Revision as of 01:10, 22 December 2012

A longer list of my favourites

Classical music

1. The Deutsch Mark Is Coming, Tiersen.

As a representative of minimalism, I was initially thinking of Tiersen with a piece such as La Maison or La Démarche. I finally settled for The Deutsch Mark Is Coming (from Good Bye, Lenin!) until I finally decided to pick one from the real master of the genre, Philip Glass. More about this choice can be read in my blog.

Popular music

1. Garota de Ipanema, Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes

   (no excerpt yet but see here or here)

   This was replaced by Cálice, from Chico Buarque.

I wanted a Bossa Nova in my list, reflecting my love for the Brazilian language (not Portuguese but how it is pronounced on a continent where it found enough space to sing and resonate). There are many enchanting songs and Garota de Ipanema is surely their best representative. The song is even good when sung in English. But it's only with the Brazilian expression that it becomes alive.

The composition from Buarque does not fall in this category, but appeared to me superior in all aspects as the symbol for how Brazilian music speaks to me.

Other interesting (French) songs

Especially if you don't know them:

• Je chante by Les têtes raides, with a Brelian touch, that is, making prominent the combination of an elaborate text that stands by itself, with an imposing vocal interpretation.

• Jacobi marchait by CharlÉlie Couture. There is a nice and smooth overlap between the artist singing and speaking.

• la complainte du phoque en Alaska by Michel Rivard (beau dommage). It is as sad and deep as it is burlesque and ironic. It tells the story of a seal who went to pursue a career in a circus, coming to the agonizing conclusion that "it's not worth to leave one's loved ones, to spiral a ball on one's nose"~(fr).

• Foule Sentimentale by Alain Souchon, one of the artists from my childhood whose compositions didn't grow old and retain something more than nostalgic memories.

• Marcia Baila by Rita Mitsouko (Fred Chichin and Catherine Ringer), a highly aesthetic tribute to Marcia Moretto, a dancer and choreographer, former master of the Rita Mitsouko who honor her with a masterful display of the exercise. A beautiful line is suddenly shout at the face of everything and that, by itself, is enough to immortalize this song: "c'est la mort qui t'as assassiné Marcia"~(en).