22.11.07

Is portuguese THE new language to learn for the clubbers?

There was an interesting blog entry on The Guardian's Music blog by Danny McFadden. He states that by the rise of baile funk and kuduro on the dancefloor of western world, portuguese is becoming one of the dominant languages of electronic music.

I myself think it's a pity that most of the people who dig baile funk can't understand the lyrics, because that prevents it to fully boom on the western market. The lyrics are often funny and full of double meanings and without understanding what the artists are saying, the beats and the rhythm can be a bit repetetive after a while. Like, what's the point on listening to hip-hop if you can't really understand what the MC is rapping about. Of course you can dance to it, but for you to really get envolved and follow the scene, it would be crucial to understand all the tendencies that the lyrics hold inside. In baile funk for example there are various songs that have given birth to response songs and a lot of jokes that open only to the ones following the scene. (though don't worry; not even all the portuguese speakers understand the baile funk lyrics, since they're so loaded with street slang...)

Danny McFadden is starting with an "obrigado", but how about you, my readers? How many of you are irritated of not being able to understand baile funk lyrics and trying to learn some portuguese?

(for you to start with there a baile funk dictionary on my blog)

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi, Am David from paris who discovered your blog while i was looking for "baile funk" music (as we call it here). I love it. found it very refreshing and original.
Is there a place in Paris to listen to and buy it?

Poeta e Romantico said...

Well I'm brazilian, and found your site looking for funk musics... I know some sites, but they are allways with www.blahblahblah.com.br and I have to edit the musics...

welll about the Portuguese being the most spoken language, I think that now, you foreigns that are listening to it should learn a little bit of others languages...
that would be cool to!
=]
you can understand the funk and can dance in a sexiest way, 'cause now you know what we are talking about!
=]

Timo Santala said...

For Tosty:
I'm not really familiar with Paris's record stores, but I know there's a bar called "Favela Chic" http://www.favelachic.com/paris/ there. I advise you to go and ask them, for example Jonathan.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=151885894
I'm sure he can help you!

DANNY MCFADDEN said...

Ha! I found this blog entry while trying to locate another feature I submitted using Google!

Anyway, I wrote that piece on the Guardian's site. And I reckon you're right: I am probably missing a lot by not understanding the language. Gorky explained a few of the lyrics to me and they're hilarious. But even when not knowing what the words mean, it is worth mentioning that the 'fun' comes through loud and clear.

But I have always enjoyed a lot of vocals purely for what they contribute to a track musically. I know it's a cliche, but it's like when you hear artists saying things like 'we used the vocals just as another instrument'. Plus I wouldn't want to turn away from great records just because they're voiced in Portuguese, German, Japanese, Swedish or whatever. It's like Edu K said: the rest of the world has been listening to stuff in English for years. With time and more exposure, perhaps I'll even improve my international vocabulary!

Take care, *timo.

Danny