MLT Club Member Jürgen
MLT Club MemberForum Replies Created
-
By the way Auckland: a nice drone flight over Auckland city and surroundings:
-
Musically, my little trip to New Zealand is gradually coming to an end. Unless one of you knows any nice New Zealand songs. Of course, like everywhere else in the world, the charts there are populated by younger bands and singers who produce pop or electronic pop. Then for example names like „Lorde“, „The Naked and Famous“, „Ladyhawke“, „Gin Wigmore“ and „Opshop“ pop up. If you are interested, you can just google it. But wait a minute: “Th’ Dudes”, founded in Auckland in 1970, are said to enjoy a certain cult status in New Zealand. I don’t know if that’s true, but see for yourself:
-
Hi Jung,
thanks for sending the interview. Ringo also had a certain interest in photography. Or at least had fun with it. Whether he was a good photographer I cannot judge. I have already posted the following video clip elsewhere, but it fits the topic very well, so again 😀
-
Then I read that right, Dan. I recently saw a note mentioning that a final Beatles song will be reconstructed. I thought this information was outdated and related to “Free as a bird”. I’m curious how this „new“ old song will sound like. I like Free as a bird, but it sounds a lot like John Lennon and not a lot like the Beatles.
The Beatles fan community was probably already very active and couldn’t wait until the finished, official song will finally be released and simply covered the song themselves. Sounds good so far.
-
The following song is a co-production of Belgian-Australian singer Gotye and New Zealand singer Kimbra, who was born in Hamilton. When I first heard the song on the radio, I only noticed the chorus, which reminded me somehow of Sting in style. And I didn’t know who wrote this song for a long time (until I did research for this topic 😀 ) All in all an interesting song and an extraordinary music video.
-
Of course, a trip on the legendary Kiwi Rail should not be missing at this point. Nice that there is so much film material on the internet. The most beautiful and professional documentation I have found on this is a German television production. Unfortunately not very helpful in this case. Of the English language travelogues, I liked this one the best. Very nice footage.
-
Briolette Kah Bic Runga was born in Christchurch and according to wikipedia is one of the most successful musicians in her country. Her first solo album „Drive“ went six times platinum in New Zealand and her second album „Beautiful Collision“ is the best selling album in New Zealand to date.
-
Yeah Tom, „Sechs Herzen die brennen“ (six hearts that are burning) inspired by Rammstein’s 2001 song “Mein Herz brennt” (my heart is burning). Rammstein is still quite active, unlike Nina Hagen, around whom things have become very quiet. As you rightly said, she’s been around for a long time. By the way, Nina’s full name is Catharina. She had her first commercial success in 1974 with the song „Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen“ (You forgot the color film). A nice parody of German holiday culture. At that time she was still living in the former GDR.
Most recently, Nina Hagen was involved in an interesting project together with her daughter Cosma Shiva Hagen (and that brings me back to the topic). It was called “Rilke Project”, named after the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (born in Prague in 1875 and died in Montreux/Switzerland in 1926). In German-speaking countries, Rilke enjoys great popularity because of his poetry and is considered one of the most important poets of modern literature. I don’t know if he’s well known in English-speaking countries (but it doesn’t matter). The “Rilke Project” consists of a group of German artists and actors who have tried to interpret Rilke’s literary works in a musical way. So they tried to create a musical cover version of his lyrics (phew, and that brings us back to “great covers”).
This transformation sounds like this, for example: „Liebes Lied” (Lovesong ). The poem „Liebes Lied” by Rainer Maria Rilke deals with the question of which higher power controls our feelings, especially the feeling of love for another person. I have attached the original text and tried to translate it into English, which may not always make sense, since Rilke uses a very old-fashioned German (also I don’t know what gender the word „soul“ has in English. In German it is feminine. So I used „she“ in the translation)
PS: sorry that the post is so long. But I find the idea of putting classical poetry into music very interesting and beautiful.
Rainer Maria Rilke: „Liebes-Lied“
Wie soll ich meine Seele halten
das sie nicht an deine rührt?
Wie soll ich sie hinheben
über dich zu anderen Dingen?
Über dich zu anderen Dingen
Doch alles was uns anrührt
Dich und mich
Nimmt uns zusammen
wie ein Bogenstrich
Der aus zwei Saiten eine Stimme zieht
O süßes Lied, O süßes Lied
Meine Seele
Ach gerne möchte ich sie bei irgendwas
Verlorenem im Dunkel unterbringen
an einer fremden stillen Stelle
die nicht weiter schwingt
wenn deine Tiefen schwingen
wenn deine Tiefen schwingen
Doch alles, was uns anrührt
dich und mich
nimmt uns zusammen wie ein Bogenstrich
der aus zwei Saiten eine Stimme zieht.
