ici-bas 腳踏實地?

也許你聽不懂這歌的歌詞，還希望在立秋後北風凜凜的日子為你心靈帶來一點溫暖。j’espère que cette chanson est guérissant pour vous, ceux qui sont pas heureux ou ceux qui ont des défis à surmontrer.

if you leave, omd

If you leave
, a number plays its visits from time to time in the airwaves resembling a not-so-distant relative. Whether it’s from the radio or boombox, in the car or at a fast food joint, I always allowed its melody in to my unsuspecting ears.   The music of the electronic 80s never falls out of favour,  I wonder if it has anything to do with the above PG-13 but not risqué at all lyrics.  Two other lame reasons for the song to occupy my brain space in me. Firstly, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) has a Merseyside origin, and Liverpool was where I lived away from home for a long period of time (just over a year) the very first time. Secondly, although I have never watched “Pretty in Pink” from the beginning till the end, Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy and Jon Cryer do appear various other works, “Brat Pack” or not, that I like.

 

from capitalistic middle and uppper class hipster sh*t to civil disobedience rage.

So this has been a weekend loaded with activities I attended haphazrdly. The Kowloon City Bookfair, which is running its 6th annual leg, finally fit into my junky, over-the-head, boisterous music-by-the-habourfront weekend. Organised by young literary connoisseurs, back by a creativity-oriented high school, a think tank, etc., the bookfair is a mélange of talks, roundtables, flea market, mini-bookfair and a mini-concert. Free of charge to everybody, coarse but ever-evolving, it’s what this overcrowded and over-developped city needs if Hong Kong were to slow down and smell some roses, or fresh air!

Thanks to a random gift of kindness, I set foot in West Kowloon waterfront for Clockenflap, probably the last time in a while by the West Kowloon waterfront since constructions will be swung into actions in the coming years.

My previous impression of this “music festival” has been some gweilos replicating rock concerts spiced with burning man. Upon entering I was upset with the overfloated plastic recycle bin with all types of trash. A day later however, a politically charged performance by “my little airport” sort of eased my displeasure. Well, in a non-perfect world, room for improvement is the key!

ole ola, mas nenhuma força

ole ola….

The dust has long settled after the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. Football aside, the theme song and its video really sounded and looked heavily American, albeit international production. So much for Brazil’s backbone of photographing and fingerprinting Americans visitors knocking on their doors on arrival, when it comes to big money, multinationals still dictate how events are run or sponsored. This couldn’t be truer weird and somewhat vulgar and definitely violent (towards the end) parody which par hasard caught my attention today:

So the Brazilians spent all that money, threw in some false pride, garnished with cultural absence and misrepresentations and topped off with some posh infrastructures, et Voilà! Who eventually would benefit? Wait, Rio will host the Olympics in less than 48 months and the story keeps on fermenting itself.

and here’s the NFL or Miami-like original jingle.

Sénégal Fast Food, défi «slow» pour les gourmands

Une chanson pas du tout aisément «politiquement correct» pour l’apprentissage du français, quand même que je l’ai découverte, par hasard, dans un site américain pour un cours de français en ligne. S’agit-il d’un exemple de plus facile à révéler les défauts les autres!

Il est minuit à Tokyo
Il est cinq heures au Mali
Quelle heure est-il au Paradis ?
Il est minuit à Tokyo
Il est cinq heures au Mali
Quelle heure est-il au Paradis ?

Les rimes apparaîtraient joyeuses, si l’on néglige les paroles non-français, en une des langues au Mali que je ne peux pas surnormmer exactement, qui composent le refrain:

Nous qui quittons nos pays
Il ne faut pas que les enfants du pays nous oublient
Nous qui sommes dans cette chose
Chose là aucun de nous ne saurait la nommer
Nous qui sommes dans des pays lointains
Il ne faut pas que les enfants du pays nous oublient

«le visa au consulat», «au paradis», «ascenseur pour le ghetto», jumellent avec les images dans la vidéo font une perturbation émotionnelle. Tant pis pour vous qui lisez jusqu’à ici, ou ceux qui connaissez la langue française, cette chanson pourrait être consumé de façon différente comme «Sénégal Fast Food» sans pilule de mondialisation, décolonisation et toutes les «tions».

Cette oeuvre de Amadou & Mariam et Manu Chao engendre une indigestion plus forte que là-bas, une chanson de Jean-Jacques Goldman qui touche sur l’immigration aussi, mais parallèlement m’incite la curiosité de explorer la musique africaine francophone.

湯唯公主還是米卡公主？ quelle princesse!

寫這篇博客之前完全不知道Mika是何許人也。在看魁北克的Star Académie時發現從前日夜衝擊我耳朵的廣告歌

原來是Mika的Happy Ending

他的作品聽來是充滿色彩的。看看他和魁北克的Star Académie參賽者合唱的綜合歌便知道。

je ne connaissais pas qui est Mika avant d’avoir vu le très colouré pot-pourri sur Star Académie que personne ne doit le rater.

