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The must-know songs in your language | ||
Tags: Song Texts | Music | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio |  | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6392 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 9 of 35 01 January 2012 at 9:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
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This won't do! Only one song has been mentioned for Cantonese, and it's not even in Cantonese! I can put down
a few, at least. 許冠傑 (Sam Hui) - 半斤八兩 Even people who don't think Cantonese should be sung or written down will often make an exception for Sam Hui. His songs in actual Cantonese are immortal and this is one of his best and most popular ones. Most anyone who knows Cantonese will know this song, even mainlanders. It was also recently included as a musical number in one of my favorite movies, 72家租客. 許冠傑 - 財神到 Okay, another Sam Hui song, but this has been sung by others, too, though I think Sam Hui's version is the most popular one. Real Cantonese and it can be heard in Hong Kong and Macau during Chinese New Year. 林子祥 (George Lam) - 男兒當自強 This is the quintessential Kung Fu song, known by kung fu fans all over the world. The video is the intro to the immortal film Once Upon a Time in China II. This song is written in a style that contains no specific Mandarin elements, but also no specific Cantonese elements (this is made possible by the formal style of the text). As such, it has been sung with Mandarin pronunciation by some, but make no mistake, it's a Cantonese song. 農夫 - 富甲天下 I want to finish off by a more modern song. This might not be an immortal classic that everyone has heard, but it's a great example of modern Cantonese music. The lyrics are cleverly written and it has a positive message about how if you relax and don't worry so much, you'll realize things aren't as bad as they seem. These guys show that there's still great music made in real Cantonese, not just Canto-accented Mandarin. Unfortunately, after Sam Hui it seems Cantonese music has been relegated to rap only. EDIT: This list wouldn't be complete without Only You. It's just … so funny. And it really is a classic of sorts. A lot of people have seen this movie and this is one of the most memorable parts of it. Edited by Ari on 01 January 2012 at 9:16pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5225 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 10 of 35 01 January 2012 at 9:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
THANK YOU. I was actually thinking about how I omitted this, but I never got around to editing my post. I'm surprised that you would call 72家租客 one of your favorite movies, though. :P
Humph! It's mostly in Cantonese... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6392 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 11 of 35 01 January 2012 at 9:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think most Cantonese speakers would agree with you, but my definitions are a bit stricter. The way I see it, that song is mostly in Mandarin, with a bit of English sprinkled in. It's sung with Cantonese pronunciation, but that doesn't make it Cantonese in my eyes. For that you'd have to use Cantonese grammar and vocabulary, which that song doesn't have. If one would turn the tables and sing a Sam Hui song with Mandarin pronunciation, would that make it Mandarin? I think most Mandarin speakers would say no. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5225 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 12 of 35 01 January 2012 at 9:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
Hm, interesting. The singer has lived in Hong Kong since the age of four, so I presumed she was a native Cantonese speaker. Or perhaps she is, but her lyricist isn't... Edited by nway on 01 January 2012 at 9:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6392 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 13 of 35 02 January 2012 at 7:00am | IP Logged | |||||
Her lyricist might very well be a native, too. Pretty much all Cantopop is written Mandarin sung with Cantonese pronunciation. Rap is pretty much the only genre that uses actual Cantonese vocabulary and grammar. This is of course because of the influence of the written language, which in Hong Kong is Mandarin (apart from web forums and a few comic books, just about everything written in Hong Kong is in Mandarin). But if you try to talk the way these songs are sung, you'll be laughed out of town. Sam Hui's songs are genuine Cantonese, however. Edited by Ari on 02 January 2012 at 7:01am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ReQuest Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4842 days ago 200 posts - 228 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, French Studies: Spanish | Message 14 of 35 02 January 2012 at 3:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Those Césaria Évora songs want me to learn Portugues really really bad .... (wanderlust attack) Edited by ReQuest on 02 January 2012 at 3:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4983 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 15 of 35 05 January 2012 at 9:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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For Canto.
