Showing posts with label music videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music videos. Show all posts

Monday, July 2, 2012

Music Videos - Was es ist by MIA, and Das alles ist Deutschland by Fler, and plus more!!

So after being tortured by old Heino tapes for most of my childhood (sorry to those who may actually be a fan), I finally found the first modern German song I actually LIKED in the summer of 2010, when I studied in Strobl, Austria. Sabine, my awesome German tutor, thought that a cool and interactive way to get us used to hearing more colloquial as well as more poetic German was by listening to contemporary music sung in German. The first song she played for us that summer was "Was es ist," by MIA., a pop/rock band from Berlin. Here is the music video below, but I have a bit more to say on the song.

(don't you love her mullet, by the way?)

Anyway, "Was es ist," is based off of a 1983 poem by Erich Fried of the same name. The interesting thing is,  Fried wrote a love poem, while the song "Was es ist" is much more political. Here is a snippet from the above-linked Wikipedia page of MIA.:

2003 saw the band being heavily criticized for their song "Was es ist" ("What it is"), released on an EP of the same title. The lyrics, based on a reference to Erich Fried's 1983 love poem of the same name, featured romantic references to Germany and the colours of the German flag, topics that due to Germany's difficult history, especially the 'Third Reich'-era, many political leftists and especially Anti-Germans consider forbidden territory. MIA. claim the song was meant to provoke a discussion about Germany as a home and as a place to change and design. Furthermore, they consider themselves politically on the left.

You can even hear the German nationalism in the lyrics. "Fragt man mich jetzt woher ich komme. Tu ich mir nicht mehr selber Leid," which I translate to, "Someone asks me from where I come from. I don't feel sorry (for myself) anymore."

But is German nationalism in a song really "forbidden territory" ? Here is another song by the German rappers Fler and Bushido (for an interesting story, look up the feud, and later reconciliation, which this song is supposed to represent, between the two!). It's calle "Das alles ist Deutschland," and while it takes the approach of multiculturalism, it also is about one's love of their home nation, Germany. It's an interesting topic to consider. As a student of history, I know nationalism has shaped many countries, Italy and Germany being prime European examples. It certainly, however, is not a thing of the past.


Monday, June 25, 2012

Music Video - Nein Mann by Laserkraft 3D

I couldn't resist this one! Two years ago, I found this song at the top of the Austrian music charts, and it has been following me on my German adventures ever since. I played it once for my German class in the USA, and most of the Americans were bewildered that Germans/Austrians called this "music." (This is coming from a country where "Call Me Maybe" is currently the top reigning single...)

"Nein Mann" is actually a really good music video for those at an introductory German level. The people speak clearly and slowly, and the pictures help! And now, if I'm ever at a club and I'm the only one who doesn't want to leave, I'll know what to say...




By the way, there IS an English version out there...watch it at your own peril. I thought it was terrible :(

Friday, June 22, 2012

Music Video - Halt dich an mir fest by Revolverheld

Remember how I said not all German music I knew was party music? Prime example right here! Here is a love song called "Halt dich an mir fest," which means "Hold on to me tight" or "Cling to me." It's a pretty basic music video, but Johannes Strate's and Marta Jandova's voices are quite good, and it's a pretty emotional song.

As one of the top commentators on the YouTube page says--and I wholeheartedly agree--this song proves that German isn't as harsh or angry-sounding as all of the movies and memes lead us to believe. It can actually be quite soft and beautiful.




More about Revolverheld here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolverheld_(Band)
More about Marta here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_Jandov%C3%A1

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Music Video - Disco Pogo by Die Atzen

So I figured something else I can do is share the music videos of various German/Austrian/Swiss songs that I know and/or like. I would  have to say more often than not, the German music in my iTunes consists mostly of (often silly) party music, but do not let that shape your opinion of all German music! At least I am not posting Heino :P If there are any songs YOU think people should see on here, write in the comments!

I thought it would be fitting that the first music video I post would be the song that this blog is named after, as well as one of the most popular party songs in the German-speaking world: Disco Pogo! I have studied abroad in both Germany and Austria, and I swear, this song was playing at every party and club, sometimes more than once in the night!