Coldplay's "Viva la vida" is a great song - but why ?

It is simple and thus many people on Youtube play it and sing it and even teach tutorials how to play it. Why is this ?

1) The hammering sound is made of very few accords and thus very simple and this actually makes it powerful, in fact it carries the song.

2) These few accords are kinda brutal.

3) They talk to the archaic, the most ancient part of our brain, to our earliest instincts: It talks about a stormy world where we withstand the winds that are blowing our face. The hammering is actually showing both things at the same time: The strength of the storm and the repetition of the beat is showing the resistance of us standing in this storm not letting us being blown away but encounter the storm. Well, that's just my interpretation.

4) The artists voice in this song is kinda understated, maybe by intention, maybe by accident, maybe for other reaons, but the lyrics hammer out the same message that the archaic music tells:

(Free repetition:) "I was sent to earth, the first man, the one who came to rule the world. But I didn't do well as a king, not even as a prophet, I overestimated my powers and was displaced from my post by some higher forces."

Actually the band name Coldplay fits into this scenario pretty well: "An unimotional (cold) description of the protagonist of the song being set into this world and describing his way of life from a distant point of view.

There is an artist named xcaroolyn (search for her on youtube) who intensifies (interprets) the message of the song even more than Coldplay themselves do. And I think she is totally right about the stricter accentuation of the hammering sound, so I recommend listening to her interpretation of Viva la Vida on Youtube.

About the the death of the winning Blue Ray Disc

In my point of view, the Blue Ray Disc is actually dead. The movies in Germany are still too expensive.

NEC, Microsoft, Toshiba, Intel, IBM und Hewlett Packard had formed the HD-consortium to promote the HD standard.

The all deceisive question however is: Why should one buy a mechanical disc with a movie or software on it when all stuff could actually better be stored on a USB-stick ? Since the 8 GB sticks are out and other non-mechanical memory devices surely on their way, why should one use an antique mechanical disc system ?

The only reason seems to be for copy protection purposes. I wonder if that is a sufficient reason to become a successful product ?

Maybe a small company who builds a copy protection into a USB stick will be the final winner ? If I were in electronics, I'd bet on that.

Discovery of Lea Salonga

Yesterday I discovered Lea Salonga on YouTube.com
Lea Salonga is a Musical singer, currently singing on Broadway, New York.

Actually I had discovered her in 2001 but didn't pay attention at that time.

Another singer, Leah delos Santos, was having a rehearsal on a plaza in Berlin (Germany) in 2001 while I was having a walk and was passing by. The singing caught my attention and I took a break and became interested in the songs. I did some internet research later on and came across the name Lea Salonga, too (due to the similarity of names).

However, I did not know anything specific about Lea Salonga apart from some sound recordings that I found on that occasion and which did not please me too much at that time since the live experience of Leah delos Santos had impressed me more.

Now yesterday evening by chance I came across Lea Salonga again on YouTube. I had the chance to watch a video of her first major audition on the Phillipines in 1989 when she was 18:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd0xyePzdGA

It seemed to me that she just saw the song Sun and moon that evening for the first time at the grand piano with Claude-Michel Schönberg, the composer. The song belongs to the musical Miss Saigon which refers to the Vietnam war and came out in 1989, the year of the audition.

Actually I hadn't known that the guy at the grand piano was Claude-Michel Schönberg but guessed correctly that he was the composer which I found today when I checked it on wikipedia.de

What totally smashed me however was, how professional Lea Salonga behaved even though she was only 18. But I guess after being in business for about 10 years you learn that. (She started singing about 7 as she said in one of her interviews). I never could have done what she did when I was her age.

She was even so cool to ask Claude-Michel Schönberg for an autograph before she started singing. Of course, I guess she wanted to show that she knew his previous works and probably flatter him a bit, too, thereby making him be more patient in case of lapses.

But on the other hand she really showed how cool she was even just a few seconds before an all decesive audition. Maybe that impressed those guys there, too?

Meanwhile, Lea Salonga is married and has a baby daughter. She married in 2004 and got her baby daughter last year in May 2006. Currently in 2007 she is on Broadway again

My personal wishes for Lea Salongas future are that
* she keeps some of her natural determination
(that she showed in her first audition for Miss Saigon)
* she stays real,
* she stays cool,
* she does not get envious or jealous on other performers who are younger 'cause it would destroy the purity of her heart and make it opaque.

