Neither one of the songs I posted is a made up language technically. The first one was made by an Italian guy, and if you listen closely, they are singing in “English.” At least those are English words. He made the song to simulate for English speakers what it is like to hear a song in English for Non-English speakers.
To add a couple more to the classical list: Camille saint-saëns danse macabre, Dvorak’s new world symphony 9, Bach fugue and toccata, and Hiromi spectrum
I love songs either using ancient languages or otherwise ancestral. Such as the spring awakening chant buried in Shum by Go A https://youtu.be/sDeMfL8Ib9A
I’m also partial to throat singing and mixing old and contemporary instruments like what Otyken does https://youtu.be/aXsLlOPwe48
Bloodywood - Gaddaar because it absolutely slaps, or maybe Sardaar Ji because I can’t hear it without thinking of this Bhangra group and they make me smile.
Lots of Central / Latin American modern stuff as well like Donde Nací by Orishas, which is also a feel good kind of sound.
I have not a single one, so my apologies for the longish reply ;)
A few of my all time favorites non-English are from French (like me) singers. Older ones, like me: people like Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Serge Gainsbourg, Edith Piaf,… And so many more. I’m nearing my 60s and I’ve been listening to some of them since I was a very young boy, aged 7 or 8, on my parent’s HiFi (who also introduced me to classical music, my absolute favorite type of music).
What follow is anything but a full list of my favorites. It’s a very limited selection among those I consider my lifelong companions:
A few from Jacques Brel: Rosa about kids and school and about learning Latin (back then kids used to learn Latin in schools, lyrics are absolutely filled with French word plays so if you’re not fluent you probably won’t get it but it’s a real smart song). Another one Amsterdam of which David Bowie made an excellent English version. Ne me quitte pas, Quand on a que l’amour… but this is merely scratching the surface as he wrote countless amazing songs, funny ones, deep, sad and even absurd ones like, say, Vesoul. One I deeply disliked when I was a kid/young teen and now consider one of his greatest song: Les marquises.
A few other French singers in no order: Barbara L’aigle noir, Yves Simon, whose best know song was probably the title song for the eponymous movie Diabolo menthe but he wrote quite a few popular songs like say, Au pays des merveilles, Juliette. William Sheller Un homme heureux or his Je cours tout seul (Sheller is an incredible song writer), Alain Souchon J’ai 10 ans, Sous les jupes des filles. Niagara La ville dort or Je dois m’en aller. As a teen barely younger than the singer, Muriel Moreno, back then I was secretly (from my girlfriend at least) in love with her and I could not imagine nay one moving or looking at me more… sensually.
And a last one but certainly not the least important singer: Gérard Manset: Il voyage en solitaire “Mais il est seul, un jour l’amour l’a quitté/s’en est allé faire un tour de l’autre côté/d’une vie où y avait pas de place pour se garer”.
There are so many more!
If anyone has managed to reach that point, listening to all the songs, and is wondering: yes, I also listen to much more contemporary French (and non French) artists. In many various genres.
French language always was and still is about telling a story, about playing with words and with sounds, exactly like poetry. Which is most I care about as a reader/listener. Contemporary French singers do understand that as well as their predecessors did. They just don’t use the same rhythms anymore and don’t share the exact same stories (well, fundamentals remain unchanged: love, hate, sadness, fun,… but how they express it changes), and they’re certainly not less talented! But no matter how much I appreciate the work of some of them, and I do, they are not the singers I grew old with so I would not call them my favorites ;)
… I would even less dare call them favorites in our over-chastised sad times, populated with countless self-entitled white knights always looking for an opportunity to tell everyone else what they should and should not do, what they should like and not like. Because what would those people say of an almost 60 years old dude openly admitting he do enjoy listening to, say, the young (Belgian) singer Angèle? Bruxelles, je t’aime, J’entends or Tout oublier? A bit like, nearing my 60 I enjoy as much as I enjoyed it in my teens, if not more, listening to 16th century French music, or reading 15 and 16th century French poetry too.
For Brel, if I had to pick a single song… I would never do that but say for some odd reason I had to… it would be one of those two. One of which is indeed among my all time favorites, the other not as much but still touched me very deeply at a rather young age, and stayed with me: La quête, or Orly.
