[Steven Stahlberg]

You really should listen to this, it's great. It's in swedish, but I've translated it (albeit very roughly). Download it from http://www.optidigit.com/stevens/samba.mp3
play it, and try to follow along in the translation. The last verse always gives me a shiver. (Written in the seventies, the original sounds quite different - I find this version resonates better with the lyrics.)


Deirdre's Samba
by Cornelis Vreeswijk, sung by Anneli Ryde


Every night around 8 I take the path down the mountain
Then I take the bus that goes to Copa Cabana
I've bathed, I've showered, I smell good all over
And then I begin to walk
And I'm a sight to see

When you walk Copa Cabana, you've got the ocean to the left
But I look straight ahead, straight at those I meet
If they look like they want to dance, they can buy my Samba
Those who bargain can leave, for I'm a sight to see

Dance the Samba with me, ayayay...
I am good, I am good
If you've got time and money you'll buy my Samba
If you've got time and money you'll buy my Samba

If you want to learn my Samba, under the moon on the beach
I can whistle the melody, with two shells I beat the rythm
And if you want to make love, we're in the right place
It's illegal, of course, but hotels are so dull

Dance the Samba with me, ayayay...
I am good, I am good
If you've got time and money you'll buy my Samba
If you've got time and money you'll buy my Samba

Between Playa de Flamengo and the pretty Ipanema, lie the wealthy hot beaches
But the poor in Rio live high above the rest
The highest mountain is my home
The wind cools, the sun burns, there is sorrow that isn't felt

Dance the Samba with me, ayayay...
I am good, I am good
If you've got time and money you'll buy my Samba
If you've got time and money you'll buy my Samba
If you've got time and money you'll buy my Samba

[ February 01, 2002: Message edited by: Steven Stahlberg ]

[Glondus]

Cornelis was the man...

[Novacaptain]

speaking of samba...next week the carnaval is going to start here in brazil


Nice song, not what i'd expected, good nonetheless - thanks steven.

[Lunatique]

Interesting. Not what I expected either. I was expecting something similar to Yello's Moon On Ice.

Maybe we should keep this thread running and post music that we love, but other people might never have heard of it, or have access to it.

Here's my contribution(I posted it in another thread asking for a full translation, but no one replied)

This is what I can make out of it(the general meaning only. It's a very deep song lyrically, and even Japanese natives have trouble translating it):

[url=http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/temp/Kawai%20Sonoko-Jessie's%20Tragedy.MP3]Kawai Sonoko-Jessie's Tragedy[/url]

Mist under the indigo grey sky.
I feel that I cannot see you.
I can no longer understand you.

Jessie, you are too selfish.
Don't believe in the dreams of adults.

If I will never see you again, I'll still say I love you.

Jessie. . .. I won't say your name anymore, Jessie.

If I find a better translation, I'll post it.

I just love the heartbreaking feel of this song. The musicians that played on it are excellent, from drummer, bassist, guitarist, to keyboardist. Her vocals are haunting and beautiful. The composition and arrangement are just masterful.

I've loved this song for over 15 years. That'll probably never change.

BTW, you absolutely have to CRANK UP the volume to listen to it. It'll add a lot to the drama of the song. I'll be surprised if it doesn't move you after you've listened to it at the suggested volume.

[ February 07, 2002: Message edited by: Lunatique ]

[Lunatique]

I tried to do more translation, and I think I'm completely off, but this is my attempt:

Grey sky
Only a streamer cuts across
You are losing your will
Your devotion becoming an echo

One thing for certain
why in spite of both of your excuses
your nature's the same

A tragic lullaby for the second time
Once it's over, it'll begin again

Jessie, why the shaking voices of adult lovers
Jessie, dark, painful sufferings
Finger on the wooden handle of the door
Doing this until the next time
The same unattainable name

If such gentleness were to pass away
Who will it circulate to again
It is captured, but--

The wind forces you back alone
You leaving in the rain

Jessie, another lover
Don't believe in the dreams of adults
Jessie, too selfish
Reason for another experience
Finger on old tears
Until they frost together

Must not be allowed unhappiness
The moment notwithstanding
I don't understand anything anymore

PLEASE, someone who knows Japanese---help!!

[ February 07, 2002: Message edited by: Lunatique ]

[Steven Stahlberg]

I'm listening to it right now, loud as you said (yes that definitely helps with Deirdre's Samba too), it's good, a bit sad, but still with this energy.

I'm getting all sorts of associations and mind-images, although I've never set my foot in Japan. Still, the place, the language, the images and music from there, always conjure up strong emotions, I can't really explain. I've just always wanted to go there, to live there. Almost I wish I'd been born Japanese. Grass is greener and all that.

edit: actually I got the idea for this thread from your original posting of this song, Lunatique. Your suggestion is great, I don't have enough server space to post a lot of music, but please, everybody else, go ahead and post, can't wait to listen to it - I'm sure I've only ever been exposed to 1% or less of all the good music in this world.