I think she overacted a bit in Inside the Academy (PDA Phillipine TV Academy soap?) where she kinda obviously seemed to play the role of a mother which she actually became in 2006.
I would say that people don't expect her to play the role of a mother - just being a mother would be sufficient from my point of view.

---------------------------------------------------------
Audition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd0xyePzdGA
Inside Academy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n-WRjv0VHc
Biography: http://www.filipinoweb.com/leasalonga.html
Biography: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0758964/

End of discovery.

The lost letter in "Ubi Caritas"

Today I would like to tell a story to the dear reader of a programmatic song called "Ubi Caritas"
(Where there is charity).

Once upon a time something dramatic happened to this song: 'Cause after weeks of work on the lyrics, one night, the night before the writer of the lyrics wanted to carry the finished lyrics to the printing shop, he actually died.

Sadly, a wind blew through the open window that night, too, and the lyrics got blown to the slightly dirty floor.

Luckily enough, the writer had told his friend about the finished lyrics before and so the paper was found and finally published.

And you could say, in those days, it became kind of a hit.

However, because the original paper was blown to the dirty floor, a letter was covered by some dirt making it look as if the letter was being crossed out.

The letter that got "crossed out" was an "s" actually.

Because of this, the true meaning of the song got actually lost: The lyrics as they were published were:


"Ubi caritas et amor, ubi caritas, deus ibi est."
Thats Latin and it actually means:
"Where there is charity and love,
where there is charity, there is god."

Not bad but actually not as devine as the original meaning:

"Ubi caritas est amor, ubi caritas, deus ibi est."
The translation of this is:
"Where there is charity, there is love,
where there is charity, there is god."

And this means that...
where there is charity, there is god
and...
love is god (and god is love).

Do you realize the difference? Pretty powerful the difference, huh?

Well, normally fairy tales have a happy end. This one obviously doesn't. But I do hope that one day, the lost "s" is rediscovered.

But until that day, let's keep ourselves aware that
god is love because god shows charity.

Robbie Williams - Intensive care

The latest album of Robbie Williams
is called Intensive Care.

I just listened to the album commercials on TV
and thought: Dang, ain't this Sting singing ??

THIS COWBOY SONG
Performed by Sting
Written by Sting
Courtesy of A&M Records, Inc.

from the movie Terminal Velocity from 1994

Embarrassing.

Sampling is ok but then the album title should rather say:

Sting
featuring Robbie Williams

The music of Teresa Teng

I got to know the music of Teresa Teng when I was watching a 1996 Hong-Kong-Chinese love movie called Tian mi mi (English title: Comrades, almost a love story, German title: Hong Kong Love Affair).

You'll probably listen to some of Teresa Teng's most favourite songs (Tian mi mi and others) when visiting a Chinese restaurant. Teresa Teng used to be a very famous singer in the chinese community.

It is said that Teresa Teng had been just as well famous in Japan. This is pretty surprising as she had to start from scratch when she arrived in Japan.

I think Teresa Teng must have been a lady with a lot of style from what I heard. It seems that she was a sensitive person and walked her life for whatever reasons on a pretty small ridge.

As it seems, there was no one to accompany her on her walk there.

I think every sensitive person deserves to be accompanied by a comrade.

Which brings me back to the movie Tian mi mi.

Reaching our hearts

Today I made an interesting observation about band singers.
Actually, I made this interesting observation in combination with an additional observation that I did yesterday.

The thing was: Yesterday evening I was listening to a live concert of a pretty known pretty new German band called Silbermond (Silvermoon), http://www.silbermond.de. The female singer was very communicative even picking one guy with a fan T-Shirt out of the audience and inviting him onto the stage for a while.

However, generally the audience was treated like a body, i.e. spoken to as "you guys here in...". Unfortunately (and probably understandable), this is pretty usual and one has no right to lament on this.

What made this interesting, however, was that the singing was - well - _allright_, possibly even good if you'd been a fan of that band.

Now, today I was visiting another concert of a local Big Band, http://jass-concert-band.de. They were performing very skillfully. The female singers were rotating and their singing extremly well.

Their voices were just great. No supporting music needed, they hit the tones. They faded, they rose, they were so technically good. Them being your pilots and your plane would never crash.

