Thursday, July 22, 2010

HIP-HOP Konzert am 3. August: URI!

Who will help celebrate URI's 30th SOMMERSCHULE am ATLANTIK? Anybody know a better reason to attend a German rap concert, right here in Southern Rhode Island?

These two performers are scheduled, Pyranja and Chefket. You'll need to explore YOUTUBE to find songs performed most exclusively by Pyranja. In the song, GOLD, she's joined by Ostblokk. :


Do you like the song's English chorus?

And then, there's Chefket:


">CHEFKET whose song DEUTSCHLAND includes a Turkish section. This song was also written in response to "Schöne neue Welt", by Culcha Candela, a class favorite last year (and in fact, the song performed at our OKTOBERFEST by the Level 3-4 class). Since this link is only audio, I'll embed one other song here with a simple video. See if it draws you in. First, the text, in case you want to sneak a peak: TEXT

How much of the text do you understand? Can you decipher the name of the song, EINERSEITS, ANDERERSEITS -?

How about these lines:
• kill Negativität wie Uma Thurman, Bill
• da wo die Sonne scheint
• da wo die Liebe wächst (grows)
• nachdem die Wolken (clouds) weinen kommt eine bessere Zeit
• leg dein Regenschirm weg!
• man läuft ständig im Kreis
• Fehler wiederholen sich (doch diesmal nicht)
• (es gibt) viele Steine im Weg
• manche (Leute) bleiben nur stehen
• (Sie) kommen nicht voran, wie auf Skateboardrollen im Sand
• Das Leben bietet (offers) Frühling, Sommer, Herbst, und Winter
• Wein' wie die Wolken, lach' wie die Sonne -- und tanz!
• Probleme schmelzen (melt) dahin wie Eisschollen am Strand
• Nach dem Regen kommt Sonnenschein
• Alles beginnt wieder von vorn

Here's the video ">EINERSEITS ANDERERSEITS


Now, you just need information about the concert! How's this?

HIP-HOP aus Deutschland
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
8 PM
University of Rhode Island
Swan Hall Auditorium
170 Swan Hall
60 Upper College Road
Kingston
$10 general, $5 student (DSSA free)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Jördis Tielsch singt; geigt

Wie alt ist sie? Schon 14. Zusammen mit Ihrer Mutter kam Jördis zu einem Wise Guys Konzert. Danach beim AFTERGLOW gab dem Dän ihre Mutti ein paar aufgenommene Lieder. Nach einer Woche hörte sich Dän tatsächlich die vier Lieder an. Und? Hier ist ein CLIP davon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSCnyN45pnY



Was glaubst Du, dass die Wise Guys mit diesen Liedern gemacht haben?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

WICKED, auf Deutsch

Have you ever heard of singer, Willemijn Verkaik? She's from Holland, and is the star of the German production of WICKED, which continues to sell out in Stuttgart, Germany. Does this program translate well? You bet! All the emotion is conveyed, and then some.



I doubt if you'll regret checking the clip from the popular TV Show, Wetten Das! (You Bet!) It begins with "Nur ein Tag ... in der grünen Smaragd-Stadt" (One Short Tag... in Emerald City") and moves into "Frei und Schwerelos" ("Defying Gravity"). Check it out; you are in for a treat!

Deutsch-heute:

die Smaragdstadt = ___________________ ?

Heute bin ich so froh, ich fühle mich fast schwerelos . = __________________________________________.

In welcher Stadt in Deutschland kann man im Theater das musikalisches Stück, WICKED, sehen? _____________

TOM'S FILMS Lernen macht Spass!

TOM'S FILMS

For fun, easy Audio/Video see Toms Filme, by Andreas Hykade ! !
Erdbeermarmeladebrot mit Honig
(http://www.kindernetz.de/tom/filme/index.html)

It is a series of video cartoons with recurring characters, plots, words, and phrases. Tom is in in a perpetual search of an open-faced-sandwich-with-strawberry- marmelade-topped-with-honey. The story has so many versions, some of which are also used for an interactive story game, TOMS SPIEL.

(http://www.kindernetz.de/tom/spiel/index.html).

Be sure to meet the cast of characters HERE in Tom's Films! Who are your favorites? Which is your favorite film? Which text is the easiest to understand? After listening to them over and over again, you'll find yourself beginning to mimic the narrator! Isn't that great?! How can you use this new vocabulary? -- How about writing a new episode for Tom? Which decisions will you need to make first? How about compiling a list of them here!

EUROVISION Song Contest 2010


Have you ever heard of this annual musical competition? ? The host nation is determined by who won the previous contest. Last year, in the 54th such European-wide contest, Norway's Alexander Rybak danced, fiddled and sang his way to victory with a FAIRYTALE. Next year, Germany will be the host country, since their nominee, 18-year old, Lena Meyer-Landrut (now, just LENA), recently won in Norway. In fact, she had nearly 90 points more than her nearest competitor (maNga, from Turkey).

Lena also seemed to have won over Alexander Rybak; for fun, you can check this out here . And, with some German text, including from the Host of the Interactive German TV show which selected Lena to represent Germany, there's more on the infatuation subject .

Maybe now's the time to listen to Lena's winning song, SATELLITE. What do you think of it?

Some of Lena's stiffest competition this year came from another 18 year old, Azerbeijan's Safura, whose fan base continues to widen. Just before EUROVISION, she was her country's entry in the EUROPEAN TOP MODEL contest, where she was the runner up. Safura's EUROVISION entry starts slowly and builds into something fairly dramatic. It's called DRIP-DROP, which many find quite catchy. (It's been drumming through my ears for awhile now.) Check it out here:

Did you listen long enough to hear the dramatic build-up? Did you find the "drip-drop" chorus "catchy," too? Safura came in 5th place in this year's EUROVISION Song Contest. Between Lena and Safura, how might you have voted?

