World songs
At the end of each session we share songs from our respective places of origin, we talk about the lyrics and the feeling that causes us.
China
Pop music. She is a very good singer that creates soft melodies with a lot of power.
Guatemala
This song is a Tango performed by the Guatemalan singer Gaby Moreno and the British Hugh Laurie, who besides of being a musician is the principal actor of one of the series House.
This song is in Spanish and English and it's about love. Hope you like it!
Turkey
Turkish folk song.
Spain
This song talks about the economic crisis of Spain. The crises has made thousands of families homeless. The song has become a hymn against evictions, bad banking policies and political corruption.
Czech Republic
There are still speculations, what is the song about, if there are any allusions about totality and socialist era in the Czech Republic. The song itself is about a person who dies, friend of the narrator, who wishes he could be a little boy again so that they could play together.
Brasil
Noel Rosa is one of the first and most important samba composers, and he was born in the same neighborhood as me (Fernanda) in Rio de Janeiro. The lyrics are very funny as it illustrates the bohemian essence of the sambistas in the 1930-40s.
South Korea
She is singing about a breakup. There is hope and pain in the lyrics. Listing this music helped me to feel comfortable.
Italy
This italian song talks about two soldiers, one in front of the other fighting for a war that they can't understand.
" Sleep buried in a wheat field Is not rose, is not tulip. Sitting up with you from ditches shadow. But are a thousand of red poppies..."
Iran
Salām-e Shāh was the royal and national anthem of Persia (Iran) between 1873 and 1909. Alfred Jean Baptiste Lemaire composed this anthem in 1873 on the orders of Naser al-Din Shah. It had no lyrics.
Taiwan
Teresa Teng's (Taiwanese) music was first brought into mainland China in the early 1980s and it unfolded to the young generation western-style pop music. It was banned for several years in China and was criticized by the mainstream as too "bourgeois". Still her popularity continued to grow. Although she passed away in 1995, her songs are widely known even till now.
Switzerland
Bernese German songs remain very popular in the Swiss German speaking part of Switzerland, and Matter is a great influence on the dialect music scene in Bern. Mani Matter's chansons are often taught at school (including classes for adults wanting to learn Bernese German) and are famous for their soft irony.
China
This song comes from a famous monk of Tang dynasty in ancient China. XuWei wrote this song to emphasize freedom of which we every body pursue, and it also encourage us to follow our dream.