Mika in Spanish Media

[Sawako]

Hi, guys!

My name is Sawako and I love Mika’s music. I think he’s a kind of genius and a gifted musician. I live in Spain, and nowadays there’re only a few journalists in this country speakin' about Mika’s first album. But I think he’ll be an idol for spanish fans.

Here I send you a link with an article in Spanish,written by my husband, who is critic in a spanish newspaper.

 

http://www.guzmanurrero.es/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=38

 

Bye,

Sawako

[Strudel]

Hi Sawako, Welcome to the board

 

Wow, pretty cool your husband wrote an article on him, i'm sure we'd all be VERY grateful for a translation

[Sawako]

Unfortunately my English level is not so good. But I'll try to translate the article. Mainly, it's a biography and a study about Mika's voice and piano style. My husband (who usually writes about classical music) thinks that really Mika is a musical surprise and a new star. I think that everybody here thinks so.

[guapo!]

Gracias! Muy bueno el artículo, aunque no me gusta el título, estoy aburrido de que lo comparen con Freddie Mercury.

[Sarah_Lou]

I'd love to do a tranlation, if that's ok with you Sawako. I like any excuse to practice my Spanish, especially if it's Mika-related.

[goodycool]

Hola Sawako, soy un compatriota viviendo en Inglaterra actualmente, encantado de verte por aquí.

 

It is always good news to have Mika on the media in Spain, but let me be a bit pessimistic. We as Spanish know what kind of music sells in Spain and it is completely hopeless.

I'm not saying Mika won't succeed in Spain but Universal records will need to spend a lot of money in promoting him and in buying space for him in the radios that rules the dying Spanish music industry.

 

It is heartbreaking to realize how isolated Spain is music-wise. There are only 5 or 6 pop acts that consistently sells records there. With lots of luck and promotion Mika would sell about 30.000 records in Spain.

[Sarah_Lou]

Here's my translation:

 

Mika Penniman, the new Freddie Mercury

 

He’s 23, he was born in Beirut and he’s signed an enviable contract with Casablanca Records and Universal Music. His stage name, Mika, is probably one of those which will be most repeated by the specialist press during the coming year, thanks to a song, Grace Kelly, that’s climbing the British charts.

 

Few will disagree that Mika is an extremely original artist. In fact, this adjective can apply to his entrance onto the market. The first single of his career, Relax, Take it Easy was publicised in 2006 by BBC Radio 1 and shortly after that, the second single, Billy Brown, was available on iTunes. The result of both campaigns was so optimistic that many people turned their attention to the newcomer.

 

Even without having a CD on sale, commentators began to talk about Mika’s sparkling talents. Later, as always happens in these cases, came the generation readings. Obviously we are talking about a singer with a lot of talent – not only his vocal range on Grace Kelly, but what really demands attention is his expressive confidence, inherited from Elton John, from Harry Nilsson, from Rufus Wainwright and in particular from Freddie Mercury.

 

More than outrageous brilliance, Mika has an amazing confidence which is a result of a classical training that’s unusual in the world of pop. And although many want to see him as a follower of the Scissor Sisters, what’s certain is that his vocal play is sharper and more colourful. The definitive example of everything that’s brought about by the theme chosen by Universal for his launch. It’s certain that Grace Kelly is a song clearly indebted to the musical chapters of the Vaudeville, and it makes us await with much interest future deliveries of the style. In this way, there is a stronger sensation that Mika connects well with the Queen tradition: material with a magnificent texture in which the elements are intertwined without any apparent coherence, tripping over in a game where the crossover is the most coveted goal.

 

Master of notable technical skills, the English-Lebanese artist has a biography which helps to explain his musical style. Emigrating from Lebanon at the age of 9, he and his family found refuge in Paris and later in London. As a student he passed through the Charles de Gaulle French school, the Westminster School and the Royal College of Music. Dyslexia made it difficult for him to fit in and in the extreme caused him serious communication problems. The torture which his classmates subjected him to helped build his character. As a form of therapy, his mother made him study music with a rigid discipline which, it seems, had a great effect.

 

The eccentricity he demonstrated during his adolescence – scarlet clothes, dandy behaviour – was all a symptom of what would come later. He alternated his seasons at the Royal Opera House (high culture) with writing advertising jingles for British Airways and chewing gum (culture for the masses in its most popular form).

 

Thanks to production by Greg Wells, Mika’s first album, Life in Cartoon Motion, (Island Records, 2007) conveys something that the performer summed up in an interview: the reasons why the independent labels rejected his melodies and the major labels didn’t trust his strangeness.

 

Once they got over their reservations, Mika made a firm step into show business. The warmth of his music and his spectacular results justify that he has become a media product. It’s not a coincidence that the designer Paul Smith has chosen him as the face of his fashion label. In that, it’s certain, our young singer-songwriter also follows I the footsteps of Freddie Mercury.

 

Sawako, I think your husband's a great writer. There were some nice poetic sentences that were really difficult to translate!

 

And, Penniman, is that Mika's surname?? I'd never heard it before. How did your husband manage to find it out? I thought it was a closely guarded secret!

[guinchogirl]

That's a great article! Thanks so much for posting it Sawako and thanks Sarah_Lou for the translation, great work!!

[guapo!]

Hola Sawako, soy un compatriota viviendo en Inglaterra actualmente, encantado de verte por aquí.

 

It is always good news to have Mika on the media in Spain, but let me be a bit pessimistic. We as Spanish know what kind of music sells in Spain and it is completely hopeless.

I'm not saying Mika won't succeed in Spain but Universal records will need to spend a lot of money in promoting him and in buying space for him in the radios that rules the dying Spanish music industry.

 

It is heartbreaking to realize how isolated Spain is music-wise. There are only 5 or 6 pop acts that consistently sells records there. With lots of luck and promotion Mika would sell about 30.000 records in Spain.

 

ooh, do you think? ....and yeah, I have heard that Spain doesn't have a good taste in music. It's weird because I think spanish ppl are very smart

[Sawako]

Sarah Lou, thanks a lot! You are very kind.

I'm japanese, and sometimes it's difficult for me to read spanish. I think you've done a great job as translator.

Thank you,

Sawako

[Sawako]

I hope Mika will succeed in Spain, and also in Japan. Of course promotion and marketing are very important but really Mika is a star, so I think that he'll be at the top.

[RussianFan]

When Mika be in Russia?? I will cry

[goodycool]

ooh, do you think? ....and yeah, I have heard that Spain doesn't have a good taste in music. It's weird because I think spanish ppl are very smart

 

I have to agree, we in Spain are very smart... but talking about music all is about Spanish poppy nonsences, popidols and Xfactors. No room at all for proper English pop. Britain is by far the crib for new talents in pop.

[white queen]

penniman is his surname...

[Cautionary Wife]

Here's my translation:

 

Mika Penniman, the new Freddie Mercury

 

In this way, there is a stronger sensation that Mika connects well with the Queen tradition: material with a magnificent texture in which the elements are intertwined without any apparent coherence, tripping over in a game where the crossover is the most coveted goal.

 

 

Sawako, . . . There were some nice poetic sentences that were really difficult to translate!

 

And, Penniman, is that Mika's surname?? I'd never heard it before. How did your husband manage to find it out? I thought it was a closely guarded secret!

 

I loved the intertwining / tripping over description.

 

Once Mika had talked a little about his life, it was very easy to research, in fact the newspapers have been very slow. Reporters probably don't have research assistants these days, no wonder so many half truths and falsehoods in the papers, which are mostly (and sadly not all) treating him well at the moment.

 

Lovely piece. Real enjoyable read. Thank you. And thank's to your other half.

 

CW.