Music in other languages

[Blue_vision]

Haven't made a thread in a while, so let's let this one count.

One thing I've noticed with my massive library of non-english music is that there are some genres I just don't see in certain languages, or at least are not very abundant from what I've seen. Why would it appear to be like this? For instance, I've heard very little Rap outside English and French, and it seems that Metal is solely confined to Germanic languages. Spanish and Italian seem to have proportionally lots more light rock than, say, Punk. Anyone else notice this?

If yes, then good, time for the big question: Is this a linguistic thing, or a cultural thing? Are there just ways that certain languages work that it's easier to fit them into a certain lyrical style? For instance, English and French's relatively slurred and imprecise way of pronunciation making rap easier to make, or Italian's poetic way of speaking making Rock n' Roll an easier musical style?
Or is it just because there are expectations and cultural factors that affect social opinions on certain types of music, making some types more popular than others?

And, there's always option C that this is all in my head and there's actually fairly equal representation of music genres among different languages. Hopefully it's not the case, but I won't rule it out.

What is the Escapists' opinion?

 

[ClassicJokester]

I think it is both. I have a lot to say on music, but I need to keep this short.
Certainly, there is a cultural difference, due to the region's musical background, and the general culture of the area.

However, I'm sure that language plays a fairly large part, mostly because there is a certain way that languages sound when used in music. I'm sure many people would agree that Italian is a very flowing language, and so sounds pleasant when applied to rock music.

Even so, if there are so many genres available in English (a hodgepodge of a language), there's no reason that those genres don't exist in other languages. One of the reasons behind the wide array of genres in English is the fact that there are a wide variety of races, with a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds living in the US (I can't talk certainly about GB), and each group brings a certain musical background to the table. In countries where the population is less diverse, there will be less diverse music, simply because many genres are cultural.

Now with the Internet, though, it has become easier to access genres that aren't "native" to whatever country you happen to live in, so the musical scene is (slowly) becoming more global.

This is (slightly) off topic, but I have the link handy, and it's sweet.

 

[TeeBs]

I don't know what it is, but I love music from Iceland.

 

[2fish]

I would say culture and linguistic issues must be in the equation, but I think even more it is does that area have better access to making music than say the middle of Afghanistan? So we must add access to the list.

So Access + Culture are what makes the music possible and likely while linguistics simply adds the cherry on top.

Other than that I am not sure but I am finding more awsome metal bands outside of the USA than in it. Come on America step up your game!

 

[Blue_vision]

I would say culture and linguistic issues must be in the equation, but I think even more it is does that area have better access to making music than say the middle of Afghanistan? So we must add access to the list.

So Access + Culture are what makes the music possible and likely while linguistics simply adds the cherry on top.

Other than that I am not sure but I am finding more awsome metal bands outside of the USA than in it. Come on America step up your game!

But is the ability to record music in Afghanistan affecting what kind of music Afghanis listen to in their language?

My personal opinion is that linguistics plays a far greater role than culture, though both definitely play important parts. But simply, it's a lot harder to rap in Italian than it is in French, while singing in Italian sounds a lot better than in French, and no amount of culture can change how the musical structure interacts with the lyrics.

But, the amount of sway that culture has, and how difficult it is for some languages to adopt to certain musical genres is still up in the air for me. Either way, the cultural diffusion that's slowly taking the world should be really interesting to see from a musical point of view, provided it doesn't integrate into one big tasteless english pop culture blob. That would be a very sad day for me to see

 

[WrcklessIntent]

Enjoyed the world cup with this song.

 

[2fish]

I would say culture and linguistic issues must be in the equation, but I think even more it is does that area have better access to making music than say the middle of Afghanistan? So we must add access to the list.

So Access + Culture are what makes the music possible and likely while linguistics simply adds the cherry on top.

Other than that I am not sure but I am finding more awsome metal bands outside of the USA than in it. Come on America step up your game!

But is the ability to record music in Afghanistan affecting what kind of music Afghanis listen to in their language?

My personal opinion is that linguistics plays a far greater role than culture, though both definitely play important parts. But simply, it's a lot harder to rap in Italian than it is in French, while singing in Italian sounds a lot better than in French, and no amount of culture can change how the musical structure interacts with the lyrics.

