AM Foreign World Cup: Round 2 - Southern Europe

[Stephan]

In a week from now we'll only have 64 songs left, this is the last week of round 2.

Bracket 2.4.13
Jaume Sisa - Qualsevol nit pot sortir el sol
Los Enemigos - Desde el jergón

Bracket 2.4.14
Goblin - Suspiria
Paco de Lucía - Entre dos aguas

Bracket 2.4.15
Ramón Montoya - Soleá
Θανάσης Παπακωνσταντίνου - Α. Μάνθος

Bracket 2.4.16
Nino Rota - Amarcord
Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterraneo

[Dan]

I thought I might as well get voting early this week.

Bracket 2.4.13
Jaume Sisa - Qualsevol nit pot sortir el sol
Los Enemigos - Desde el jergón

The Jaume Sisa songs is a real grower.

Bracket 2.4.14
Goblin - Suspiria
Paco de Lucía - Entre dos aguas

Because Paco de Lucía kicked out my precious "La leyenda del tiempo" in the first round, a part of me wants to say: "Well, FUCK his song!" But a great song like "Entre dos aguas" doesn't deserve such childish behaviour.

Bracket 2.4.15
Ramón Montoya - Soleá
Θανάσης Παπακωνσταντίνου - Α. Μάνθος

Possibly because it makes me miss the holiday I had in Greece this summer.

Bracket 2.4.16
Nino Rota - Amarcord
Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterraneo

Both are sweeping, romantic songs (and very good at it). But in the end the sweeping, romantic song with more rhythm and passion got my vote.

[nicolas]

such childish behaviour.

I thought you were just slightly allergic to kids lol

[nicolas]

Bracket 2.4.13
Jaume Sisa - Qualsevol nit pot sortir el sol 5
Los Enemigos - Desde el jergón 3.5

Bracket 2.4.14
Goblin - Suspiria 4.25
Paco de Lucía - Entre dos aguas 5
My favorite song of this bracket

Bracket 2.4.15
Ramón Montoya - Soleá 4.5
Θανάσης Παπακωνσταντίνου - Α. Μάνθος 4.25

Bracket 2.4.16
Nino Rota - Amarcord 4.5
Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterraneo 4

[Dan]

such childish behaviour.

I thought you were just slightly allergic to kids lol

Haha. Well, when they behave like that I'm more than just slightly allergic to them!

No, I'm not that bad. I think I'm a caring uncle to my nieces and nephews. But I watch that clip once in a while to remind myself that there's nothing wrong with not wanting any kids of my own. It's not for everyone.

[Miguel]

Bracket 2.4.13
Los Enemigos - Desde el jergón

Bracket 2.4.14
Paco de Lucía - Entre dos aguas

Bracket 2.4.15
Ramón Montoya - Soleá

Bracket 2.4.16
Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterráneo

[Honorio]

Bracket 2.4.13
Sisa - Qualsevol nit pot sortir el sol (Spain, 1975)
Los Enemigos - Desde el jergón (Spain, 1990)
I like (love) both songs, but I can't help feeling more comfortable as a guest inside Sisa's party where time doesn’t matter, neither space than lying on the mattress of the prison cell with Los Enemigos.


Bracket 2.4.14
Goblin - Suspiria (Italy, 1977)
Paco de Lucía - Entre dos aguas (Spain, 1973)
Fascinating and obscure Italian prog-rock but my vote goes to probably the most renowed Spanish musician (and deservedly so), Paco de Lucía and his groundbreaking "Entre dos aguas." I won't mind seeing Paco winning the Mediterranean part of this game.


Bracket 2.4.15
Ramón Montoya - Soleá (Spain, 1936)
Θανάσης Παπακωνσταντίνου (Thanassis Papakonstantinou) - Α. Μάνθος (A. Manthos) (Greece, 2000)
I didn't wanted to vote for the Spanish artists on every bracket but I'm afraid I'm going to do that finally (just like Miguel just did, ¡que viva España!). Ramón Montoya's "Soleá" is too good, traditional flamenco playing at its very best. And let me post a very interesting document related with this soleá (by the way, nicolas, the correct way of writing this word is with the accent on the a and not the e, you made a minor mistake in your You Tube clip, probably that mistake was already in the French compilation you own). That document shows the evolution of a short music fragment of this piece of music (the one you can listen from 2'00" to 2'05") that speaks a lot about the special way of learning and playing flamenco. A falseta is a short fragment of music that flamenco guitar players use to play in between sung verses, usually after the rhythmic part of the palo (flamenco musical form) and before the beginning of the sung verse. Flamenco guitar players don't learn their playing in a music academy, they usually don't know how to read sheet music, they learn directly from his masters by means of oral tradition and many years of practice. But the most fascinating part of it all is that they don't play these falsetas exactly the same way as their masters, in the document you can see how Montoya's original from the 1930s was modified by Sabicas on the 1950s and later by Paco de Lucía and Enrique de Melchor in the 1970s, always maintaining its purity inside this continuous innovation.


