English Body, Slavic Heart

Hey there folks, I'm a new member from Liverpool,England. Home of The Beatles blah blah blah.. I confess however that I've never once bought a Beatles record. I'm sure they were a great band,and one can see why they shook up the world. They do have excellent songs,but I'm afraid I can't stand listening to them !! Such a view is in this part of the world,almost akin to blasphemy ! They even re-mamed Liverpool airport in John Lennon's honour ( which I'm sure never went down too well with McCartney )

For me the best band in the world has gotta be R E M. Few things can elicit such feeling in me as a special R E M moment". And even though their latest album Accelerate sounds like an epileptic version of Document, I won't hear a bad word said against them !!

However, the reason I joined this site, is because over the last few years, I've developed quite a taste for slavic music. At first it was Russian balalaikas and Ukrainian folk/opera type stuff. Recently though, I've discovered the likes of Tina Karol,who seems fairly original, and Dima Bilan etc. When I hear music from a part of the world that still seems closed off to westerners like myself, ( we grew up believing you were our enemies,after all ) I feel transported to your world. There's something tangible,almost un-definable about it. But I feel it. I recognise it. Now I'm hooked !!

Does anyone wanna talk Beatles, or RE M, or most favourably, point me in the direction of great Slavic music so my horizon can expand ? Suggestions and comment would be greatly appreciated .......

Kevchenko

Hey Kev,

I'm American and I love several groups/singers from Russia and Ukraine. I like Tina Karol', she has nice variety.

Don't know your full range of tastes, but here's a variety-sampling of some of my favorites, along with specific album or song suggestions. I'll write them in Roman and Cyrillic, just to give you a choice, but searching for cyrillic names titles will give yoy more results:

Svetlana Loboda/Светлана Лобода:
.. album, Черный Ангел (Remixes) [Chernyj Angel]

Irina Bilyk/Ирина Билык:
.. song, Одинокая [Odinokaya .. may also be spelled Odinakaja]
.. album, Я розкажу [Ya rozkazhu]

Sofiya Rotaru/София Ротару:
.. album, Снежная королева [snezhnaya koroleva]
.. songs, Одна калина [odna kalina] and Крэдэ мэ [Moldavian, krede me]

Reflex [often just Reflex, but may be Рефлекс]:
.. album (and song), Я тебя всегда буду ждать [Ya tebya vsegda budu zhdat']
.. song, Acka Raga
.. album, гарем [Garem] ... head stuff

Via Gra / ВиаГра:
.. album, LML (English)
.. songs, Ne Nado (4 mixes) and Заклинание [zaklinanie]
.. songs, Бомба [bomba] and Обмани, но останься [obmani, no ostan'sya]
..

Tatu / Тату:
.. album, Люди-инвалиды [lyudi-invalidy]
.. songs from that album, Космос [kosmos] and Что не хватает [shto nie hvataet] .. I really love those 2 songs

One more ... I just posted a Q about a girl from Ukraine who started her career with some of the sweetest violin I've ever heard:

Assiya Ahat / Ассия Ахат:
.. album, Homo Novus (I think it's titled in roman letters)

Unfortunately, that album seems to be her only great work. But it is GREAT.

Last but not least, check this website for purchasing downloads ... I use it all the time and it's EASY and cheap, compared to all others I've found:

http://mclub.te.net.ua/

Yes, ua for Ukraine. This site seems to have EVERYTHING.

I'm sure all of this will keep you busy for a while. Good hunting!

You said that you like slavic music, but mention just Russia and Ukraine...
What about Serbia and other ex-Yugoslavia countries?

Hey there Kev! Welcome to the forum. Vlada has a point Yugoslavian music is definitely very interesting. I for one am a fan

Hi Vlada and Zvezda,

I agree with both of you, but I really don't know any of your music or best artists. Can you recommend something? It can be very hard for people llike Kev and me to discover such things on our own.

Thanks guys

Kev and all, I don't mean to hijack this thread, just trying to help.

I think it's better to Zvezda recommend you something, she will be more objective I don't know what kind of music you like?

Try with Željko Joksimović and Dino Merlin - Supermen, that first recured to my mind..