I think I have four that are top of my current most played songs that aren’t English:
Kaval Sviri, a Bulgarian folk song. Specifically the version performed by KSS, a women’s choir in Oslo. It’s a cappella, and has some great resolving dissonance. Really a fantastic performance.
Next would be Ka Bohaleng performed by Abel Selaocoe. It has some cool string effects and I like the throat singing technique he uses in this song in particular.
Presidente by Goran Bregović (featuring Gipsy Kings) is a fun upbeat celebratory song.
Altay by Ummet Ozcan, featuring vocals from Otyken is a great song that feels like… Mongolian cyberpunk? If that’s a thing. If you can’t tell I’m really feeling throat singing multiphonics right now 😆
Damn, I should have gone with this one. I can’t think of many things I associate more with the 2000s than Basshunter. The lyrics of the original Swedish songs are so infinitely better than the English remakes too.
Hyacinth by 22/7. There are like ten of them singing in groups, it’s mesmerising. Especially epic on Apple Music with AirPods and spatial audio (Dolby Atmos).
If you’re familiar with Kpop Demon Hunters, same thing. 22/7 are a cartoon band made for an anime of the same name. Only, unlike HUNTR/X, they kept making music after their show failed to get renewed for a second season, and now they make music under the same name, and it’s even been licensed by other anime series. (I wish HUNTR/X would do this. The fans are here for it, but they didn’t anticipate the success — I doubt they’re not working on it.)
But this song isn’t in the anime. It’s a song that was made after the anime was canceled.
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Tunak Tunak Tun!
https://youtu.be/92ydUdqWE1g
Dragostea Din Tei is also up there
Prisencolinensinainciusol
https://youtu.be/RObuKTeHoxo
Or
The Hu - Wolf Totem
https://youtu.be/jM8dCGIm6yc
I see your Prisencolinensinainciusol and raise with Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot
Shit, I didn’t even think about made up languages in songs. This has to be my favorite.
Dead Can Dance: The Host of Saraphim
Well that song is gorgeous.
Neither one of the songs I posted is a made up language technically. The first one was made by an Italian guy, and if you listen closely, they are singing in “English.” At least those are English words. He made the song to simulate for English speakers what it is like to hear a song in English for Non-English speakers.
The second song is in Mongolian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHBxJdXzVS0
Nena, yup. First one I thought of. She did it in english as “99 Red Balloons” but I like the original better.
Nena 99 Luftbaloons
Manu Chao, Clandestino. The entire album rocks.
I love 99 Luftballons. Even the kiddies know it by heart here in Germany.
A song not actually about balloons.
Baba Yetu - Theme for Civilization IV and also the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili.
It’s hard to pick just one, so here’s some of my top:
I could keep going this is just what I thought of immediately.
Beethoven’s 9th
To add a couple more to the classical list: Camille saint-saëns danse macabre, Dvorak’s new world symphony 9, Bach fugue and toccata, and Hiromi spectrum
Just having voice parts does not make something a song. Schubert’s lieder are probably the best known classical songs.
A little old
Der Kommissar by Falco
Way too much German industrial/goth/IDM/whatever to mention.
人間椅子 (Ningen Isu) - 無情のスキャット (Heartless Scat) – one I listen to somewhat frequently.
Linda Linda by the Blue Hearts is another.
千本桜 by 和楽器バンド (senbonzakura by wagakibando) is another I like because of the mix of traditional Japanese instruments and style along with modern ones.
Numa numa song aka Dragostea din tei
Bésame Mucho
truly a special and wonderful song when sang with passion
Besame mucho, como si fuera esta noche la ultima vez
the Pedro Vargas version is peak, outside the original
Krigsgaldr by Heilung. It’s in proto-Germanic if I am not mistaken.
(edit: spelling - my proto-Germanic is a bit rusty)
Interesting, apparently the lyrics come from a runic inscription on an ancient grave stone found in Norway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggja_stone
Oh that’s cool! The lyrics to Hamrer Hippyer appear to be from the Merseburg Charms.