O süßes Lied
Auf welches Instrument sind wir gespannt?
Und welcher Geiger hat uns in der Hand?
Lovesong
How am I supposed to hold my soul
that she doesn’t touch yours?
How am I supposed to raise her
about you to other things?
about you to other things?
But everything that touches us
You and me
brings us together
like a bow stroke
that forms a voice from two strings
O sweet song, O sweet song
my soul
O I would like to place it
with something lost in the dark
in a strange quiet place
which does not swing any further
when your depths swing
when your depths swing
But everything that touches us
you and me
brings us together like a bow stroke
that forms a voice from two strings.
O sweet song
On which instrument we are stretched?
And which violinist holds us in hand?
-
Anika Rose Moa was born in Auckland, but she spent her childhood in Christchurch, on the country’s South Island. She began writing songs at age 13 and won the New Zealand Music Awards for Best Female Vocalist and Songwriter in 2002 and Best Female Solo Artist in 2008 and 2010.
-
If you like, you can delve a little deeper into the nature and culture of the two islands. I had originally intended another video at this point that deals with the discovery, colonization and ultimately the sovereignty and politics of New Zealand and the associated tensions. Quite informative, but actually I wanted to present something more entertaining. The following video perhaps presents a bit of a perfect world, but it’s nice to watch and quite informative.
-
Hi Tom, hi folks,
I have something very special here. The ballad „Seemann“ (Sailor) originally was performed by the band „Rammstein“. This song was then covered by the group „Apocalyptica“, a finnish cello formation, specializing in hard rock and heavy metal. They are supported by the singer Nina Hagen, the German godmother of punk. The result is the following cover version. Why obscure? Well, the song „Seeman“ might be less known, as well as the band „Apocalyptica“ (maybe I’m wrong). Actually no music here for the forum, but I’m sure you can handle it. 😃
-
Well said David ! The song also had a very special effect on me when I first heard it.
-
Hi Tom,
whether everything was better in the “good old days”, who knows? But sensory overload is certainly a disease of civilization, which at least children and young people find it difficult to escape. Personally, I experience it as very relaxing, when I can withdraw for a certain time on vacation. No TV, no newspaper and no internet. Just a few books, nice music and the countryside around me. It works. Nowadays, something like this is often interpreted as lazy. Perhaps this is also a problem of today. Socially recognized is the one who is constantly doing something, is in action and is busy. I have some friends who permanently tell me that they are stressed (under pressure). I know they cause this stress themselves and that it is completely unnecessary. But somehow, especially here, a lot of people seem to define their self-image through having stress. Only those who have stress have achieved something. The high song of the meritocracy.
Here are a few more relaxing impressions from a sea voyage to New Zealand in the 1960s:
-
Hi David, how long would you be traveling to New Zealand? Depending on the Airline I choose, I could start at Frankfurt a.M. and then fly to Bangkok or Singapore (around 10-12 hours). From there on to New Zealand (again the same flight time). Alternatively, starting from Düsseldorf Airport it would also go via Dubai, then you have a total of 3 flights and the whole fun lasts about 28 hours (depending on how long the intermediate stops are). Neighbors of us flew to Australia a few years ago. The trip must have been great overall, but because of the flight time, they wouldn’t make that trip again. On the other hand, complaining at the highest level: The classic travel time for the first pioneers from Europe to New Zealand was round about 3 months by sailing ship. It is quite impressive what hardships and efforts previous generations have taken to reach distant destinations and remote regions of the world. Out of curiosity, greed for profit or simply the hope for a new and better life.
With the modern steamships at the beginning of the 30’s the journey was much faster. Now the ship journey took „only“ 28-34 days. Here is one such liner that sailed regularly between Britain and NZ. MS Rangitata was a passenger liner owned by the New Zealand Shipping Company. She was one of three sister ships delivered to the company in 1929 for the All-Red Route between Britain and New Zealand. Compared to today’s cruise giants, it seems to be contemplative, quiet and maybe also deadly boring 😀. Or people were just more relaxed back then and didn’t need constant entertainment.
-
Hi Chris,
thanks for your contribution. I assume you mean the following cover of the song “Don’t dream it’s over”? Also a very nice version. Smooth and melodic. I like the guitar part in the middle. Hard to say which one is better: the original or this version. Especially with cover versions, this question often comes up. Mostly there is no better or worse. Both song versions sound good. Sometimes there are also intense memories or feelings that you associate with a certain song. If this bond is very tight, then I usually like the original better. It has become something special.