Do foreign vocalists ruin your prog experience?

I used to have an English-only criteria too...growing up in the US, including buying music from Wal-Mart and listening to your parents' classic rock stations will have that effect.

Then I heard Harmonium, PFM, and Area, and the English-only criteria was a thing of the past. 

I guess you can't blame people too much for what they don't know...and I have to say that ProgArchives does a great job of educating and opening minds.

To add to my previous post, I suppose that there is something to be said about "ignorance is bliss".  Listening to something when I don't know what is being sung is kind of odd.  I mean for all I know a band could be singing "I wanna be a terrorist because terrorism is great and I am so happy that those planes crashed into the Twin Towers".  Or "dog poop, dog poop tastes so great, dog poop, dog poop, I just can't wait".  Probably best that I don't know what is being sung, but I would feel awfully silly on the day that I find out that is what is being sung.  Along with, of course, the typical "Stupid Americans". 

This thread reminded me that  I do listen to some non English speakers (or singers):

Harmonium's vocalist may be the best part about that band, Serge or something (I feel stupid for not knowing this)

Boredoms' vocals: I'm not sure these are Japanese, English, or any language at all sometimes (I hear "Vision Creation Newsun" chanted though) but the vocals SOUND Japanese, and it works perfectly for them

for non prog:

Boris' vocals aren't anything to call home about, but they get the job done, and are quite fitting and sometimes relaxing, like on Rainbow (I'm not 100% sure all the lyrics are in Japanese but it sure sounds like it)

Rammstein....admittedly don't really listen to them that often, but the German edge adds something sinister to their music that would fall completely flat if it were just plain English...apparently one should not desire to know what their songs are about

profanatio wrote: Hey guys, I've been reading a lot of reviews on this site and a lot of CD's are getting 4 and 5 stars that have female vocalists, german vocals, italian vocals, Spanish vocals etc... I sincerely wish I could be that accepting and get beyond it but I really seem to need my Prog sung in english. No matter how good the music is, as soon as the non english vocals come in it drops the whole vibe for me. Perhaps I haven't heard the right stuff? How do you guys feel about it? Do you actually seek out foreign vocals or do you just endure it in order to have good music?

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - December 17 2007 at 00:42

Ghost Rider wrote: Well, perhaps I'm not the right person to ask... Even though I don't like Italians who sing in English if they have a thick accent, I do think you speakers of English should try to be a bit more open-minded. I don't mean to sound judgmental or even confrontational, but as a speaker of five languages, and one who has met people from all over the world throughout her life, this attitude (though I am quite sure it is not conscious) smacks just a little bit of chauvinism.

I'd like to change my answer.  If I'm listening to a prog cd in my car and somebody pulls up next to me playing a Shakira CD louder than mine; then yes, a foreign vocalist would be ruining my prog experience.

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: Tapfret wrote: I'd like to change my answer.  If I'm listening to a prog cd in my car and somebody pulls up next to me playing a Shakira CD louder than mine; then yes, a foreign vocalist would be ruining my prog experience.   I agree, and if I'm listening Los Jaivas, Frágil, Flor de Loto or La Maquina de Hacer pájaros in my car  and somebody pulls up next to me playing a Eminem, MC Hammer, Celine Dion or N'Sync CD louder than mine, then yes a foreign vocalist  will also be ruining my Prog experience.   Iván

profanatio wrote: Lyrics conjure imagery. Very important in prog music! Otherwise why not just sing Dee dee doo doo dah dah dee throughout the songs since its just the music thats important?

I'm a native german speaker living in Switzerzland. I do talk to people also in French, Spanish and English. I once tried to learn Russian, but failed.

The whole thread is very interesting because I can understand the thread starter quite well. When I listen to a german rock group singing in English I feel mostly bad. It gives me some weird feeling. If they sing in German it's ok. The same I feel with other languages. When Italian sing English I got problems to like it. When they sing in their native language, I like it.  It's crazy: I'm not a native English speaker.

I think this is due to the fact that a person that cannot pronounce and use a certain language properly is identified as an "alien". It is a person that wants to intrude into a cultural domain that this person is not belonging to. And this is supposed to raise such a strange (!) perception of the music as a whole. It is difficult to accept someone beforehand who is not speaking a language properly. This may cause  the feeling of somebody  who wants to creep in our own culture. This is what a foreigner would do  in the first place when starting to speak to us. It has always that tinge of being suspect. We can call that "xenophobia" , the fear of the stranger. It's - I guess - a pretty normal behaviour of us all.

But this rule is out of work for me when listening to the Beatles or Peter Gabriel. When they sing in English - I accept it immediately. English has always been a language with high prestige. For a German it comes from the post war trauma. We hated ourselves, but we liked everything coming from America or England, because they were winners and helped us getting on our feet again.

The Beatles recorded 2 songs in German ("She loves you" (Sie liebt dich) and "I wanna hold your hand" (Komm gib mir deine Hand). Though it sounds not completely German (the translation is slightly odd and the voices have English accent) we all liked it very much. It was a good feeling that someone had chosen our language. Ok, they wanted to make money. But it also was a friendly statement. And this is what raised the sympathy in our ears. For me it sounded positive. - 

Peter Gabriel recorded at least 2 albums completely in German. It sounded well to my ears despite the somehow awkward accent. But I liked Gabriel beforehand as a magic singer of Genesis. So it didn't bother me at all to listen to his German accent. He was accepted because he was successful earlier. And he got sympathy therefore.

And this might be a clue to understand this thread: there must be sympathy to accept someone's vocals, especially when not native. And: you need a lot of time to get acquainted to many languages. For us Germans all the eastern idioms are hard to digest, because of the different language familiy. Russian sounds very strange to us. But the more I keep touch with people from there the more I find the sound of the language appealing to me (I got to know a female russion opera singer recently). The personal link makes the sense. This  process  has to be continued. Of course I actually know that any other culture is as good as my own. The problem is only to accept it.

And perhaps there music can be a link between different nations and cultures. We have to get to know them ! The faster the better.

Since my English has grown better I also enjoy more the lyrics of Rock songs. It gives me a richer understanding of the music. "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles has always been a song that I didn't appreciate very much. But now - thanks to the new release on "Love" with the chamber orchestra from the very start  - I follow the phrases much better than before. And I love this song now. Very strange.

Just my two cents to the old prejudice, that woman don't like Prog:

it seems to be true.  But I can't find the reason for that. There is a kind of wall for women  that separates music in to two parts: the agreeable and the unagreeable. It is sometimes a special sound (Moog Synthy or guitar sound) that pushes them out of the field, or a heavy rythm.  Of course this would change if they would be accustomed to that stuff earlier in life. But my observation is that they tend more to melodic and harmonic music. Perhaps it is due to the genes. But I suppose it's due to the education. Even if it is due to the genes: why should we all be the same? The difference is appealing. Do you men like buying shoes every day?

A.

As I said earlier, please do not make this a political thread.

 

The original poster said that he preferred his prog in English because that was his first language. The question he asked though was "Do foreign vocalists ruin your experience."

The word "foreign" means from a country other than your own. The quesiton is not do you prefer your lyrics in English, it is do you prefer them in your own language.