However, one interesting aspect caught my eye:

Neither of the band singers (not yesterdays, not todays) really reached the hearts of the audiences. Nor did they even try.

Of course, one might say: Well, why should they want to get to your heart ? All right: But isn't that what's music is about ? In my honest opinion music is not mainly a profession or for fun: It's for getting in contact with our feelings. So, in my point of view, these great singers just missed a chance, a chance to become immortal, a chance to leave a trace.

But why did they fail to reach the hearts of the audience and what could they have done to take advantage of the situation and top their performances by really getting through to the hearts of the listeners ?

Let's look at the singers of todays Big Band: These singers were totally balanced and listenening to themselves, very concentrated, very inwardly directed. They could play with their voices, let it steplessly fade or rise and highlight certain tones. But just the sounds actually left their lips.

No look for the world around really, never showing that they were aware that there is a world outside of their heads.

What they didn't do is: At no point of time did they try to play with their voices in direction to the audiences. So, I think that's the answer: To take the audience for serious.

If you're an experienced and balanced singer, this should be possible for you.

The feeling I had was: The female singer, let's call her Susi, bridged a gap of air of about 95%. Of course, the sound got ahead but not the feeling. Too bad, as it just would have needed a little push.

The second singer, let's call her Lena, in that regard was worse: The air behaved like foggy cotton to her voice. The emeotions got stuck and were sucked away some 80% past her lips. And again I'm not talking about the sound here but just about the emotional aspects.

My personal conclusion is:

• The singers were not aware of this emotional gap.

• The rest of the audience did not realize this gap (and therefore gave inadequate feedback to the singers).

• The audience was polite.

• The audience was not used to and prepared for receiving emotional broadcasts from a singer.

• My own perception might have been incorrect.

• I was too critical.

• I saw possibilities that nobody was really interested in sending nor receiving.

• The singers didn't want to build an emotional thread to the audiences hearts.

To make my point a little clearer:
Imagine you were a singer: Would other people be able to hear your singing from a distance ?
How far does your voice carry ? 1 meter, 2 meters, 10 meters ?
Can you vary the distance that you want your voice to carry ?
Do you know what I mean ?
Can you point your voice to certain points in the room ?
Can you talk to a single person in the crowd over a distance of 10 meters ?

The answer is: Of course you can !
Ever tried to shout at someone on the other side of the train station ?
Ever tried to talk to someone on the other side of the river ?
How did you do it ? By the power of your voice ?
Or possibly by the clarity and focus of your voice ?
That's what I mean.
Talking to the needle in the crowd.

I think, a singer should be able to use his voice like a tool and also should use this ability. For his own sake and immortality and for the joy of his/her audience.

Jump with Paul Anka

On Saturday (March 19th 2005, 8:15 PM) I watched Die Hit Giganten (The Hit Giants) on SAT1 (a German Private TV channel), a show about songs from the 1960s.

Paul Anka was performing a swing version of Van Halen's Jump.

When Van Halen sang: GO AHEAD, JUMP !
Paul Anka sang: Go ahead, jump ?!?
It was so funny !!

Van Halen jumped from a plane.
Paul Anka jumped from a stool.

Paul Anka: Rock Swings

That's called understatement !

Or in other words: Swing rocks.

To tell someone off

There was a Bavarian dialect expression in the lyrics of Zruck zu dir (Hallo Klaus) that I wasn't sure about. So, I looked it up at Google. It's actually a sweet expression, sounds pretty tenderly wheras its true meaning is in fact not that sweet.

The line was:
'Dann heng i eam gschwind no a Goschn an'.

The expression within is:
'a Goschn anhenga' (Bavarian dialect) = 'jemandem die Meinung sagen' (German)

You can see a pretty common Grammar demand here, too:
In German many verbs are cut into two halfes if used in a sentence.
anhenga is a verb and it actually means to attach sth.
As you can see, it is cut into the two halfes an and henga.

I had translated it with 'back talk at him' which was quite right. However, a slightly better translation probably would have been 'to tell someone off'.

The literal translation of 'a Goschn anhenga' would have been:
'to attach a yap/mouth to someone'.

