AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

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Stephan
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AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Stephan »

We're up to the semi finals, in which the continents meet for the first time. The top four consists of nominations by Dan M, Henrik, HonorioMiguel, and nicolas; last round eliminated all 3 of my remaining songs. :o

Bracket 7.1
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw
Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion

Bracket 7.2
Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji's Theme
Jacques Brel - Vesoul
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Miguel
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Miguel »

Bracket 7.1
Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion

Bracket 7.2
Jacques Brel - Vesoul
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Romain
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Romain »

Bracket 7.1
Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion

Bracket 7.2
Jacques Brel - Vesoul

Two perfect and totally different songs.
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Moonbeam
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Moonbeam »

I have two clear favorites in each matchup.

Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw

Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji's Theme
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Honorio
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Honorio »

Four great artists, four wonderful songs, and three of them instrumentals...
And none of them nominated by me (sorry Stephan but it was Miguel who nominated "Vesoul").



Bracket 7.1
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo Sèw (Ethiopia, 1974)
Ástor Piazzolla - Oblivion (Argentina, 1984)
So we have on semi-finals two of the musicians that I included on that special edition about '"impressive musicianship." But these were not the most virtuoso musicians, their abilities don't rely on velocity but on inventiveness. Both musicians created new styles mixing previous genres, Mulatu created Ethio-Jazz combining jazz, Ethiopian traditional music and funk grooves and Ástor created Nuevo Tango combining classic tango and classical contemporary music. Piazzolla developed a long and acclaimed career (but oddly more appreciated outside his home country) but Astatke, despite beginning his career during the sixties, remained in relative obscurity until Jim Jarmusch used his music for a soundtrack and doing this discovered the artist for the new generations (for instance next month he will play in Barcelona on Primavera Sound Festival along with musicians like Animal Collective, My Bloody Valentine or Nick Cave).
Why choosing Astatke and not Piazzolla? I really don't know. I love both. Maybe my favourite song by Astatke faces not my favourite song by Piazzolla (albeit a very good one).



Bracket 7.2
Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji's Theme (Japan, 2000)
Jacques Brel - Vesoul (Belgium, 1968)
Well, this (wonderful) game is coming to an end. Looking back I can see that I (we) enjoyed a lot of great (and previously unknown) songs from every part of the world. But if I have to choose a continent that I enjoyed less than the others it would be without any doubt Asia. Surely, we had great artists (Ravi Shankar or Ryuichi Sakamoto for instance) or mesmerizing sounds (see that Gamelan song that came to quarter finals) but as a whole these sounds seemed less exciting to me that the ones coming from Africa, America or Europe. Maybe our choices were not the best ones. Or maybe it was just me...
But this got nothing to do with this choice, this is not Asia against Europe, this is Umebayashi against Brel, or more exactly "Yumeji's Theme" against "Vesoul." Or even more exactly restraint against exuberance. My choice? Exuberance, passion, heat. Hot! Hot! Chaud! Chaud!
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Dan
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Dan »

Bracket 7.1
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw
Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion

There are three words that usually come to mind when I think of Argentine tango: "raw", "intense" and "nostalgic". This is not the rawest or most intense piece of Argentine tango you'll ever hear, but it's certainly one of the most nostalgic... and one of the most intimate and elegant and romantic and downright beautiful. It's no fun voting against Mulatu Astatke, though.

Bracket 7.2
Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji's Theme
Jacques Brel - Vesoul

I love "Yumeji's Theme" and have voted for it every week so far. But it's up against an excellent Jacques Brel song. And I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I really like Jacques Brel.
...will keep us together.
sonofsamiam
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by sonofsamiam »

I have to apologize for not being active in this incredibly edifying match, as I've been preoccupied by many other things lately. I have watched from afar, amazed by a lot of the music that I've been able to catch up to, and surprised by some of the results (no Tropicalia, no Afrobeat!).

Anyway, hate to hop on the bandwagon now, but my votes go to Mulatu Astatke and Jacques Brel.
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by DaveC »

No easy choices here.

Bracket 7.1
Pass - actually too hard to choose.

Bracket 7.2
Jacques Brel - Vesoul
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nicolas
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by nicolas »

Bracket 7.1
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw 5
Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion 5
The more I hear Yèkèrmo, the more I like it. Wow that sound!! "Oblivion" is fantastic too, but not as perfect (the violins?). But both songs are 5/5 to me.

Bracket 7.2
Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji's Theme 5
Jacques Brel - Vesoul 5
Again 2 beautiful songs (all the remaining songs are 5 star stuff IMO). But "Vesoul" has been an old companion for such a long time...
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Michel
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Michel »

Bracket 7.1
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw
jamieW
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by jamieW »

Four great songs that I'm happy to know by heart...

My winners:

Bracket 7.1
Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion

Bracket 7.2
Jacques Brel - Vesoul

Edit: Although now that I think about it, I guess there's only one I should be calling a "song."
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Henrik
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Henrik »

Bracket 7.1
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw

Bracket 7.2
Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji's Theme
Everyone you meet fights a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
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Stephan
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Stephan »

My votes are for Mulatu and Jacques.

The results:

Bracket 7.1
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw - 7
Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion - 4

Bracket 7.2
Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji's Theme - 2
Jacques Brel - Vesoul - 9
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Henrik
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Re: AM Foreign World Cup: Semi Finals

Post by Henrik »

nicolas wrote:Bracket 7.1
Mulatu Astatke - Yèkèrmo sèw 5
Astor Piazzolla - Oblivion 5
The more I hear Yèkèrmo, the more I like it. Wow that sound!! "Oblivion" is fantastic too, but not as perfect (the violins?). But both songs are 5/5 to me.
I've had my doubts too that the strings may be kitschy, but I just listened to "Oblivion" again and this time I found the 1:10-1:30 section absolutely classy. I wonder what Enrico IV/Henry IV is like as it has this phenomenal music as well as Marcello Mastroianni in the lead role, but still only has 140 votes at IMDB.
Everyone you meet fights a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
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