World Music Moment

In this new series I share with you my love of World music!

Being an English speaker, I mainly listen to, and was brought up with, music sung in the English language. I have always been fascinated however by the rhythms, language and variety of musical sounds from all over the world.

There is something universal about music that transcends language, time and culture.

My native tongue is a language whose expressive nature fits well for lyric writing, thus being a favourite with songwriters, and has been a prominent language of popular music in the last century for songs across the globe.
In English speaking countries however it is less common to find songs in other languages entering the main music stream. There are always exceptions of course!
Classical music lovers will regularly listen to lyrics sung in a variety of different languages.
The Celtic music scene utilises the Celtic languages of Irish, Scots, Welsh, Cornish and Breton along with the English. Traditional songs from many countries are sung in ancient languages such as Latin or Sanskrit.

All the songs I will include in any World Music Moment post are all songs I love. I do highly recommend you searching out the artists and the albums they have created.

Today here we have songs in French, Irish Gaelic and Turkish.


French

Raphael - Peut-être a-t-il rêvé?

Raphael is a singer, songwriter and musician from France. I have enjoyed the album 'Caravane' that this song is taken from since its release.






Irish Gaelic

Solas are an Irish-American band of mainly Folk-style music. The beautiful voice of singer Karan weaves throughout this tune.

 Solas - A Chomaraigh Aoibhinn O


 



Turkish


 maNga - Beni Benimle Birak 

maNga are a Turkish Rock band who mix rock music and rap styles. The band were the Runners--up in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest with their song 'We could be the same'.

Uplift your day

Kellianna's wonderful song 'I walk with the Goddess' is SO uplifting and joyful. It always gets my feet tapping and me singing along - perfect for summer fun!

Credit: Kellianna Music on YouTube 

Celtic Heaven

Recently I've been listening to some beautiful Celtic music I've come across. I loved both of these songs within the first 30 seconds!!
The first song below is by Celtic/Folk Metal band Eluveitie. However, this song is not Metal but a hautingly beautiful, timeless piece of Celtic/Folk music.
The second song is the rousing last track from Joanie Maddens album Songs of the Irish tin whistle. Enjoy!

Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position

This song always makes me feel happy as it's so cheerful and bouncy!

Medicine Buddha Mantra

Here is a beautifully sung and arranged version of a good healing mantra, the Medicine Buddha Mantra.
This also has a lovely and relaxing video with it, along with the words if you like to sing along. I enjoy singing this mantra very much!!
When I listen to/sing this mantra, I feel like I am soaring and freeing, which is a wonderful feeling to experience!

Hallowe'en creativity

For the last 5 years I have written regular email updates for the UK young peoples charity AYME ( www.ayme.org.uk ).
The emails are a cheery and informative newsletter which goes out twice a month to about 200 young people across the UK, who, like me, suffer from a severe form of the illness M.E.
The latest update went out in time for Hallowe'en.
However, not being able to find a good hallowe'eny poem to include, my mum said to me about writing one myself... so I did! Along with some timely input from my mum and dad hehe!
The three of us put our heads together and had a fun time bouncing around ideas... and here's the result!
I thought I'd share it on my blog aswell so you could all see it, and to help get you in the hallowe'en mood! Enjoy!


HALLOWEEN NIGHT
 
As the moon shines bright
in the cloud speckled sky,
 
An eeriness fills the air
as the ghouls float by,
 
The witch on her broom
with familiar by her side
 
While crones stir their cauldrons
in a graveyard close by.
 
Down in the streets
children play trick or treat
 
Unaware of the mist
beginning to swirl around their feet
 
And from the houses pumpkins shine,
devilish faces alight
 
Should we be scared?  Should we scream?
Things aren’t all they seem,
 
Beware on this Halloween Night!!
 
©Natalie Saxton 2010



And if you needed anything more to get you in the hallowe'en spirit, check-out this seasonal video of the beautiful song (and a favourite song of mine) Samhain night by Loreena Mckennitt! Happy Hallowe'en!!

Les Misérables 25th Anniversary

On the 3rd of October the 25th anniversary concert for Les Mis took place at the o2 arena. It looked like a great evening!
Here is Samantha Barks in the role of Eponine singing 'On my own'. I thought this performance was truly amazing. Sam's voice is just beautiful!