I love songs either using ancient languages or otherwise ancestral. Such as the spring awakening chant buried in Shum by Go A https://youtu.be/sDeMfL8Ib9A
I’m also partial to throat singing and mixing old and contemporary instruments like what Otyken does https://youtu.be/aXsLlOPwe48
We No Speak Americano
Recently, anything by Babymetal. They are fucking boss.
Probably Kingslayer
Song 3 by Babymetal and Slaughter to Prevail
Hell yeah. Song 3 isn’t my top favorite track, but the whole album is great.
Bloodywood - Gaddaar because it absolutely slaps, or maybe Sardaar Ji because I can’t hear it without thinking of this Bhangra group and they make me smile.
Lots of Central / Latin American modern stuff as well like Donde Nací by Orishas, which is also a feel good kind of sound.
Bloodywoods whole catalog slaps
I have not a single one, so my apologies for the longish reply ;)
A few of my all time favorites non-English are from French (like me) singers. Older ones, like me: people like Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Serge Gainsbourg, Edith Piaf,… And so many more. I’m nearing my 60s and I’ve been listening to some of them since I was a very young boy, aged 7 or 8, on my parent’s HiFi (who also introduced me to classical music, my absolute favorite type of music).
What follow is anything but a full list of my favorites. It’s a very limited selection among those I consider my lifelong companions:
If anyone has managed to reach that point, listening to all the songs, and is wondering: yes, I also listen to much more contemporary French (and non French) artists. In many various genres.
French language always was and still is about telling a story, about playing with words and with sounds, exactly like poetry. Which is most I care about as a reader/listener. Contemporary French singers do understand that as well as their predecessors did. They just don’t use the same rhythms anymore and don’t share the exact same stories (well, fundamentals remain unchanged: love, hate, sadness, fun,… but how they express it changes), and they’re certainly not less talented! But no matter how much I appreciate the work of some of them, and I do, they are not the singers I grew old with so I would not call them my favorites ;)
… I would even less dare call them favorites in our over-chastised sad times, populated with countless self-entitled white knights always looking for an opportunity to tell everyone else what they should and should not do, what they should like and not like. Because what would those people say of an almost 60 years old dude openly admitting he do enjoy listening to, say, the young (Belgian) singer Angèle? Bruxelles, je t’aime, J’entends or Tout oublier? A bit like, nearing my 60 I enjoy as much as I enjoyed it in my teens, if not more, listening to 16th century French music, or reading 15 and 16th century French poetry too.
Parlez-vous français? J’adore aussi la musique française, en particulier Edith Piaf et Jacques Brel. La Foule est mon coup de cœur.
Vous connaissez «Bonnie and Clyde» par Brigitte Bardot? Je crois que ça vous plairait
I’m French ;)
La foule is a great song, like many of Piaf.
For Brel, if I had to pick a single song… I would never do that but say for some odd reason I had to… it would be one of those two. One of which is indeed among my all time favorites, the other not as much but still touched me very deeply at a rather young age, and stayed with me: La quête, or Orly.
Kind of funny to see the Lemmy version of this meme in action.
:)
I can assure you when I speak English everyone instantly knows I’m French, my accent is quite French ;)
Try being Canadian, it’s even more insulting!
Although to be fair, this never happens outside of Paris.
Now I want to see a Cajun and a French Canadian try to order something in Paris
Huelga en General - Los Lobos
Also since we’re on the topic, shameless plug for !leftymusic@lemmy.world
Tough question, but the first one that comes to mind is the Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.
Freundeskreis - Esperanto
“Tequila” performed by The Champs.
Mercan Dede - 800
Turkish DJ, with Ceza, a Turkish rapper
https://tidal.com/track/10177936/u
I saw him perform between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
Japanese: Last regrets (imoutoid’s First regrets remix) (2006)
Russian: Murat Nasyrov - Мальчик хочет в Тамбов (1997)
German: Kraftwerk - Computerwelt (1981)
Italian: Giuseppe Verdi, Mario del Monaco - Esultate! (1887, 1954)
French: Joe Dassin - Et si tu n’existais pas (1975)
Spanish: Celia Cruz - Mi Soncito (1956)
Chinese: Zhōu Xuán - Hua yang de nian hua (1947)
Ca plane pour moi by Plastic Bertrand.