Now that Lena has brought the 56th Annual EUROVISION Song Contest to Germany, plans are underway to host this major event. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, you might be wondering how Lena was selected to represent Germany this year. Lots of Germans were embarrassed by their musical representative last year, a swing-jazz number called MISS KISS, KISS BANG, which finished in 20th place. Maybe you would have been embarrassed too. While the composer/producer/pianist (Alex Christensen) is German, the singer (Oscar Loya) is actually a Californian actor. See the result for yourself: HERE

I can't include the live (official EUROVISION) number here (it's just embarrassing).

So Entertainer Stefan Raab was given the task of beefing up the selection process. Raab devised an interactive TV competition called OUR STAR IN OLSO. As the weeks went on, various competitors were eliminated until just Jennifer Braun and Lena remained. They each were assigned various musical tasks, and then the public selected which of them performed best, and deserved the honor of representing Germany in the 2010 EUROVISION. One of those tasks was to sing an original number. Another was to perform the song, SATELLITE. Jennifer's version of this song takes a much slower tempo. See what you think about her performance .

Just like in the USA, these contests which offer significant exposure to the public really do change people's lives. Following the careers of this cast of characters can prove entertaining.

Did you notice that these performers are singing in English? It used to be a condition of EUROVISION that at least a certain percentage of each entry be performed in the language native to that nation, but this seemed to unfairly burden the smaller competing nations, so that qualification has been dropped for now. Of the 39 entries, 16 were sung in the national language.

According to Wikipedia, Greece, France*, Serbia, Israel, Spain and Portugal all reached the finals with songs performed in their native languages this year's EUROVISION, with these corresponding results: 7; 8; 10; 12; 19; and 20.

The countries which performed in their native languages but didn't make it out of the semi-final bracket include: Croatia; Bulgaria*; Finland; Holland; Macedonia; Poland*; Slowakia; Slowenia; and Switzerland.

One final tally here is a short list of countries represented by songs sung in English, but their entry did not make the final cut: Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania; Malta; and Sweden.

* indicates that some segments of their entries were sung in English.

One final link here. Great Britain didn't seem to find an advantage of singing in English. Their entry, Josh Dubovie, who sang THAT SOUNDS GOOD TO ME, finished in LAST PLACE, the third time this has happened. Here's the song, as well as commentary from the press in the UK regarding the number. LINK

Finishing in last place can be stressful, but Josh seemed to handle the competition well. Do you fault the singer? The song? The production? The costumes?
German Parts of the Body

Voila! This is my first successful attempt to share a TEACHERTUBE video in this space. Since the script only connects to the source, there was no need to use the GADGET and Java Script (something I tried unsuccessfully dozens of times).

Die Weltmeisterschaft



Guten Tag! Willkommen.

Did you all enjoy some World Cup broadcasts this summer? How about the quality of the game? The USA team was so thrilling to watch, and we can be proud of making the elimination round.

With 3 of the Final Four teams being from Europe, we know where to look when it comes to measuring against the best. (Would you be surprised if Landon Donovan renewed his efforts to play abroad?)

So the current winner of the European Cup (2008) now also has DAS Pokal: THE Trophy. Well earned, La Roja (The Reds) from Spain! Germany's National Elf (simply refers to the number --11--of players on the field) was most impressive, too! Except for their semi-final against Spain, when they seemed hesitant and uninspired, this young team showed amazing energy, precision, and depth. Wow! What a sport!

While the German Mannschaft (team) was aiming to improve from its frequent BRONZE finishes, they should not be disappointed to once again have successfully defended that 3rd place finish. Certainly, we in the USA drool over such a finish!

ON A RELATED TOPIC:

What about WM Musik? Have you heard any popular songs promoting the World Cup? There is an official FIFA anthem, by the artist K'naan. Those tuning to to the games heard the song frequently. Here's a link: LIED

Africa also seemed to have its own official song, this one by the artist, AKON of Senegal. Have you seen it? LIED

In Germany, it seems there's a race by many artists to perform the one song that will become that year's official Weltmeisterschaft-Lied, or World Cup Anthem. The artist(s) then get(s) to perform live before any award ceremony there might be, and enjoy the celebration with shared honors. Sometimes the popularity of the selected anthem thought gets eclipsed by another song.

In Germany there's a race by many different artists to capture the hearts of the many football enthusiasts. During our last GAPP visit, we were confronted wherever there were any sports fans, by Sportfreunde Stiller's updated (tweaked with a new date, 2010, and reference to Süd Afrika) version of their 2006 WM song: 54-74-90-2010. Here is the band's performance in Berlin, 2006, together with the WM-team, in an official celebration of their Bronze finish (and also for having so successfully hosted the event). Does the crowd seem to know the text? Are they moved by the message? LIED

-- Also, Do you wonder where such reception might be held here in the USA, should our team turn in an unexpectedly satisfactory performance at the World Cup?

If you follow the EUROVISION (or read my post on the topic) you'll recognize this cover song of the winning song from 2010 (and also see/hear clues to Lena in the footage). The song uses a new nickname for Deutschland: simply "SCHLAND". The song is: "Schland, O Schland". Do you like it? LIED

Fans do sing in German football stadiums. At the beginning of this tribute to Lukas Podolski, you can hear his widespread support. "Goldi-Poldi Hallejui. Bist der Bayern Fußballgott" LIED

Would you be motivated by such a song, if you were a young football player, thinking that one day some band might sing about you?

On the other hand, the announcement that one top striker (Kevin Kuranyi, of 2nd-place and PROUD OF IT Team Schalke, read more: HERE) wasn't going to be included in the team was also commemorated in a song (the text here is easy to follow, and is based on the HOME ALONE theme). Check it out! LIED