Music Recs~

[sca_sethe]

Might we build a list of music recommendations for language learners needing to tune their ear? (Or is this considered against the rules?) I might also be a good idea if it were bookmarked and we can direct all queries to this post. And I can edit the post so that all suggestions are kept in the entry, and more readable.

And we could also do the

Comments

[lexabear]

I recently posted on another site when someone asked about Arabic singers. Here's my list:

I have no idea how these artists rate on the 'easy to understand' scale, but here are the Arabic-language people I would recommend:

Najwa Karam (Lebanon)

Amr Diab (Egypt)

Samira Said (Morocco/Egypt)

Khaled (Algeria)

Rachid Taha (Algeria -- has a great cover of Rock the Casbah)

Rim Banna (Palestine)

Amal Murkus (Palestine)

DJ Cheb i Sabbah (Algeria)

Cheb Mami (Algeria)

Nass El Ghiwane (Morocco)

Gnawa Diffusion (Algeria, also sings in Tamazight, French and English)

[sca_sethe]

Thank you so very much! :D

[qalanjo]

I think the Algerian and Moroccan ones are very hard to understand for someone who isn't specifically learning those dialects.

I agree about Najwa Karam, though : ) It's helpful to listen to her if you are learning Levantine dialects.

[shanrina]

French:
-MC Solaar. My personal favorites of his are Solaar Pleure and Hasta La Vista Mi Amor (actually, there are French and Spanish versions available for that one, but I don't know how good the Spanish is).
-Corneille. Actually I don't know much about him, but my mother's a French teacher and she really enjoys his songs. IIRC she's used them in her French classes a few times too.
-Some of the Disney movies actually have pretty good French-dubbed songs.

Turkish:
Tarkan. Kuzu Kuzu, Hup, and Bu Gece are some of my favorites.

Hindi:
-Specifically for getting experience with the causative, listen to "Khud Bhi Naachoongi" from the movie Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi. Not a great movie, but it's not a grammatical, er, thingy that really comes up much.

[graeco_celt]

Enya sings in Welsh? Since when?!

I've only ever heard her sing in English, Irish and Latin.

[graeco_celt]

You know what?
I just investigated a bit further and discovered that she has indeed sung in Welsh (as well as Fench, Spanish and at least one of Tolkien's languages).

So I stand corrected!

Guess I have to modify my original statement to "None of her albums I own have any Welsh songs on them". :)
(as far as I'm aware, I'm starting to doubt myself now!)

[qalanjo]

Nancy usually sings in Egyptian though. Yara sings a lot in Khaleeji dialect too. So it's a bonus if you can tell the differences :)

[el_plato_sucio]

You probably don't need any more French ones, but Indochine's stuff is really clear for the most part.

And for Slovak (which I don't speak but hope to one day) : Hex, Team, and Gladiátor all seem pretty easy to understand/are bands I really like to listen to