Wednesday 16 January 2008

MUSIC LOVERS OF THE WORLD UNITE

There are very few people who are indifferent to music, like Captain Hornblower of the Royal Navy. And his excuse was to be tone deaf.

What amazes me however is the wide variation of music itself and what people consider to be wonderful (cool in neoworld language) and what this or that kind of music means to them.

For instance: my father-in-law used to start into annual vacation a little after midnight, because there was less traffic. In order to stop him from dozing off while driving he usually switched to Arabic music. "Keeps me awake", he said and never more about this subject.

Years ago, I saw an Indian movie "Jalsaghar- The Music Room" from Satajit Ray. Basically, it was about an impoverished Indian prince who loved music and dancers but had to sell some valuables in his palace in order to hire both for a performance. Somewhere during the action he hears in the distance an Indian "oompah" band playing a kind of marching music. He says something like: "everything is going down the drain, now they even play this crappy music from Europe". For him, European music was that, badly played, badly chosen, barbaric. By the way, the Indian music and dancing in this film is splendid.

As to me, I know what I like and what I dislike. However, I am totally unable to explain this. The longer you discuss the subject the more you get off the mark.

What you are invited to listen to here is certainly a YouTube sideline but give it a try nevertheless.

Meet Margret Almer, she is a yodler, a real good one. Having heard her first time, I jumped at Amazon to get the CD. But there is a difference to see her performing. When I play YouTube on the PC, my wife comes and listens with a smile though she does not understand German: "joyful music", she says, "heartwarming".

Hope you like it, too. If not, well, don't make any bones out of it, nothing personal, just rot in peace.



To know more about her, I had a look at Wikipedia. She won prices at Austrian and German folk festivals and published three CD's. But she never made a breakthrough. She is currently working at the Austrian Postal Administration. Sad, isn't it?






My blogger friend Vinod Sharma from New Delhi sent me this Yodel song from India. That's called intellectual outsourcing.

http://www.allpunjabi.com/songs/6229/Main_Hoon_Jhoom_Jhoom_Jhumroo.html

11 comments:

  1. i don't know that there is a big market for yodelers in todays world :) she is lovely with a lovely voice. there have been several cases in uk and america of unknowns being discovered through contests and whatnot- classical usually. there was a tenor most recently- i want to say from ireland. i know what you mean about having a particular taste in music though. when i was growing up in the 1980's- everyone listened to the heavy metal hair bands here. i listened to genesis and chicago :) rock music for sure but not what other kids were listening to.

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  2. Bonjour Betmo,

    Well, I don't think she will be able to make a fortune in the Americas.

    No, yodel music is in a corner (a tiny one). On the other hand, reading the comments in YouTube, it must be said that they come from several continents. And in Germany we have even a Japanese , Takeo Ishi, who is a famous yodeler in several countries, Japan included.

    By the way, I had a look at those two you were mentioning:
    Genesis - Land of Confusion
    Chicago - If you leave me now (1976)

    Genesis is very funny. They remind me a bit that heavy metal horror group from Finland that was winning the Europe singing contest in 2006. I cannot remember their name.

    Georg

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  3. Betmo,

    The name of the Finn group is
    LORDI.

    G.

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  4. Hi Georg,

    The lady sure has a very melodious, soulful voice...it is sad that she did not make it big. These are the strange ironies of life which defy rational understanding.

    Perhaps she lost heart, may be she was not focussed enough. But, unless she's grown too old, she can make it if she does not give up.

    By the way, in India we had a great film playback singer, Kishore Kumar, who was an outstanding singer and yodeler. I used to fancy myself doing it like him till a road accident damaged one of my vocal chords...I can no longer sing at high pitch or yodel anymore.

    As you said, music is music, no matter in which language. India has moved a long way from the days of Satyajit Ray. These days, western and western type pop music is the rage! I have always enjoyed it; my first exposure was through 'The Beatles'. Over the years, I have enjoyed the music of many pop icons.

    Classical music, both western and Indian, is good too but I enjoy the less complicated melodious stuff more most of the time.

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  5. Hallo Sharma,

    Could you name me a YouTube yodeler from India? I would really like to hear this.

    Till now, I always thought to yodel is a typical Germanic activity. Coffee Messiah told me, he heard yodeling cowboys. I'll ask him for more details.

    Cheers
    Georg

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  6. That lady probably has a yodel diploma:
    http://www.myvideo.de/watch/2711282

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  7. Hallo Tilman,


    das ist tatsächlich Klasse. Erste Klasse. Holla ri dudeldi.

    Georg

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  8. Hi Georg, thanks for dropping by. I respondeed to yoru comment. I also left you this link for info about the origine of the art work.

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  9. Hi Georg,

    I don't know if there is one on You Tube.

    But I have found an old song sung by the legendary Kishore kumar. Although the site says it is about Punjabi songs, this is a Hindi film song sung by him in the sixties. Here he yodels a lot. Listen to it right till the end.

    http://www.allpunjabi.com/songs/6229/Main_Hoon_Jhoom_Jhoom_Jhumroo.html

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  10. Gruezzi! I love the clip. She's great! :o) Never really heard yodeling before... I think my only previous encounter was a compromised version in the film, The Sound of Music... where Maria and the kids put up a puppet show while singing 'The Lonely Goatherd'. :o)

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