Saturday 31 October 2015

Czech: Ewa Farna - 'Mám boky jako skříň'


Title: 'I Have Hips Like A Cupboard'. That's what Google translates it as anyway. Ewa Farna has had many hits in both the Czech Republic and Poland. She's a judge on Polish X Factor.


Friday 30 October 2015

Swedish: Annika Herlitz - 'Ett andetag'


Title: 'One Breath'. Annika Herlitz was one of the voiceovers for the dubbed Swedish version of the film Frozen. Here she is competing at 2015's Melodifestivalen:


Thursday 29 October 2015

French: RIDSA - 'Le c'est die'


Title: 'The Die Is'. Ridsa has two successful albums, but this is his first song to make into the French top ten. I'm sure it will be the first of many.


Wednesday 28 October 2015

Norwegian: Morgan Sulele & Innertier - 'Jeg vil heller ha deg'


Title: 'I Would Rather Have You'. Morgan Sulele was at Norway's number one spot for six weeks over the summer with 'Bare Min'. This is his follow up single, featuring Innertier:


Tuesday 27 October 2015

Swedish: Norlie & KKV - 'Ingen annan rör mig som du'


Title: 'No-one Else Moves Me Like You'. Norlie & KKV have had three Swedish top ten hits. This is their most recent one, from earlier this year:


Monday 26 October 2015

German: Gestört aber Geil & Koby Funk feat. Wincent Weiss - 'Unter Meiner Haut'


Title: 'Under My Skin'. Gestört Aber Geil are two DJs from Saxony-Anhalt, who have been producing hits for over five years.


Sunday 25 October 2015

German: MoTrip featuring Lary - 'So wie Du bist'


Title: 'The Way You Are'. MoTrip was born in Lebanon but his parents came to Germany as refugees when he was still a baby. He's had two albums of his own so far and also writes for other German rappers.


Saturday 24 October 2015

German: Glasperlenspiel - 'Geiles Leben'


Title: 'Horny Life'. This is an upbeat, feel good splitting up song. Glasperlenspiel have released three albums since 2011.


Friday 23 October 2015

German: SDP featuring Adel Tawil - 'Ich will nur dass Du weisst'


Title: 'I Just Want You To Know'. Adel Tawil has a string of hits to his name. He was born in Germany to parents from Egypt and Tunisia. This is his most recent single:


Thursday 22 October 2015

Greek: Antonis Remos - 'Lene'


Title: 'Lene'. Antonis Remos has a long and distinguished music career with no less than nine successful albums to his name.


Wednesday 21 October 2015

Swedish: Emil Berg - 'Du swipa höger'


Title: 'You Swipe Right'. This was Emil Berg's first single, earlier this year. A big hit in Sweden, I would not be surprised to see him appear in Melodifestivalen before too long.


Tuesday 20 October 2015

Polish: Antek Smykiewicz - 'Pomimo Burz'


Title: 'Despite Storms'. Antek Smykiewicz came to fame when he was a runner up in The Voice of Poland in 2011.


Monday 19 October 2015

Estonian: Kenito - 'Naerata'


Title: 'Smile'. Estonian is one of those languages that is really easy on the ear, especially when sung. Kenito is a newcomer, who is sure to go far.


Sunday 18 October 2015

French: Louane - 'Nos secrets'


Title: 'Our Secrets'. Louane was discovered in the second series of The Voice of France. As well as in the French speaking countries of Europe, her music has also achieved chart success in Germany and Austria, which is rare for songs that are not sung in German or English.


French: Maître Gims - 'Brisé'


Title: 'Breeze'. Maître Gims was born in DR Congo but grew up on the outskirts of Paris. He has had two successful albums so far.


Saturday 17 October 2015

Swedish: Danny Saucedo - 'Dör för dig'


Title: 'Die For You'. What hasn't Danny Saucedo done? He first came to fame as a contestant in Swedish Pop Idol in 2006 and has entered Melodifestivalen three times, returning again as host in 2013. As well as his solo work, he is part of the band EMD, plus he also writes songs for other artists.


German: Sido featuring Andreas Bourani - 'Astronaut'


Here's the current German number one single, the title of which means, er, 'Astronaut'. Sido is one of the most successful rappers to come out of Germany. He grew up in East Berlin, before his family fled to West Berlin in 1988, when he was just eight years old.


Friday 16 October 2015

Danish: Rasmus Seebach - 'Natteravn'


Title: 'Night Ravens'. Rasmus Seebach has been active as a songwriter and producer since the late 1990s. He recently sang a duet with Lionel Richie. This hit from 2010 charted in Sweden and Norway (as well as at home in Denmark), making it one of the most successful Danish language songs of the last few decades:


German: Glasperlenspiel - 'Nie Vergessen'


Title: 'Never Forget'. Glasperlenspiel are named after a famous German novel. In 2014 they were invited to re-sing the theme tune to Germany's most popular daily soap opera.


Thursday 15 October 2015

French: Kate Ryan - 'Ella Elle L'a'


Title: 'She's got the Ella' or something like that. Kate Ryan has had many international hits since 2001, singing in both French and English. She represented Belgium at Eurovision in 2006 with 'Je T'Adore', which occasionally sounded more like she was singing 'Shut That Door'.


Hungarian: Kati Wolf - 'Hívjuk elő!'


Title: 'Call up!'. Kati Wolf represented Hungary at Eurovision in 2011 with 'What About My Dreams?' and when she was just seven years old, she sang the theme tune to a popular Hungarian cartoon series.