Bracket 2.4.16
Nino Rota - Amarcord (Italy, 1974)
Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterráneo (Spain, 1971)
Grrr, I would like to have Nino Rota on Round 3 but he's facing Joan Manuel Serrat, my mom's favourite artist ever, the soundtrack of my childhood.

[jamieW]

Bracket 2.4.13
Winner: Jaume Sisa - Qualsevol nit pot sortir el sol
Los Enemigos - Desde el jergón

To be honest, I wasn’t blown away by either one of these; but I preferred the simple piano and strings of Jaume Sisa over the more familiar guitar-driven sound of Los Enemigos.

Bracket 2.4.14
Winner: Goblin - Suspiria
Paco de Lucía - Entre dos aguas

I absolutely loved Paco de Lucia (his guitar casts a spell). However, this is another one of those weeks when my two favorites are up against each other. Goblin had me from the chiming intro, and I was entranced by the dark atmosphere throughout, as it felt like Burial’s grandpa. This is the type of music I fall for every time.

Bracket 2.4.15
Winner: Ramón Montoya - Soleá
Θανάσης Παπακωνσταντίνου - Α. Μάνθος

I almost passed on this one, since I get the feeling (especially by the audience reaction) that knowing the lyrics of Θανάσης Παπακωνσταντίνου would have made a difference (and I did love the mournful horns that kept springing up). However, I really enjoyed the flamenco-flavoured guitar of Montoya. And when I saw the date Honorio listed (1936) it seemed incredible to me just how far ahead of its time this one seemed.

Bracket 2.4.16
Nino Rota - Amarcord
Winner: Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterraneo

I remember seeing this Fellini film many years ago and loving it, but I didn’t remember the theme (which certainly seemed fitting for Fellini). But I loved the exotic sound of “Mediterraneo,” which joined the songs in Bracket 2.4.14 as locks for my next Top songs of all-time list.

[Poliuks]

Bracket 2.4.13
Jaume Sisa - Qualsevol nit pot sortir el sol
Los Enemigos - Desde el jergón
I'd like to vote for Los Enemigos and their good old straightforward guitars, but the intimate, delicate Jaume Sisa's song is even better.

Bracket 2.4.14
Goblin - Suspiria
Paco de Lucía - Entre dos aguas
Only because Suspiria gets a bit repetitive near end; two completely different songs, but both truly delicious.

Bracket 2.4.15
Ramón Montoya - Soleá
Θανάσης Παπακωνσταντίνου - Α. Μάνθος
Pass - not my favourite bracket (well, competition is pretty strong), just two solid tracks.

Bracket 2.4.16
Nino Rota - Amarcord
Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterraneo
Great arrangements here - I'll go with Mediterraneo, but strings of Amarcord are also enjoyable.

[Kingoftonga]

Bracket 2.4.13
Los Enemigos - Desde el jergón

Bracket 2.4.14
Goblin - Suspiria

Bracket 2.4.15
Ramón Montoya - Soleá

Bracket 2.4.16
Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterraneo

[Stephan]

My votes are for Jaume, Paco, Ramon and Joan.

Bracket 2.4.13
Jaume Sisa - Qualsevol nit pot sortir el sol - 6
Los Enemigos - Desde el jergón - 2

Bracket 2.4.14
Goblin - Suspiria - 2
Paco de Lucía - Entre dos aguas - 6

Bracket 2.4.15
Ramón Montoya - Soleá - 5
Θανάσης Παπακωνσταντίνου - Α. Μάνθος - 1

Bracket 2.4.16
Nino Rota - Amarcord - 1
Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterraneo - 7

[Henrik]

I forgot to vote...

I'm glad that my vote wouldn't have changed anything. In fact, I think my vote would have been in line with the results.