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’Mika recommends’- music he likes

suzie

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suzie

suzie

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@camille thank you for the translation. i like when he talks about music and musicians and what his take is about songs..etc. He should do it more often. Shame I can' really relate to the melody following / reflecting the lyrics in Barbara' songs as I don't speak French. However, having read this interview now I want to listen to some of her songs when I have some time. I think she must have been the musical inspiration behind some of the new French songs.

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suzie
suzie

As there are several threads on what other artists you like, I thought it might be a good idea to collect Mika’s favourite music / musicians on one thread in case you want to check out any names unkno

smokesignal

smokesignal

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Thank you for translating this camille.

 

I think we have now found out why he's nice to his fans: he's just like us, collecting every possible radio version he can find of artists he likes :naughty: I must admit I like his version of la solitude better than hers. Hers is more detached, or so I think.

 

Oh, and I'm so proud of myself... I got most of the interview without the translation :yay: I just got lost on the Japanese witch part, since that was too random.

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camille*

camille*

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@camille thank you for the translation. i like when he talks about music and musicians and what his take is about songs..etc. He should do it more often. Shame I can' really relate to the melody following / reflecting the lyrics in Barbara' songs as I don't speak French. However, having read this interview now I want to listen to some of her songs when I have some time. I think she must have been the musical inspiration behind some of the new French songs.

 

I agree with you. On 2 points actually :biggrin2: : I like knowing more about his views on someone else's music too, and I think she has been an inspiration for the French songs, or at least for Karen. A while ago I tried to describe Karen like he has described Barbara's music, of course I couldn't explain it that well, just mentioning the melody following the words or something like that.

 

I wonder why they asked him about La Solitude in Nice in particular, was it the first time he sang it I can't remember? Because he did it in several other places.

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robertina

robertina

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I agree with you. On 2 points actually :biggrin2: : I like knowing more about his views on someone else's music too, and I think she has been an inspiration for the French songs, or at least for Karen. A while ago I tried to describe Karen like he has described Barbara's music, of course I couldn't explain it that well, just mentioning the melody following the words or something like that.

 

I wonder why they asked him about La Solitude in Nice in particular, was it the first time he sang it I can't remember? Because he did it in several other places.

 

No, it was not the first time. Actually when I was there I hoped he would sing it, cause I loved it so much. No one asked for it, if I remember well it was an encore. I cannot check the video now because my present connection is too slow...and my memory is oldling :old:

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mari62

mari62

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No, it was not the first time. Actually when I was there I hoped he would sing it, cause I loved it so much. No one asked for it, if I remember well it was an encore. I cannot check the video now because my present connection is too slow...and my memory is oldling :old:
yes, you remember well, it was an encore, I hoped he would sing it as well :wub2:
the setlist must have been the same as in Milan, a part from La Solitude instead of Toy Boy

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4028/4542801334_8f5dac4e0a_b.jpg

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suzie

suzie

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A while ago I tried to describe Karen like he has described Barbara's music, of course I couldn't explain it that well, just mentioning the melody following the words or something like that..

 

Yes, it was the two of us discussing that :teehee: Even I, with my non-existent French could get the verses were following the rhythm and the articulation of the language, so they really sounded French, unlike the chorus part. I think what Mika may have also meant though is that the music reflects the meaning of the lyrics. I can most certainly get that feel from some Piaf songs so I want to check if I get it from any Barbara songs. In general, if something is very poetic you need to speak the language to fully understand it.

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Ruth

Ruth

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He sang La Solitude when I saw him in Nice (Palais Nikaia 1-5-2010) with the accordionist from the support band. Lovely. We told him afterwards how much we liked it.

 

And a million smiles for the chance to watch this again :blush-anim-cl::

 

(it's me he's talking to at the start and I join in - saying 'perfect' - about La Solitude later)

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suzie

suzie

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thank you for translation :huglove:

 

i think before Mika said purple rain by Prince is the best record that he has ever heard, can't find the interview :aah: i think we should add that to the list too.

 

I think I only added songs that were not from the artists he already mentioned he liked a lot, otherwise it would be too long list for the songs.

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Ruth

Ruth

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I think this interview fits in this thread, Mika was interviewed by France Inter when he was in Montreal about his passion for Barbara

 

Thanks Ysa for posting

 

 

Translation

 

It was 3 years ago actually. I heard a compilation in a car in London. I was waiting for someone and I heard this and I stayed in the car for an hour and a half, almost 2 hours, listening to music, just listening to her songs, and I couldn't believe that there was somebody who could mix sadness, joy, classical music, tradition of French songs, poetry, all this in such a beautiful and pure way that such a discovery when you're 20 something, I was 25, it's like a gift. Like a huge gift, and for months after that, I only listened to Barbara, I completely threw myself in her world, in her universe in order to understand why there is such a woman, where she comes from, how she can do what she does and how come people around the world don't know her. And it unsettled me, and it still unsettles me a bit because we should know Barbara all over the world. There is Piaf, there is Brel, there is Barbara. Why don't people know Barbara?

 

I completely understand it when people say that Barbara's music is like a drug because it's a kind of refined melancholy, and we know for certain that melancholy and sadness can be consumed like a drug, just like chocolate, like cocaine, it's a kind of extremity of sadness and that's why it can become addictive and often when you talk to people who love Barbara, they have a moment in their lives when they are completely into Barbara's universe, then they reject it completely and do not listen to Barbara for a year because they've had it; they have an overdose. It's sadness, we can draw a parallel with.. I don't know, it's not absurd, and it's not surrealist, it's very realistic, but it's poetic, it's a bit like Almodovar, it's a bit sexy, it's a bit dark, it's a bit dirty and we never feel very clean with Barbara's music, we feel very real. Her characters are not very beautiful, they always have a lot of flaws and she finds beauty in it. It's not seen through pink glasses, it's not life in pink, it's more life in purple.