The international and Öde an die Freude
Patlamaya Devam is the first thing to come to mind for whatever reason.
Rien de Rien and Now We Are Free
Jesucristo García, by Extremoduro
Probably several songs from the Katamari series. Hard to pick just one.
I recently stumbled upon my latest music obsession:
ドンドルマ ( Dondurma )
As for my all time favorite, hard to say.
After listening to the Letterkenny playlist a few years ago I went on a bit of a French-Canadian folk music kick.
Lisa Leblanc - Aujourd’hui, Ma Vie C’est D’la Marde stands out.
I think I have four that are top of my current most played songs that aren’t English:
Kaval Sviri, a Bulgarian folk song. Specifically the version performed by KSS, a women’s choir in Oslo. It’s a cappella, and has some great resolving dissonance. Really a fantastic performance.
Next would be Ka Bohaleng performed by Abel Selaocoe. It has some cool string effects and I like the throat singing technique he uses in this song in particular.
Presidente by Goran Bregović (featuring Gipsy Kings) is a fun upbeat celebratory song.
Altay by Ummet Ozcan, featuring vocals from Otyken is a great song that feels like… Mongolian cyberpunk? If that’s a thing. If you can’t tell I’m really feeling throat singing multiphonics right now 😆
Been listening to Altay and other Otyken songs as of late. They scratch a deep itch in the brain
Not sure i have a favorite atm but Reflections by Mat Zo is pretty good (Spanish)
van dik hout - stap voor stap
"Frailty" by OU
Really wild progressive power metal
Sexy Doll by Republika
I got no favorite song, all music is great to me. But this one been on my ear for quite a long time.
Marko Haavisto & Poutahaukat - Paha Vaanii
This theme song for a 1970’s Thai Action TV show that never was…
Kwuan Tai Duew Luk Phen (you should die by bullets)
Basshunter - Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA
Damn, I should have gone with this one. I can’t think of many things I associate more with the 2000s than Basshunter. The lyrics of the original Swedish songs are so infinitely better than the English remakes too.
Can’t forget this one either. OG DOTA and IRC chatrooms, what a time to be alive
Hyacinth by 22/7. There are like ten of them singing in groups, it’s mesmerising. Especially epic on Apple Music with AirPods and spatial audio (Dolby Atmos).
If you’re familiar with Kpop Demon Hunters, same thing. 22/7 are a cartoon band made for an anime of the same name. Only, unlike HUNTR/X, they kept making music after their show failed to get renewed for a second season, and now they make music under the same name, and it’s even been licensed by other anime series. (I wish HUNTR/X would do this. The fans are here for it, but they didn’t anticipate the success — I doubt they’re not working on it.)
But this song isn’t in the anime. It’s a song that was made after the anime was canceled.
Patrick Watson - Je te laisserai des mots
Kai Tangata by Alien Weaponry
Pobre Juan - Mana
https://youtu.be/rxpssE0SVw8
Lot of Seegar, oops. Guatanamara is beautiful, and Cielito Lindo. Makes me ashamed of being a filthy one-language-knower.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=41N8EHzZL78. (Cielito Lindo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZjnfWx0cvw&list=RDZZjnfWx0cvw&start_radio=1
Maneskin Torna a Casa
basically all of Molchat Doma’s discog
SU NAO NI I LOVE YOU!
Ukraine
Mix between The Light and Ima Ima Ima by Perfume and various YOASOBI tracks—production on both are just so pleasing.
Manel — “Teresa Rampell”
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MGazZymhv2c - Welsh indie rock
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H2gmeNH_oZ0 - Desi Hip-hop
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5dS3C-_8UgA - Indian metal feat a j-rock band
Don’t have a favorite but it’s definitely by Big Bang. Looking forward to their return soooo much.
Currently?
It’s Skins by Asian Kung Fu Generation.
I listen to a fair amount of J pop though.
Mayonaka no Door by Miki Matsubara and Ussewa by Ado are also up there.
Kotiteollisuus - Leiki kuollutta
Bruthal 6 - Todo en mis manos
September by Mariya Takeuchi
De Musica Ligera or Mundo Paralelo.
80s rock vs Frente in Spanish. I can’t decide
清醒白日梦 (Awakening daydream) - Chinese football