@Vlada: I am honoured

@Jandros: I am not from Yugoslavia (or any of the slavic countries) so I am not up to date with the latest hits. I can recommend however some of the artists I like to listen to.
if you like rock/contemporary music then you might like the slovenian band Siddharta. I really like their song "Ring" (available on you tube to watch). Siddharta have also released songs in English. Details on wikipedia.
If you like folk music then Goran Bregovic is a great composer. Of his songs I like Mesecina the best. If you have ever seen the award winning film "Underground" then you have heard to some of his music.
If a mixure of (Balkan) sounds is your thing (the Serbians call it Turbofolk), then I suggest you listen to Ceca (tons of her stuff available on you tube as well, but I like Dokaz the best).
And finally you could try listening to Zeljko Joksimovic who is an award winning composer and singer, and by far my favourite artist. I really like his ballads and my favourites are Zaboravljas, and Ledja o Ledja (have a look on you tube)
I hope this helps, let us know how you get on

Did you heard Dzenan - Nikome ni rec?

Thank you all for your suggestions. I now have more music to explore !

Jandros- massive help-thanks so much for that ! Ps : How do you write in Cyrllic on a computer ?

Vlada- Balkan music is next on my list. Thanks for the advice.

Eastern Europe has always fascinated me, and the point of my post was to ask for help in learning more. Thanks guys !!!!

Originally Posted by Kevchenko

... How do you write in Cyrllic on a computer ?

This is a BIG question! Also a little complicated. Generally, you need keyboards or text conversion software.

But of course the EASIEST way is to highlight and copy a song title or artist name wherever you see it! Then paste it into Google or other search box. Google works great.

The complexity is that there are several cyrillic alphabets! Serbian, russian, ukrainian and belorussian are just the beginning, and each is different. So ....

EVERYONE, please help with this question

Now here is the long answer, more and better choices:

1. You can download keyboards (software) and also TEMPLATE images. Of course the letters will be in different places, so print the template files or just keep them as a handy reference. It will be slow and tedious at first.

2. EASY method, but ONLY for Russian or Belorussian cyrillic: Use the website www.translit.ru ... just type roman letters, and they will convert "on-the-fly" to the selected language. For complex letters such as ш, "sh" will convert to ш (and ya to я). Then copy & paste the result where you want it. Again this is only for russia/belorus!

3. Windows has a LOT of languages/keyboards. If you use windows, do this to add new languages/keyboards:

... Control Panel -> Regional and Language Settings -> Languages tab -> Details button -> Add button ..... then select an "Input Language" from the list, and be sure the "keyboard" is selected below.

... you should now see a language Toolbar near your icon tray, at the bottom.

All of that said, maybe someone else will have a better or much shorter answer

Kev, more on cyrillic (and finding music):

I copied Vlada's "Željko Joksimović" from this screen (thanks Vlada!) and pasted it to Google. I got 387,000 results, hits ......

My first hit was wiki, which also showed his name in Serbian-cyrillic text, Жељко Јоксимовић ... 9,000 more results ...

Then I added the word "youtube" to my search ... "Жељко Јоксимовић youtube" .... because EVERYBODY and EVERYTHING are on youtube .....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=46Xp72CkZhU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6_MPyCjZglw&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ByJ3eeBsktw&feature=related

..... !!!!!

This next link is not music, but I can't pass it up, because it's so cute and funny! It's just another good example about youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx9EbHNzbL0

Enjoy

Not Belorus (above), I mean BELARUS, with a, not o. Sorry!

Originally Posted by Vlada

Did you heard Dzenan - Nikome ni rec?

Me? What's that? I've never heard of it.

Zvezda, thanks! I like a little of everything, and I'll bet that Kev does too.

Liverpool and London! I passed through London twice, many years ago, enroute (via train & subway) from Croughton to Weston Super-Mare ... really beautiful, great people, but SO COLD in December! ... and then again to catch the Channel ferry to France. I have marvelous but too-brief memories of London. I need to see it again ... on my way to Belgrade, Prague, castles in Crimea, beautiful Greek islands, and Istanbul .....

VLADA! I'll need your travel services!!!

Thanks again Jandros,once again I'm indebted to you for your much valued assistance ! Also, I checked out some of those musical tip-offs you gave me. Excellent !! In work now, so will add further thoughts later. Big hello to you in NC .......

Kevchenko

Ur most welcome, and greetings to you in Liverpool

Originally Posted by Kevchenko

They even re-mamed Liverpool airport in John Lennon's honour

It's called John Lennon Airport cos that's the first place people go when they get a bit of cash.

Ooh.. let me guess..Manc ? Can't help yourself, can you ?

Kev, you might also be interested in Alexander Serov, Александр Серов. A friend from Ukraine recommended him to me:

http://mclub.te.net.ua/vcat.phtml?ac...a&singer=10519
http://serov.msk.ru

Once again, if you haven't tried it yet, "mclub" is still the best music download site that I've found. 10 USD will get you in, and there are NO STRINGS, no software to install, no annoying habits from this site, and it's cheap. Lowest cost I've found anywhere for LEGAL downloads