Job Discussion Forums

basiltherat · Joined: 04 Oct 2003 Posts: 952

being abroad for lengthy periods means that we usually get plenty of opportunities to 'taste'the local music/songs/artists.
just wondering what people on this forum think of the local music/songs where you are.
do you now find it preferable to the music that you were/ere used to in your home country ?
how do they compare ?
im sitting here in the middle of syria's eastern desert listening to some really excellent lebanese songs by a lebanese artist named Alissa.
really enjoy it, even more than the stuff i get fed on the radio back in the uk
basiltherat

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

I confess that I've always been fairly narrow-minded about music... I can appreciate more "traditional" music, but as far as modern stuff goes, I definitely prefer the stuff I listened to back home.

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FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

Don't you find that your music from home becomes fossilized, and only the local music (or locally filtered international music) is updated?

Thank you Nomadder. Do you like my Avatar?

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

Okay, am I going to be the only one who confesses...Yes, I liked J-Pops when I was in Japan. Embarassed

Just a guy · Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 267 Location: Guangxi

It took me a bunch of years to actually like Hawaiian music when I moved there, the singing part, a lot of high pitched sounds, the instruments (actual music) were always good though.
Now, there are a lot of Miao folks influencing the local music, the Hawaiians couldn�t hold a candle to the high pitches these folk reach.
`I kina like it� �

but the popular music on radio & karaoke places I could pretty much do without�.
`if I had that choice.. Wink

..

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

I really loved the traditional music of China and Japan. I also like some music from Japanese anime. There are a few J-pop artists that I think have talent . . . but most all sound the same to me. I've developed an appriciation for Faye Wong, but I don't know if she counts.

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

Faye Wong count as what? I have her CD by the way. I got it in Japan. I played it for my Chinese students here in the USA. They said they couldn't understand a word whe was singing because it's Cantonese.

I also like Japanese traditional music. I love "Minyo" I wanted to join a Minyo group while I was in Japan but there weren't any. It's something I will take up when I go back to Japan.

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

I am afraid I can't say I really love Chinese music very much, but I do say I love the erhu, the pipa and similar instruments. There are modern pieces (pop music) that I do like even though I do not understand the lyrics (except the recurrent "wo ai ni"), and I do like some more traditional tunes as well.
But, on the whole, I prefer BeeGees and Beethoven a lot better than the average Chinese stuff!

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Being away from "back home" has the effect of fossilizing you in time. This applies to music as much as anything else. My knowledge of music in Britain seems to go up to around 1970something and then.................

It is the same with TV and other aspects of "culture".

Emigrants become stuck in time like Billy Pilgrim in "Slaughterhouse Five"

And another effect is that you pick up musical tastes that people "back home" think are downright weird.

Welcome to the life of being a TEFL exile. Some people never hack this and end up terminally weird. Others make the adjustment and survive.

yaramaz · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 6:07 am Post subject:

I didn't expect to like Turkish music, as I was expecting to be inundated with loud Arabesque pop wailing... but it is so much more diverse here than I could have ever imagined. The Turkish music industry is gleefully well rounded and self contained and open to a wide variety of influences-- for example, Athena does ska inflected with middle eastern quarter tones, Kardes Turkuler do really intense, lush pan-Turkic pieces that could be Native American mixed with Tibetan mixed with North African, Haluk Levent does pretty good straightforward rock with unexpected Turkish istrumentation, Duman is spooky and intense and fascinating, etc, etc. I have bought more amazing CDs since I moved here that I actually listen to regularly than I have for years, both traditional music and super contemporary music. Also, I'm totally hooked on the funky music they play in the clubs-- definitely Turkish but very very addictively funky. Very Happy

O, and no I don't like Tarkan.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

"Yorum" ! WOW ! That bowled me over when i first heard it.
Quite remarkable. My idea of Turkish music had been formed by what I had heard in Bulgaria. Of course the Turkish minority in Bulgaria are frozen in time. Pre-1923 as far as I can see !

I suspect that the Turkish minorities everywhere are a bit like that. I noticed one Bulgarian Turkish woman signing her name in Ottoman script ( ie in Arabic letters !)