 

Barbara's music is not necessarily very complex, we can get close to it easily, but with Barbara, the means of communication is melody. And actually in all she does, there's always melody. In what she sings there's melody, in what she plays there's often melody, a counter melody and in her bass there's also melody or arpeggio or sequences, it's very classical, it's almost neo classical in style, it's not baroque at all but it's neo classical. It's a kind of very refined melody and what is beautiful with her is that she finds melody in the lyrics. So she writes poetry but we can think that poetry and the melody she's singing are completely mixed together. For example she says a word and she finds melody in this word, and the rhythm is never in contrast with the melody she's singing. And it's very difficult to do, only a few people can do this, we all try to do it but she's the big priestess. I think it's the universe that I like more than anything. More than any precise song, it's the universe. Now I have Spotify, Universal's antichrist, ITunes' antichrist, they are all scared of it, but for me it's great because I can type in 'Barbara' and I hear a hundred songs and I can lose myself very easily in her universe.

 

She has a way of seducing us, and it's only after she has seduced with her melody and her very pure, very childlike voice, like a 16 year old girl; if you take any of her songs like 'Quand reviendras-tu' or 'La Solitude', you can hear all of her life and all the different versions she made for radio, because I collect her radio recordings and it's funny to hear how her voice changed but the intention is clear. She wanted to present herself with a very pure voice, so she seduces us in all these ways, with melody, with her pure voice, with this neo classical side but after you're seduced you realise that the knife hits you, the knife gets in slowly and then she turns the knife at the last minute and it's vicious and it inspires me a lot. I think we always have to do this in a way. We always have to seduce people and then when we have them really close, we tell them exactly what we think. I consider myself a student and she's the teacher.

 

We are very easily victims of Barbara and of her songs, and even of her look when we are 25. After going out in clubs, after taking a bit too much drug, having such experiences, we want to throw ourselves in a melancholic world which is a bit adolescent, which is comfortable. I think that indeed we are very easily victims of Barbara. I use the word 'victim' because I have this idea that she's.. she's like a witch in a studio Ghibli movie, a Miyazaki movie, a Franco-Japanese witch who lives in a tower in the middle of the ocean with a lot of cats and with a lover. It's really Miyazaki, with antiques everywhere in a fantasy world, a bit childlike but very philosophical and very beautiful at the same time, and very adult. She's also vile and mean and horrible just as much as she's inspiring, nice and tolerant. That's why she's a bit like Miyazaki.

 

About singing 'La Solitude' in Nice in 2010

 

It was crazy, I don't know why I did it. There were 55000 people in front of me (wasn't it more like 10000 Mika? :teehee:) who had drunk a lot, there were young people, there were old people, a bit of everything, a lot of people taking drugs and I thought, after a whole show with everybody dancing like crazy, with a man with a pig mask and leather clothes who went on stage and who was stinking so much, who danced with us for 15 minutes; after all this, after such a climax, I decided to sing a Barbara song. And when I started singing 'La Solitude', there were even people shouting 'no, no, not this!' or people booing, but in the end, the audience's reaction was huge. It probably took 45 seconds but after 45 seconds there was silence and at the end of the song there was a very strong reaction and I thought why not? Why not sing something we love, why not finish a show with something very small. There was pyrotechnic in the show and I thought why not go back to a very intimate moment. For me it was a bit funny because I always say we can be on stage in front of 60000 people and 30 seconds later we are backstage and then in our hotel room and we are alone. It's my life. It's always like this, I'm surrounded by people, of course I work with my family, but after some time I'm on my own in a room and I look at myself and I think 'is it stupid or what? What is this life I live? This kind of ridiculous, absurd life' So I thought it would be funny to sing a song about solitude in front of 60000 people. For me it's a little joke, I think nobody got it but I liked it.

 

 

I listened in French and got the gist but it's so much better with this up on my screen too. Thankyou so much. (I didn't know 'un best of' was the French for a compilation. Or did he just not find the right word?)

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camille*

camille*

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I listened in French and got the gist but it's so much better with this up on my screen too. Thankyou so much. (I didn't know 'un best of' was the French for a compilation. Or did he just not find the right word?)

 

You're welcome.

 

'Un best of' is correct, at first I wanted to keep it this way in English but I realised it didn't make much sense.

 

From my recent translations I've often been amazed at how many spot-on phrases he has used. He has definitely improved a lot recently :thumb_yello:

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Ruth

Ruth

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You're welcome.

 

'Un best of' is correct, at first I wanted to keep it this way in English but I realised it didn't make much sense.

 

From my recent translations I've often been amazed at how many spot-on phrases he has used. He has definitely improved a lot recently :thumb_yello:

 

I noticed. It's harder for me now he's better at French. I remember when he used 'salle' for room (which is what we are taught,) but he was corrected to 'pièce' which he uses now.

 

You are very good at translating :)

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Louiza

Louiza

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I think this interview fits in this thread, Mika was interviewed by France Inter when he was in Montreal about his passion for Barbara

 

Thanks Ysa for posting

 

 

 

Thanks so much Ysa and Camille:flowers2:

It was fantastic to hear this wonderful analysis of Barbara's music. Also really loved the image of her as a Miyazaki character!

Mika's performance of La Solitude has always been absolutely beautiful:wub2:

Wish he decides to play that song live again some time.

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Kumazzz

Kumazzz

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I guess Tom Waits is also a new name here. :aah:

 

And Martha Wainwright.

 

May I ask a question ?

I missed the interview video that Mika sang Waits...Would you link to the video ?

 

I'm so confused with too much videos, blame it on my old brain !!! :hypo:

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