[ February 08, 2002: Message edited by: Steven Stahlberg ]

[Lunatique]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Steven Stahlberg:
[QB]

I'm getting all sorts of associations and mind-images, although I've never set my foot in Japan. Still, the place, the language, the images and music from there, always conjure up strong emotions, I can't really explain. I've just always wanted to go there, to live there. Almost I wish I'd been born Japanese. Grass is greener and all that.

edit: actually I got the idea for this thread from your original posting of this song, Lunatique. Your suggestion is great, I don't have enough server space to post a lot of music, but please, everybody else, go ahead and post, can't wait to listen to it - I'm sure I've only ever been exposed to 1% or less of all the good music in this world.

QB]

---

Yep, I call it, "culture envy." I used to feel the same way about Japanese stuff, then I dove head first into that culture and learned there are pros and cons as with any other culture. Now these days, I feel I'm just a citizen of the globe, and I can become fluent in any culture if I choose to spend the time and energy(as you did while in Hong Kong. BTW, how is your cantonese? Fluent?).

There are days when I feel that bit of envy with the french, but then I remember they have a horrible music scene. . ..

Yes people! Post rare yet awesome music! Let us share your emotinal experiences with music.

[sensoryoverload]

Well here's my little contribution:

I started listening to electronic music about 10 years ago when I was trying to find music that I like. The good thing I find about electronic music is that most of them don't have any lyrics, so any type of emotions you get out of the song is purely based on the song and your own experiences. To me, nothing ruins a song more then good lyrics and bad music, or good vocal bad lyrics type situations. Although I still listen to all different types of music, electronic is one of my favorite genre.
The story about this song... well, I guess you just have to listen to it. The only way I could describe it would be "Cool elegance with sophistication and intelligence" Something about this song speaks to me, it's my "mantra" and sometimes I would repeat this song all day long when I work. I would blast it to the point when I can feel the beats in my ear drums but not loud enough to damage any thing of course. One day I got so fascinated with the song and the structure of the song that I actually wanted to find out how it was put together. I decided to export it into a .wav file, slowed it down by 50% and study it a little closer. To my surprise I found a new song, a song that has the same "feel" to the original and yet, it's completely new and completely different. (like a song within a song) and I was so happy, because I found something that no one in the world knew. I fell even more in love with the song and even more in love with electronic music.
The song that I would like to share with you is Port Rhombus by Squarepusher. It's quite famous because it's so good. But the song within the song, well, you'll have to find out on your own. It's not that hard, I've already explained it. The two songs holds special meanings to me. It's not something that I could share with you but you might find meanings of your own, and that's just as good.

*The best way to listen to the song : big comfy headphones, lay down on the grass or sit on an easy chair under the sun, close your eyes and let your imagination do the rest.*

Enjoy!

And the little bit about Hong Kong that you guys were talking about. Funny thing is, I was born in Hong Kong, I came over to Canada when I was 11. I'm 24 now, and I'm going back to look for work in 2 days. I haven't been back there for the past 13 years. I'm kinna afraid to go back. Reverse cultural shock I guess. I do speak fluent Cantonese, but my writing skill is kinna poor... that Chinese Windows that they use scares me to death. Instead of studying 1 or 2 languages well, I decided to do poorly on 5, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, French, and Japanese. (sorry Lunatique, I'm only in beginners 1 for Japanese, can't help you there.)

Steven - I've loved your work since the beginning, truely inspirational.
Lunatique - I love your photographs, especially the girls...

[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: sensoryoverload ]

[Lunatique]

sensoryoverload- You must be a fan of Autechre, Boards of canada, Plaid, and Aphex Twins? I call intelligent electronica, "Geektronica."

I love electronic music too. I started out in music as a keyboardist, so what does that tell you? My early stuff was definitely influenced by guys like New Order, Art of Noise, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Front 242, 808 State..etc.

Man, now I'm all excited about electronic music. So, what can I do except to post some of my favorite rare/obscure eletronic stuff?

In fact, I just finished encoding a whole mess of mp3's, so I'll be nice and share a bunch(don't thank me, just post some of your cool rare/obscure music too) . They are encoded at very high quality(VBR, min 128, max 320), but large in size. I didn't use Ogg Vorbis because I don't know if it's that popular yet.

Ok, here we go:

First up, we have Ryuichi Sakamoto, one of the Godfathers of electronic music. He was a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra, an electronic band that was around in the late 70's and early 80's. They, along with Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Yello, Brian Eno..etc were the pioneers of electronic music.

