[NiceCans]

you mean you are supposed to pay attention to the words?

Yes, I have music I listen to that I do not understand . . .

Music is Universal

 

[FalconP]

It is FAR WORSE to listen to songs in a language you understand, but that you know the lyrics are nonsense.

 

[Enverxis]

I listen to quite alot of bands that sing in Polish, some have english releases of their work as well, but the Polish being their natural language sounds more fluid so I buy those, the vocals+polish lyrics are absolutely melt-in-your-mouth *drool*

Artrosis
Moonlight
Naamah (some tracks)
Delight
Desdemona

also alot of French stuff

Elend
Dark Sanctuary
Enigma (some tracks)
etc etc

Norweign

Gate
Lumsk
Dismal Euphony
etc etc

and the band Boris sings in Japanese

 

[iSleipnir]

I listen to Rammstein (which I only partly understand), Stereolab, Cowboy Bebop. Yup, thats about all. Oh, and Vintersorg.

 

[K2Grey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FalconP It is FAR WORSE to listen to songs in a language you understand, but that you know the lyrics are nonsense.

Completely true

I suppose I have a few CDs of JPop, which I certainly don't understand. I guess the Ode to Joy segment of Beethoven's 9th is in German and I don't understand either. But there's also some music where the English is somewhat unclear and I have no clue what is being sung.

 

[kramer5150]

James Labrie

 

[antiant]

i've been listening to music in foreign languages for a long time, i've got quite a lot, afrikan, italian, hindi, punjabi, urdu, farsi, armenian, turkish, arabic, polish, ukrainian, russian, croatian, french, dutch, german, patois, spanish, portugese, brazilian portugese, even "made up" languages, where singers make up words and use that as an instrument, and other "worldy" languages, even if you don't understand it, eventually and over time you start to pick up words here and there because of listening to it for so long, and you also begin to distinguish what a particular language is, which is a plus in my book, it's like "oh wait that's not russian, that's polish" you're able to tell the difference intelligently and because of that it opens up your mind and you're not that 'ignorant' to other cultures and it also opens you up to other cultures and ways of life via musically

if anyone ever wants to listen to other languages out of curiosity or whatever, let me know or give me a PM or something, i can set something up...oh and as nice cans said music IS universal, check the sig if you want to see what i got or want anything in particular there

also Siebel you may want to check out this thread: "World Music" recommendations

 

[MacGyver]

Hmm... I can speak a tad of Spanish and Tagalog, but not enough to comprehend songs in those language. I'm a definite fan of some J-Rock/Pop (Guitar Vader, Ringo Shiina, etc.) Portuguese/Brazilian Jazz, Bossanova/Samba stuff, and Icelandic Post Rock (Sigur Ros haha) There are probably a lot more, but those are what come to mind at the moment.

 

[Beach123456]

No, because it just annoys me and I cant stand it.

 

[utep10]

My SO is Vietnamese so I've grown acustomed to watching and listening to Vietnamese music even though I don't understand a lick of it.

 

[gratefulshrink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Siebel What I mean is I have been listening to George Dalaras a Greek Artist for years. And I have a lot of his music. But I don't speak or understand a word of greek. To me his music conveys more than lyrics. Anybody else here who does the same thing? Michael

It's funny, but when I opened the thread, I expected that you would mean listening to music that you don't understand in terms of the theory behind it (such as most avante-garde classical, or similalry esoteric music), and not that you don't understand the language of the vocalists.

But, to answer your question, I have tons of world music, as well classical choral/vocal and ancient chant, where I don't understand the words. Doesn't bother me one bit.

 

[NiceCans]

I may be wrong, but I would imagine there was music long before there was spoken word . . . . and I am sure they would have begun to vocalize as well even if incomprehendible verbally it would still convey feeling.

Actually I would only be mildly surprised to find that music was the impetus for the development of spoken word in the first place.

Music is an expression of emotion and easily touches the spirit, look at the story of the Grateful Dead's visit to Egypt. At how some native peoples were drawn to the sounds of music like they had never heard and how they were drawn to return again the next night. At how they mingled and played together creating a blend of cultures and ages.

If it has a good beat, man will dance. Hey, even babies will dance.
Heck, I think I've may have even seen animals dance

 

[axle]

I not only listen to, but sing along!

Mostly African music, as it reminds me of my childhood. But I don't understand a word of it.


It's funny, though; I was visiting with my Cousins in France last week, and they were watching the equlivent of MTV... lots of french songs, and then Kelly Clarkson came on. My cousin said he loved the song, but understood not a word of what was being said.

Edit, hey, 100 posts! There's a depressing milestone for ya

 

[seantx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by c0mfortably_numb Ramstein, except for the 2 english version songs by them (engel, and Du hast) I don't have a clue what there singing about, but I like there music

Ditto. I actually prefer the German lyrics to English and speak no German other than that gleaned from WWII movies and Run Lola Run.

Add Sigur Ros to my list as well. Certainly no clue what they are saying but the music says enough.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Does anybody know where I can buy some Chinese (mandarin) metal? My classes need some cookie-monster growling.....