La mélodie de sa chanson ‘Happy Ending’ se répète sans arret sur les ondes ici prennant un forme de publicité télévisée en Asie.

Original music that gave rise to the Pantene commercial( in Asia only, it seems). How could the triste lyrics of separation or rejection be transformed into such a princessly like commercial (as seen on top) for the gullible young women in Asia? Weird! 啟發那洗頭水廣告的happy ending。老實說，通俗的廣告歌把哀傷的歌詞變成華麗的派場,莫非用過這產品都有”快樂結局”乎？

Klô Pelgag, the warm current from Québec

認識Klô Pelgag 是源於每年三月份的法語節. 某些地區只是一天的journee de la francophonie, 但中國地區有大半個月的活動。今年代表加拿大來表演音樂的Klô Pelgag 只有主音和大提琴手兩人，但那是有很溫暖感覺的表演。

self-inflicted wound, and…?

un climat frigide
une chanteuse excentrique
une voix riche
des chansons tières
et
ensemble un équilibre bien attribué

Even if you dunno French, you can feel the warm of Klô Pelgag‘s music. Snuggling up your loved one, enveloped in a blanket, the aroma of coffee nearby… THAT kinda feeling.
for more of their music:
http://klopelgag.bandcamp.com/album/ep

love is in the air

六月在全球多處是同志驕傲月Pride month。不是共產黨的同志，而是同性戀的同志！偶然的機會下友人傳來西班牙馬德里同志驕傲節的搞笑短片。

一首七十年代的舊歌Love is in the Air配以幽默原素，讓你捧腹大笑一番。我怎樣說也是七十年代初的產品（有小機會是六九年尾結合製造，但絕對完成於一九七零年），所以對70s有不用隱瞞的偏幫。這超花枝招展廣告（減去虎背熊腰的搏鬥）讓Love is in the Air又一次重生。

How could this song be soooo campy?! Yes it reminds me those outrageous costumes on old American TV, or the coconut trees in the tropics and sleezy dancing with people playing the maracas.

Too bad the gay video came to an abrupt end. The orginal video is not as interesting as the song, oh well… the sleezing dancing that I was never part of, merely passive listening as a child! Oldies with a new reincarnation， thanx to Madrid Pride in 2012 – mischievous and fun.

Learn a little giving and loving

I dumpster-dived and dug out Learnalilgivinanlovin from Skipping waste, a documentary chosen for a Free School meeting.

The beginning, motown-ish, the rhythm, a few notes of Phil Collins, the insturmental a lite drop of Baileys Irish Cream and the lyrics, an epiphany for certain folks, that, my friend, is how brillant the song is.

The main course serves a heavy dose of carefree street-wise philosophy, a remedy that should stand the test of “high-maintenance” living, temper flying, conflict playing and crashes deafening illusions of governments and corporations created and spoon-fed fear.

If you’re always trying to get to the top
You don’t get to the bottom of nothing
Then you’re gone before you know it
You’d better stop (stop)
Learn a little giving and loving

It’s been done before
C’mon, do it again
‘coz if it’s good
Then you should share it round
What’s the use of keeping
All the good things that you’ve found to yourself?

Learn a little, learn a little, learn a little giving
Learn a little, learn a little, learn a little giving and loving

You don’t gotta keep no other man down
For you to get up
There’s no need to worry
Just don’t give away your self-respect

‘coz if it’s all you’ve got left
The rest don’t really matter now anyway honey

But give away love (give it)
And give it for free
No strings attached
Just don’t ask for it back

Learn a little, learn a little, learn a little giving
Learn a little, learn a little, learn a little giving and stop

Giving
Learn a little giving give it
It’s been done before
C’mon do it again
Learn a little, learn a little, learn a little giving and loving

Flying across the aqua over to Asia, a random résumé of sageness, in this case Dao De Jing (道德經), mélange suffisamment bien avec self-respect, giving et loving, n’est-ce pas?

持而盈之﹐不如其已﹔揣而銳之﹐不可長保。
金玉滿堂﹐莫之能守﹔富貴而驕﹐自遺其咎。
功成身退﹐天之道也。

Learnalilgivinanlovin sealed a funky crescendo in skipping waste, which you SHOULD watch!

Jackson, Winehouse, Houston

Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and now Whitney Houston are sadly pointing to a converging theme for certain PSAs.

My pick to share with my readers are:

If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful – a duet from a couple of decades ago, it pops out from time to time on the radio when I was in North America, though not necessarily as often in Asia. If anyone would ever got a video version of the song, they should ping back at me on this blog. The chance is slim.

The 2nd selection is even older, probably equally not popular nor frequently heard. But then why do I have to select for my readers if they can get her more popular numbers from elsewhere.

If You Say her voice is Beautiful, all that’s left are the far reaching reverberations.