Wednesday 14 October 2015

Danish: Clara Sofie & Rune RK - 'Lever for en anden'


Title: 'Living for Someone Else'. Producer Rune RK has had many hits under many names. This is one of his two Danish language hits featuring singer Clara Sofie:


Turkish: Hadise - 'Prenses'


Title: 'Princess'. Born and raised in Belgium, Hadise has stuck to her parents' Turkish roots with her music. She represented Turkey at Eurovision in 2009 with 'Düm Tek Tek', which is Turkish for 'Boom Bang-a-Bang'. This is a more recent hit, a Turkish number one from 2014:


Tuesday 13 October 2015

French: Zaz - 'Eblouie par la nuit'


Title: 'Dazzled at Night'. Zaz has had considerable success with her music and not just in French speaking countries. Her albums have also charted in Austria, Germany, Poland, Spain and Russia.


German: Andreas Bourani - 'Auf uns'


Title: 'To Us'. Andreas Bourani has been at the heart of the current wave of successful German language pop music. This got to number one in Germany and Austria in 2014:


Monday 12 October 2015

Swedish: Magnus Carlsson - 'Möt mig i Gamla Stan'


Title: 'Meet Me in the Old Town'. Magnus Carlsson used to be in the group Alcazar, but has had plenty of solo success since he split from them. He's even duetted with Eurovision winner Charlotte Perrelli! He got to the final of Melodifestivalen with this hit in 2015:


Norwegian: Martin Blomvik - 'Det Vakje Mi Tid'


This song is sung in the dialect of the island of Sula in Northern Norway, which might go some way to explaining why Martin Blomvik didn't qualify for the final of Melodi Grand Prix in 2013 with this catchy little number:


Sunday 11 October 2015

German: Sarah Connor - 'Wie schön Du bist'


Title: 'How Beautiful You Are'. Sarah Connor had already had several years of success singing in English when in 2015 she shocked Germany by singing in her mother tongue. Her German language songs have also done extremely well in German speaking countries and of course qualify her for inclusion here at Melody Shoe!


Estonian: Demie feat. Anelle - 'Meie Aeg'


The title translates as 'Our Time'.


Danish: Ankerstjerne - 'Lille Hjerte'


The title translates as 'Small Heart'. Ankerstjerne has two successful albums under his belt and has collaborated with some of the best singers in Denmark.


Saturday 10 October 2015

German: Revolverheld - 'Lass Uns Gehen'


The title translates as 'Let's Go'. Revolverheld were once called 'Tsunamikiller' but changed their name after the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.


Spanish: Pastora Soler - 'Quédate Conmigo'


The title translates as 'Stay With Me'. Pastora Soler has had a long and distinguished music career. She always sings in Spanish which in a way is a shame because she would be a huge global star if she sung in English. In a way it isn't a shame though because singers tend to sing better in their own native language and you certainly hear Pastora's passion with every note she sings. Quite simply one of the best live singers anywhere in the world. Here's her mesmerising performance for Spain at Eurovision 2012, with a song co-written by Sweden's Thomas G:son, who has many hits to his name:


Finnish: Mikko Pohjola - 'Sängyn reunalla'


The title translates as 'On the Edge of the Bed'. This song took part in UMK, where Finland chooses its Eurovision entry, in 2014 but lost out to Softengine.


Friday 9 October 2015

Hebrew: Mei Finegold - 'Staying with me / Nish'eret iti'


The only time you'll hear English sung in one of our featured songs is when it's in a bilingual song, like this English/Hebrew masterpiece from Mei Finegold, She came third in Pop Idol Israel in 2009.


French: Fréro Delavega - 'Le Chant Des Sirènes'


The title translates as 'The Song of Sirens'. Fréro Delavega are a duo that found fame after taking part in series 3 of The Voice in France.


Norwegian: Marie Klåpbakken - 'Ta meg tilbake'


The title translates as 'Take Me Back'. It was in the running to represent Norway at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, but lost out to Mørland and Debrah Scarlett at Melodi Grand Prix.



Italian: Marco Mengoni - 'Guerriero'


The title translate as 'Warrior'. Marco Mengoni won Italian X Factor in 2009 and went on to represent Italy at Eurovision in 2013, but not with this song. He won Best European Act and Best Italian Act at the 2015 MTV Europe Music Awards.


Thursday 8 October 2015

German: Helene Fischer - 'Atemlos Durch Die Nacht'


Here's the most downloaded German song of all time! The title translates as 'Breathless Through the Night'. Helene Fischer was born in Russia but her family moved to Germany when she was 4. She has many high-profile music awards to her name including 2 Bambis and 9 Echo awards.


Wednesday 7 October 2015

Pilot episode

I love listening to music in various languages, but it's often difficult to know where to look for new music in languages other than English, especially here in the UK where the mainstream media pretends that other languages simply don't exist.

So I've started this blog to give an accessible English language gateway to music in other, mainly European, languages.

It's mainly going to be about the music, so let's start with a sample from across the continent, starting with the great Unheilig from Germany, singing 'Wir sind alle wie eins' (We are all as one) of course in German:


Can you believe the great German public turned down the opportunity to send that to Eurovision? Schockierend! The Eurovision Song Contest and its various national selection processes are a big source of my foreign language music.

Let's go to Sweden, home of mighty Melodifestivalen, arguably bigger than Eurovision itself! Here's living legend Linda Bengtzing singing 'Ta Mig' (Take Me) live at Melfest Semifinal 4 in 2014:


Melodifestivalen is incidentally what inspired the name of this blog. In 2015 there were 7 songs per semi final, with the most hotly tipped song appearing as 'song number 7', which when said in Swedish sounds a bit like 'Melody Shoe'.

To France now, with Black M's huge hit from last year, 'Sur Ma Route' (On My Way):





To round of this first post, here with helpful English subtitles is the Netherlands' Ruth Jacott with 'Vrede' (Peace):


I welcome your comments and suggestions for songs and languages you'd like to see me feature. E-mail me on sotonbus@googlemail.com

Thanks for watching!