Sakamoto is a classically trained composer and winner of 2 academy awards for best film score. He was doing avant garde electronica when all the big named guys these days were still in grade school. This track is off of his 1986 soundtrack for an anime feature, A Wing of Honneamise. It's is simple, yet complex in the way it's layered. The chords are subtle in it's changes, and the drum programming is constant, with bits of stereo panned breaks here and there.
Ryuichi Sakamoto- Fade

Next up, we have Yellow Magic Orchestra, headed by Harumi Hosono on bass, with Sakamoto on keyboard and Yukihiro Takahashi on drums and vocals. Listen to these tracks made between late 70's and early 80's, and you'll see why they are considered one of the Godfathers of electronic music.
Yellow Magic Orchestra- Camouflage
Yellow Magic Orchestra- Chao Panic

Continuing with electronic stuff, we have Trancendental. This is from the soundtrack for Steam- Hamam: The Turkish Bath. I love middle eastern sounds, especially when mixed with electronica. I've looked everywhere for that sound, and usually I'm disappointed. Most of the stuff I find is too contrived or too new age. These guys blends traditional instruments and electronic perfectly--better than ANYONE I've ever heard. I call it, "Organica."
Trancendental- Mahalle
[url=http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/temp/Trancendental-%20Omuzdaki%20E!.MP3]Trancendental- Omuzdaki E![/url]

Now, keeping with the electronic theme, we have a side project by three dudes from different bands. Schaft is made up of: Maki Fujii(Soft Ballet, a Japanese industrial/techno band), Hisashi Imai(Buck-Tick, a Japanese Goth/industrial band), and Raymond Watts(Originally one of the founding members of KMFDM, then left and became Pig). Listen to the track Broken English and tell me what you think it's about.
Schaft- THE HERO IN side
Schaft-Broken English

Switching gears a bit, we have Golden Palominos. Headed by percussionist Anton Fier, and spawned many incarnations. The most notable one is the one with Bill Laswell on bass and Lori Carson on vocals. Listen to this delicious track's groovy drumming. They were making this stuff long before people caught on and started doing it too.
Golden Palominos- Prisoner of Rhythm

For the guitar lovers, we have Robert Fripp, leader of progressive rock big name, King Crimson. This is him touring with League of Crafty Guitarists. This is from their live album, where they all played Ovation acoustics on stage together, like a symphony of guitars. Really cool stuff.Robert Fripp and LOCG- Driving Force
[url=http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/temp/Robert%20Fripp%20and%20LOCG-%20Lark's%20Thrak.MP3]Robert Fripp and LOCG- Lark's Thrak[/url]

This is Trey Gunn, guitarist of King Crimson. His solo stuff is great(as with all KC members). He plays an eight string Warr guitar, a monster that utilizes the fret tap technique extensively.Trey Gunn- Sozzle

Last but not least, we have The Doves, a UK band that makes some beautiful, atmospheric music. This track is one of my favs from them. Very nice drumming and dark mood.
The Doves- Darker

Whew! That was fun. Now, let's hear some more awesome rare/obscure stuff!

[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: Lunatique ]

[Icannon]

steve:
i like that samba song - it's growing on me quickly. even though it's not english, a lot of the words resemble english a bit, and the beat is great\powerful.

sensory:
inetersting .. that song actually started drivng me nuts - i guess because of the complexity of the beat (and i used to play drums) and its dominance of the tune.

luna:
that trancendental stuff was sweet. also, i loved 'driving force' - it's always cool to hear layered guitar work. trey gunn was hip, too.

and now for me. i'll introduce 2 jason becker clips. now, i believe this kid was and still must be lightyears out of his league.

the first song is performed by bobby mcferrin\voicestra after jason lost mobility. this song is downright brilliant - kind of like a lullaby, but much more interesting.
http://www.icannon.ca/other/higher.mp3

this next one is played by him (electric guitar). it's short, sweet and to the point. i still havn't heard as expressive guitar playing by any artist as was done by becker.
http://www.icannon.ca/other/rain.mp3

[Lunatique]

Good stuff!

The voice track was very refreshing, as it is not composed/arranged like your typical choir. The way the accompanying melody rises and drops is almost like it should've been electronically manipulated.

The guitar track is cool too. The effects on the guitar might've been a bit much, but the playing style is unique. I'm not familiar with Becker's work(I used to listen to Steve Vai, Satriani, and Buckethead). My favorite guitarists are currently: Johnny Marr, Edge, and unknown session players from Japan.

I'll be posting some more cool sheit, so those of you that have caught on to this fookin' awesome thread(I have a feeling most people have no idea what's going on in this thread we are having fun in), please download the mp3's I already posted, since I might take them down to make room for more stuff.

Hurry!