This is one of my favorite songs. 沧海一声笑 If you're impatient or don't understand Canto, skip to the 7:09 mark. Something hilarious happens at 7:25. He stops and says: "I sang the wrong lyrics. Embarrassed. Damn Wong Zhim for writing such difficult lyrics. How can I remember them? Are they wrong? I think so. Can I start over again? Trouble for the subtitle guys. Gotta start over again. Really sorry." Then at 8:50 he goes on a little rant. "I've already said there's a problem with these lyrics. So difficult to remember but actually it sounds familiar at the same time. It's like he copied them from somebody. Agree? Like you've seen them before? My sixth uncle told me that he copied them from Mao Zedong." Found one without interruptions. 沧海一声笑 Another good song from the sequel. 只记今朝笑 The movie is a very abridged adaption of Jin Yong's Xiao Ao Jiang Hu/Smiling Proud Wanderer. And there's the timeless Shanghai Bund. 上海滩 Of course, all the Canto songs are also available in Mandarin. (What a surprise!!) ____________________________________________________________ ___________________________ For Mandarin, I like One Night in Beijing Original version rules!! ____________________________________________________________ ___________________________ For Swahili, 1. Malaika Everyone seems to like Malaika for some reason. 2. Jambo Bwana Every mzungu's favorite song/kipenzi lao. In Tz, they obviously swap Kenya for Tanzania. 3. Habari Ndio Hiyo Typical Bongo Flava. Has the honor of being one of the first Swahili songs to get stuck in my head. 4. Shababi Not bad as contemporary/R&B Swahili goes. Ali Kiba is pretty popular. 5. Mungu Ibariki Afrika Tz's national anthem. Trust me, it grows on you. My initial reaction was meh... Then it got stuck in my head. 6. Shida Mbarake Mwinshehe = win. Mziki wa dansi style of the 60s and 70s. 7. Baba Yetu Not strictly a product of the Waswahili but whatever. Now with extra fountain added. I thank sprachprofi for bringing this to my attention. 8. Simama kaa The second Swahili song I learnt. The kids love it. I mean they ABSOLUTELY LOVE it. 9. Hakuna Matata HM! What a wonderful phrase. HM! Ain't no passing craze. It means no worries for the rest of your days, it's my trouble free, philosophyyyyyyyy, HM. 10. Nimeonja Pendo Lako True Swahili gospel music. One of my favorites. Nitakushukuru nitawainua wote wakusifu wewe!! Brings back great memories of going to the kanisa with the host family or attending morning services at the Catholic hospital where I worked. ____________________________________________________________ __________________________ To the OP, John Mayer's best piece of work is Covered in Rain, Any Given Thursday version. Covered in Rain I don't understand how this video has only 1 million views while some crappy Bieber vid gets half a billion views. Edited by strikingstar on 12 January 2012 at 9:35pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4582 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 16 of 35 06 January 2012 at 11:03am | IP Logged | |||||
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Russian: in 2009-2010 Russia's Channel One aired a program called «ДОстояние РЕспублики», where Russian and Soviet songs from various decades were played and voted for by the viewers. In the first season's finale a list of top 10 Russian songs of all time was compiled. You can see it on the show's Russian Wikipedia page. My biggest problem with the list (apart from the Moscow-centrism typical of Russian national television) is that some genres, like rock and much of folk and bard music, were excluded from the selection. so here is my personal list, taking into account the cultural needs of a learner of Russian.
10) Майя Кристалинская - Нежность 9) Олег Анофриев - Есть только миг 8) ДДТ - Родина 7) Various artists (dunno who sings in this video, sorry) - Катюша 6) Нина Ургант - Нам нужна одна победа 5) Олег Анофриев - Песенка друзей 4) Folk (in this video it is performed by the Alexandrov Ensemble, a.k.a. the Red Army Choir)- Калинка 3) Олег Митяев - Как здорово (Изгиб гитары желтой...) 2) Юрий Никулин - Песня про зайцев 1) Кино - Звезда по имени солнце Edited by vonPeterhof on 06 January 2012 at 11:14am 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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