Just for fun: Here are the other words of that Bavrian dialect line and their literal translation into German and English:

Bavarian	German	English
dann	dann	then
anhenga	anhängen	to hang/attach sth.
i	ich	I
eam	ihm	him
gschwind	(geschwind)/schnell	fast/quickly
no	noch	'additionally'
a	eine	a
goschn	Maul/Mund	yap/mouth

Lyrics of "Zruck zu dir"

Following is a free translation of the lyrics.
The prehistory is here: A song came back to me

*******************************************

Hallo Klaus (I wü nur zruck)

[Woman singing]
I don't know what had happened, I guess he'd been boozed again,
maybe I complained, maybe I angered him...' don't know anymore.
To talk hooey.. he loves a lot and I don't keep back either,
I quickly back talk at him and we both act up.
It's been more than a week now, can't stand it anymore - without him,
I'll call him now and when he answers the phone, I'll tell to him:
Hi Klaus...

• I wonna come back to u, I just wonna come back to u !
• Can u forgive me once more, I have much, so much to rue.
• I realized: I was a fool, I just wonna come back to u.
• I wonna come back to u, I just wonna come back to u !
• I realized: I was a fool, I just wonna come back to u.

I can't live like that, can't keep my balance,
I can't stand it, I wonna give in,
At daytimes I go mad, at nighttimes I'm awake,
I snivel so much that my eyes are swollen.
Allright, I'll buck up, I won't care about pride,
I'll call him now in my pain.
He won't call for sure since he doesn't have a heart,
but I'm simply not made from wood.
My hands are shaking as I dial his number, hopefully he'll be at home.
I tell to him: Hi Klaus ! It's me, your mouse !
...in a moment I think I'm dreaming: [Man singing]

• I wonna come back to u, I just wonna come back to u !
• Can u forgive me once more, I have much, so much to rue.
• I realized: I was a fool, I just wonna come back to u.
• I just wonna come back to u, I just wonna come back to u!
• I realized: I was a fool, I just wonna come back to u.

7 inch record:

A song came back to me

I was watching ski-jumping on channel 1 (ARD) during lunch today. I didn't realize at once but then some tantalising sounds crept into my ears from the background of the transmission and made me desintegrate onto the floor into some molecular residuals. Initially I couldn't assemble the single audible snatches which made me pretty nervous as the song - where these heavenly sounds belonged to - could end any second.

I didn't listen anymore to what this annoying reporter was talking about in the foreground. I know, he was just doing his job... but hell... couldn't he be a bit more sensitive??!

I continued my quest by trying to understand some lyrics but was't very successful under the circumstances described. I couldn't even figure out if it was English that this woman was singing or if it was German. For all you guys out there who ain't owners of a German tongue: Of all songs to be on the air I would estimate that at least a share of 60% is sung in English.

However... after some more enthralling seconds I was able to recognize some German snaches. Well... sort of to be correct... it was just a kind of German.

Do you guys have many dialects in your countries?? Well, we're having at least 5 major dialects out there (Bavarian, Swabian, Saxon, Hessian and Low German). Most of them can be understood more or less well, especially if they're spoken in their moderated form. For not to produce any misunderstanding: Normally these dialect speaking people just do this extensively at home or in the countryside. So... no problem to get your beer speaking normal German anywhere in Germany.

The heavenly sounds that reached my conchas was a kind of moderated 'Bavarian'. Lucky me!! Other than a moderated Bavarian poses a real challenge to every common German ear, meaning: You wouldn't understand a single word of it !!

The rest of the story is quickly told: I picked up some words... (which were "i will nur z'ruck zu dir"), threw it into www.google.de and there we are: The title of the song is I wü nur zruck (in common German: Ich möchte zurück (zu dir)), translated into English it's I just wanna be back (together with you). Its alternative moronic title is Hello Klaus (...no comment about this idea).

Ok... sounds pretty corny doesn't it??! Well... that's the secret of these damned moderated dialects... they sound just so sweet you know??! They might tell to you: "You're an asshole" but to your ears it sounds as if they say: "You're a cool dirty guy, you know!" Dang !! They turn a reasonable thinking person into a fool. Strange, isn't it??

The song was originally sung by a man and a woman called Nickerbocker and Biene back in 1982. 'Biene' means 'Bee' or 'Chick'. They alternate in singing which makes really sense and well... is so great, you know?!

Singer, year & title:
Nickerbocker and Biene, 1982: Hallo Klaus (I wü zruck)