, murder and death. It seems only natural to me that folk metal should reciprocate this. Sure I love listening to Korpiklaani's Wooden Pints and Vodka while drinking, but I often prefer the brooding mythology in bands like Herne which are darker but retain healthy doses of melody and 'traditional' singing styles.

It's fair enough if you don't like the sound of black metal, it's really not everyone's cup of tea. I disagree it's not articulate though. Some bm bands deal with some fairly high-brow issues and concepts in an eloquent manner. Fen's lyrics could probably be recited as spoken word/poetry and I don't think many people would consider it inarticulate or ineloquent. For me, some of the most moving pieces of music I've heard are black metal.

If you like the slavic stuff then you may enjoy Hok-Key from Belarus and Żywiołak from Poland. I understand from a native Polish speaker that Żywiołak's lyrics are about traditional stories.
Original post by Manitude
I agree this is somewhat derailing although it's still discussing the language in music so I don't think it's necessary to migrate tot eh rock and metal thread.

I think you have a somewhat narrow idea about how folk and folk metal should sound. To me it's not a black and white categorisation but there's some grey area. I and many others would not consider pirate metal to be a separate genre. The 'piratey' nature of Alestorm and other similar bands derives from the melodies played which are inspired by sea shanty tunes which themselves are folk music.


Sea shantys are not folk music in the vein of Tyr or Korpiklaani (in their earlier iteration before they started doing Vodka and Tequila and whatnot), at least not in the way that Alestorm deals with them. Alestorm is almost disneyfied metal, its not really interested in preserving and celebrating nautical culture. Probably because the latter died out some time ago, nobody grows up singing sea shanties in the way that the members of Tyr grew up singing the Faeroese whaling songs they now adapt.

And maybe that is a narrow view to take, but anyone who seriously thinks that Keelhauled and In My Land (by Arkona) belong in the same genre... incidentally the latter is a great example of lyrics people don't understand. It is one of the few songs where I don't think there are more than three or four people in the world who could understand all of it, since its a folk metal epic in which Arkona travel throughout Medieval Europe, with sections in Russian, Swedish, Latvian, Lithuanian, German and Dutch. But you don't really need to understand it, the meaning is clear: there is nowhere like your homeland.

A lot of English folk music is actually pretty morbid, it's nothing like the lively jigs you might expect of a traditional/stereotypical Irish pub band. I have a book of English folk songs and a significant number are about infidelity, murder and death. It seems only natural to me that folk metal should reciprocate this.

It's fair enough if you don't like the sound of black metal, it's really not everyone's cup of tea. I disagree it's not articulate though. Some bm bands deal with some fairly high-brow issues and concepts in an eloquent manner. Fen's lyrics could probably be recited as spoken word/poetry and I don't think many people would consider it inarticulate or ineloquent. For me, some of the most moving pieces of music I've heard are black metal.


Quite, but its no use if nobody can understand what you are saying. I realise that's a rather ironic statement to make in this thread, but at least there are actually some people who speak Latvian and Faroese, I don't think anybody speaks Death Growl.


If you like the slavic stuff then you may enjoy Hok-Key from Belarus and Żywiołak from Poland. I understand from a native Polish speaker that Żywiołak's lyrics are about traditional stories.


Żywiołak are not really metal, but are nevertheless very good. Thank you for the recommendation.
Original post by Copperknickers
Sea shantys are not folk music in the vein of Tyr or Korpiklaani (in their earlier iteration before they started doing Vodka and Tequila and whatnot), at least not in the way that Alestorm deals with them. Alestorm is almost disneyfied metal, its not really interested in preserving and celebrating nautical culture. Probably because the latter died out some time ago, nobody grows up singing sea shanties in the way that the members of Tyr grew up singing the Faeroese whaling songs they now adapt.

Sea shanties are as much a part of British heritage as murder ballads, especially given the extremely strong maritime traditions of the British Isles.


And maybe that is a narrow view to take, but anyone who seriously thinks that Keelhauled and In My Land (by Arkona) belong in the same genre... incidentally the latter is a great example of lyrics people don't understand. It is one of the few songs where I don't think there are more than three or four people in the world who could understand all of it, since its a folk metal epic in which Arkona travel throughout Medieval Europe, with sections in Russian, Swedish, Latvian, Lithuanian, German and Dutch. But you don't really need to understand it, the meaning is clear: there is nowhere like your homeland.


Of course Alestorm are not a 'serious' folk metal band like Arkona but then some (generally more modern) Korpiklaani songs aren't exactly serious either. Folk music from just one country can be extremely diverse and as I said before, I see no reason why folk metal shouldn't reflect that. What Alestorm are doing is putting a radio-friendly comical spin on maritime influenced metal and I think we should celebrate the diversity of the genre rather than want all bands to sound like Arkona or Korpiklaani or Tyr etc.


Quite, but its no use if nobody can understand what you are saying. I realise that's a rather ironic statement to make in this thread, but at least there are actually some people who speak Latvian and Faroese, I don't think anybody speaks Death Growl.

It's something you can pick up. Over time I've got used to it. Some vocalists are easier to understand than others, and almost all are understandable once you've read the lyrics.


Żywiołak are not really metal, but are nevertheless very good. Thank you for the recommendation.

You're very welcome. I thought some of their earlier material was more metally, at least according to metal archives.

Seeing as we are now derailing this, if you want to continue with this over PM then that's cool.
(edited 9 years ago)
I listen to some Kwaito and traditional folkish black South African music. Don't understand most of it, but I love the vibe and beat of it.
Stromae - know some French but I can't understand 80% of what he's saying.

Mustafa Sandal - don't know a single word of what he's saying, but his songs are catchy :h:
Nah,
I listen to K-pop and J-pop. :smile:
Original post by YounesB
Most of the music I listen to, I dont understand. I listen to mainly Stromae.

All my friends laugh at me


Stromae is amazing!
French and German Jazz. Some of it is sung in English though.
Original post by Copperknickers
Also there is some decent Polish rap, see the likes of GrubSon (can't understand a word but then I can barely understand a lot of American rappers these days, I just listen for the musicality).


If you wanna listen to good Polish rap, listen to OSTR, Hades, Peja, Pokoj z Widokiem na Wojne, Bezimienni, Trzeci Wymiar... There's a lot to choose from. GrubSon is s*** comparing to them :smile:
In case you ask - yes, I'm Polish :wink:

And in terms of French rap - Keny Arkana is sick! :woo:
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by SecretDuck
Stromae - know some French but I can't understand 80% of what he's saying.

Mustafa Sandal - don't know a single word of what he's saying, but his songs are catchy :h:



Stromae is so good! I went to see him in Hammersmith!
Original post by childofthesun
Stromae is amazing!



I know right!
Stromae is so good! I went to see him in Hammersmith!

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