But, the amount of sway that culture has, and how difficult it is for some languages to adopt to certain musical genres is still up in the air for me. Either way, the cultural diffusion that's slowly taking the world should be really interesting to see from a musical point of view, provided it doesn't integrate into one big tasteless english pop culture blob. That would be a very sad day for me to see

Well you may have heard some music that requires electric guitars, speakers, ect but not have the access to them. So even though you would love to play that music and may be very good at it you won't have the chance to try.

Do we have any music majors here they might be the ones to ask. Music theory people might also have some insight.

 

[Blue_vision]

Enjoyed the world cup with this song.

I really, really disliked the English version of this song. It just sounds so awkward compared to this one.

Well you may have heard some music that requires electric guitars, speakers, ect but not have the access to them. So even though you would love to play that music and may be very good at it you won't have the chance to try.

Do we have any music majors here they might be the ones to ask. Music theory people might also have some insight.

Oh, definitely. Though, it doesn't solve the problem with developed countries; there's still big musical rifts within Europe and East Asia.

I'd say that the variety of Japanese music is something to be looked at. Japan, with a very, very different linguistic structure from English, has a booming pop culture using basically the exact same music genres as English countries do :|

 

[Mr.France]

A few comments about metal:
Well, I don't listen to much of Angra, but it is a Brazilian band (one of the VERY few things I actually like in my homeland) that has some songs in Portuguese and even in tupi-guarani (or so I heard) which is the language of one of the many local indigenous peoples, which is nice (ROOTS BLOODY ROOTS!!!--Felt an irresistible urge to put this here).

Besides that I can only think on Eluveitie, a Swiss band with some songs in Gaulish (is this how you write?), which is also nice.

As for the influence of Germanic languages you spoke of, I don't know, it is a strong language (or group of languages), matches the strength of the sound I guess.

 

[Baralak]

I've found j-pop to be vastly more enjoyable than most American pop. The voices are easier on the ears and the music is better. Plus it's nice to know, after looking up lyrics, that it's not all about sluts and money.

My main genre is metal, though. OP, I actually find it rather difficult to find bands that don't sing in english. Most European bands in my experience sing in English.

 

[Betancore]

Maybe it's because some languages are better than others for certain types of music. I only ever really listen to metal in other languages - mainly Finnish, Swedish or German or something similar, and I've found that German in particular seems to really suit that sound. I had a friend who said once that German was perfect for use in the military, but not so good for singing a love song. Makes sense to me.

 

[Naheal]

I'd say that the variety of Japanese music is something to be looked at. Japan, with a very, very different linguistic structure from English, has a booming pop culture using basically the exact same music genres as English countries do :|

Some Japanese music producers are pretty good. However remember Sturgeon's Law with it.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

I imagine that it is mainly culture that would cause certain genres to flourish in certain countries. If a culture doesn't really fit well with a music genre then you probably won't see very many bands of that genre coming out of that country. Linguistics probably has a little bit to do with it, but I imagine that it just affects the popularity. Some languages work better with certain genres. For instance to me German (more harsher and guttural) works better for metal than French (more eloquent and flowery). Although I'm sure that language has stopped some bands from springing up in particular genres.

 

[Koeryn]

Music comes in other langua-

I kid. And yeah, now that you mention it, I see a similar trend... With Japan being the same as us: A horrible mix of every damned thing.

 

[Vampire cat]

*will commence genocide if I ever have to hear the song Waka Waka again...*

Norway has all kinds of music, in Norwegian... We're just a smaller country, so not so much is being made compared to other countries. The good Norwegian artists tend to sing in English tho, as going international is much bigger than being stuck in the homeland...

 

[Dango]

I like tons of foreign music, even that weird French pop stuff, although Japanese music is still my favorite. America's music now-a-days is just so... meh.

 

[thylasos]

Just a small example of Russian metal, though this particular song is heavily nu-metal and has the inevitable rap element.

It's still pretty good. I can find similar examples in Serbian, but this struck me, as people may have heard the band in the film Ночьной Дозор (Night Watch).

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

I'm a fan of Finnish and Icelandic music in general.

 

[FinalHeart95]

Music is the universal language
[/cheese]

I don't have any music where people speak a language other than English now that I think about it. I have Opeth, and they're Scandinavian (Finnish or Swedish?), but they speak English in all of their songs.

 

[Elephant Walker19]

Cherry Filter~~~ Korean music is all I listen to.

High five!SNSD FTW!(don't judge me)

OT:I like thai and japanese songs and I don't speak ether one.

Edit:Korean songs too but you sould know that since I just high fived a fellow k-pop fan.