Blast from the Past: Tappi Tikarrass - Hrollur

Assuming that anybody ever reads this blog, I can almost hear you say "How is Tappi Tikarrass a blast from the past?  I have no idea who they are/were!"  Perhaps not, but you have probably heard of their lead singer: Icelandic musical icon Bjork.  Back when she was only 16, years before she went on to form the Sugarcubes and later to achieve enormous success as a solo artist, she was already a fixture on the Icelandic punk scene.  With this track, Hrollur, you can already see that Bjork has both a startlingly strong voice and a very unique visual style.

Blast From the Past: The Beatles - Komm, gib mir deine Hand

Liverpool may lay claim to The Beatles, but they truly honed their musical craft in the strip clubs of Hamburg, Germany.  Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the "Fab Four" recorded a few songs in the local tongue.  While everybody who has ever listened to any music anywhere in the world has heard I Want to Hold Your Hand (an exaggeration, but not by much), how many have heard The Beatles perform Komm, gib mir deine Hand?  Well, now you have.

Music Video: Farin Urlaub - Zehn

One of the reasons I first started collecting German popular music was as an educational tool for my daughter.  After all, so my reasoning went, what better way of teaching something than by making it fun and cool?  My first foray into German music led me, by twists and turns, to Farin Urlaub (formerly of punk band Die Ärzte).  And if you're trying to use music to teach a new language, what better than a song that repeatedly counts from one to ten?  Needless to say, my daughter loved the song Zehn from the first time she heard it.

Music Video: Ryo the Skywalker - ????

A few years ago, when I had the opportunity to vacation in Japan, I spent most of my non-housing and food money on music.  The Japanese consume vast amounts of popular music from every corner of the world.  They also produce some pretty impressive music.  One amazing CD that I picked up in Tokyo is a compilation of Japanese reggae artists, among whom is Ryo the Skywalker.  I wish that I could tell you the name of this song, but I don't read Japanese, and my computer won't mimic the characters.  Suffice to say, this song will cheer up even the most dour listener.

Music Video: Rummelsnuff - Salzig schmeckt der Wind

I have pretty broad tastes in music.  That being the case, sometimes I run across an artist who I both really like, but who at the same time makes me think "What the hell?"  A perfect example of this is the German singer Rummelsnuff.  Rummelsnuff's low, almost tuneless, gravelly voice mixes with traditional musical styles into something that is somewhat reminiscent of The Pogues with Shane MacGowan.  But while Shane is a skinny Irishman with no teeth and what is probably an epic case of liver disease, Rummelsnuff is a muscular, German fireplug of a man with more than a passing resemblance to Popeye.  Salzig schmeckt der Wind is one of my favorites from Rummelsnuff.  It is a sea shanty with plenty of wistfulness and emotional depth, and is both captivating and unlike anything else you have ever heard.

Music Video: Die Antwoord - Enter the Ninja

Some days you just stumble accidentally over new (at least new to you) music that really makes you think.  Rapper/Performance artist Watkin Jones from South Africa has always produced music that challenges the listener, and none more so than the music he produces in his latest incarnation as Ninja of the band Die Antwoord.  Their hit Enter the Ninja is a pretty representative sampling of what Die Antwoord is all about.  It is confrontational, usually offensive, often ugly.  But at its best, their music compels the listener to really consider their commentary on the modern world from a multi-linqual, multi-cultural, and multi-racial South African perspective.

Blast From the Past: Les Négresses Vertes - Sous le Soleil de Bodega

1992 was an important year for me.  It was the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years of college, and I was in Prague working on a documentary crew.  The last Soviet troops were pulling out of Czechoslovakia, the first faint murmurs of the Slovak independence movement were starting to be heard, and one of our assistant directors introduced me to Les Négresses Vertes ("LNV").  The first time I heard their exciting mix of gypsy guitar, French cabaret attitude, rollicking horns, and rock and roll beat, I was forever hooked.  Sous le Soleil de Bodega was a track from LNV's second album "Famille Nombreuse", and it perfectly captures what their music was all about.

Well, time marches on.  That job in Prague got me my first (and only so far) full-time job after college.  Through a co-worker, I met the woman who became my wife and ultimately the mother of my child.  The rest, as they say, is history.  As for LNV, after the release of "Famille Nombreuse" their lead singer died of a heroin overdose.  They soldiered on for another couple more proper studio albums, a "live" album, a "remix" album, an "acoustic" album, and a "best of" album, drifting from what some critics described as "gypsy punk" to electronica in the process.

Ultimately, though, the legacy of LNV in my life is that it was my first window into a world of popular music coming out of the non-English speaking world.