I just wanted to drop a note thanking Solar for releasing Solar Gamsung on tape (yes, I was one of the lucky ones to get it on first order), because that pushed me to clean up the cassette deck I had at home (yes, I’m the old person who still has a cassette player on hand).
Honestly, I thought my deck was busted, I remember testing it a while back and it stopped working. Today, I cleaned it up with alcohol; and though the automatic open/close is faulty as heck and the rewind/fwd doesn’t always work, it plays stuff. And today I listened to my dad’s voice in years. So thank you, Solar-ssi, for making me cry tonight.
My dad used to have a Karaoke bar in the 90s, and ever the music fan and Karaoke-owner, he liked to sing and record himself singing. LOL So now I have 42min. of him singing an array of 14 songs. He was, obviously, a very VERY big Miguel Bose fan. Though, honestly, I had never heard my dad singing (the Spanish version of) I Will Follow You xD Now I’ve finally transferred his tapes on mp3 to keep :) added him to my iTunes library, album cover and all~
Los Doltons’ version of El Ultimo Beso will always be a good memory of him.
I’ve just published a list of 100 songs in Chinese (mostly Mandarin, but also Cantonese… and maybe Hokkien… can’t be sure of that) that’s a great cheat sheet for anyone wanting to show off their knowledge of the scene. There’s definitely a wide variety of artists, so you’re sure to find something you enjoy.
You do probably know that my Hindi should suck, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping my iTunes library in order… which means I take all of the tracks from Indian movies that I’ve downloaded and try to give an English translation — after all, I should know, at least, what the title of a song means! That, of course, means that titles from hard-to-find movies/OSTs have to do with my own interpretation. One of them is Hu Tu Tu, because no one’s bothered to translate the songs… and my copy of the movie doesn’t come with subtitles in the sung parts.
Most of the titles are easy- Chhai Chhapa Chhai is classic onomatopoeic Gulzar (Jhini Mini Jhini from Maqbool gave me a clue), Jai Hind Hind (Hail, India!), Bandobast Hai (It’s the System), Ghapla Hai Bhai (It’s a Mess, Brother), and Jago Jago Jagte Raho (Get Up, Always Be Awake) seem quite straight forward. Even Yeh Nam Aankhein (These Drenched Eyes) can seem easy when compared to Itna Lamba Kash Lo Yaaron and Nikla Neem Ke Talese Nikla.
So what do those last titles mean?
I’ve sort of translated Itna Lamba Kash Lo Yaaron– since Itna refers to a Quantity (this much or so much), Lamba refers to the Length (height or otherwise), Kash means to Take a Puff or a Smoke (considering the scene), and Yaaron refers to Friends. I sorta translated it to It’s Such a Long Smoke, My Friend. And in the lyrics~
Itna lamba kash lo yaaron, dam nikal jaaye Zindagi sulagaao yaaron, gam nikal jaaye Yaaron, yaaron
Dam = (staying) Power
Nikal = Get out/get lost
Sulagaao/Sulagana = Ignite/set on fire
Gam = Regret
It’s such a long smoke, my friend.
Power, be gone.
Life is set on fire, my friend.
Regret, be gone.
How did I do with that?
Though, Nikla Neem Ke Talese Nikla escapes my comprehension. It doesn’t even look Hindi to me- oh, wait. Never mind. *goes crazy* Why is Talese together when it should be Tale Se? As in Nikla Neem Ke Tale Se Nikla (निकला नीम के तले से निकला) *growls*
Anyone ANYONE who is able to help me out with that title and make my life easier?- I’ll love you forever! LOL From the deep Google that I did, Nikla seemed to refer to “being out,” or “something that sticks out” and I know Neem can refer to the bitterness of the Neem tree [1] or the tree itself, and Tale is “the bottom or base of something” — Does that mean… The Bottom of the Neem Tree Turned Upside Down? LOL, I need to watch this movie again. xD
For the past year, my dad had become a really big Mayday fan. I think this happened right after watching the concert film Mayday 3DNA, he used to show it to his friends and carry the film as well as their discography on his USB ALL THE FREAKING TIME. When I retrieved his USB, he had the discography on.
So… as a means to remember him, I made a short playlist with some of their songs.
Unlike the Kpop list which it focused 99% of the time on dance pop friendly tracks that went beyond American commercial pop, this “Cpop” list is… not really pop.
Popular music in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China (but mostly Taiwan) tends to be pop/rockish flare. Sure there are dance pop friendly, but even they have moved or are moving more towards pop/rock. They also love indie flavor, and accept not particularly attractiveness in their idols… even though there are some very good looking people who are immensely popular.
To be completely honest, compared to Korea’s pop music charts, Chinese music charts have a broad variety. But then again, compared to Japan’s pop music charts (which is comprised of AKB48 and Arashi xD), even Kpop charts (mostly 2NE1 and Big Bang now that DBSK is gone) seem to have some variety. xD
So this list of great Chinese music includes varying genres from R&B, pop/rock… more rockish, ballads (regular and of the indie type), etc. once again listed by year of release.
Again, it’s a bit weak on the earlier years… but you are welcome to make suggestions (for any year). A few guidelines would be that they cannot be too indie (I couldn’t fit Cheer Cheen or Mavis Fan in the list because they don’t feel completely pop, if you know what I mean), must include MVs (so songs released as singles), not older than late 90s.
Also… song must work as MV too. So no awesome songs but tacky videos. Sorry.
