Covid19 Lockdown Music

These past couple months have been trying to most of us. Even as an introvert, there have been times that I struggled with the imposed changes in routines and other impacts on daily life. 
One of my coping tools this entire period, like mentioned in my mental health blog entry 427, has been listening to music. 

Idan Raichel (part 0)

I'm not even sure where and when I first heard of Idan Raichel and his Project. I only know that at first, I liked just a few of his/their songs and that in time, as I listened more often, I grew to appreciate the talents, and more songs, albeit not all.

Rita (Yahan- Farouz) - 5B : Open the window (2)

To CD1's review

As my entry for this album grew, it quickly became clear that I needed to split it to have one per CD, so now I continue with the 10, or rather 11 songs this second cd has.

Here are the translated titles

1 On independance day’s eve

2 How ironic

3 It’s either yes or it isn’t*

4 Rain song

5 Close your eyes my brother

6 Sing for me, Autumn

7 A kind of love

8 Only you

9 Mahawal

10 You don’t know what goes on your mind

Bonus 

If you want to listen, the entire album's on this playlist, songs 11-20 

Rita (Yahan- Farouz) - 5A : Open the window (1)

Rita 'tiftah halon'' is my favorite Rita album, and was released in 1999.  It's her 5th album and its title means 'open the window'. 

Excluding a best-off released in 2015, Tiftah halon is the only 2CD release, proposing 10 songs on each disc. 

This blog entry is only about the first cd, and immediately after that, I'll post an entry for the second cd. 

Rita ( Yahan-Farouz) (part 0)

You would think that having a simple, one word name a simple matter to find everything about a celebrity... It might be true, sometimes, but not so when the simple name is Rita - a very common first name for so many actresses and singers that search engines on online merchants yield massive thousands of results. 

Schiller (part 0)

Let me introduce you to my second biggest musical obsession of the past couple years: German electronic DJ Christopher Von Deylen, aka Schiller - named after the famous poet and dramatist of the same name (and with the first name Friedrich).

In the early days, Schiller wasn't a one-man band with guests, but also included Mirgo Von Schlieffen, who remained with Christopher from 1998 to about 2001 or 2002. 

Like many other DJ's, Christopher/ Schiller never provide any vocals. Instead, he has a plethora of guests who sing - usually in English, but sometimes in German or other languages.

Yehuda Poliker (album 4) - Less but hurts (part 2)

After sharing my personal experience (in part 1) with the 3 most influential songs from this album, I now share its 

Track listing : (excerts )

1. Less but hurts
2. Good night, go to sleep
3. The shadow and me
4. Trans Orient (instrumental)
5. Things I wanted to say 
6. A story of times past (instrumental)
7. Today you are laughing
8. Flower
9. Yoram

(the links are only for you to discover - once again, I do not promote piracy)

Yehuda Poliker (album 4) - Less but hurts (part 1)

Yehuda Poliker's 4th record was released in 1990 and is my first encounter with this singer. 
I was a teen, living in difficult conditions, and three of this album's songs spoke to me as if they were written about my own case : 

The first of these is the third on the CD. It's called hazel ve'ani, which means the shadow and me. It tells mostly of him living in the closet (from which he'd come out publicly many years later) ; to me it was about the double life I was leading, and the massive difficulties that lead to this choice... I wasn't allowed to listen to music, mind you, so I had bought a small portable radio that was also a foldable headphone on which I'd listen to this song every time it'd air. 
It was my mantra, right from the first notes - drums rolling in, and a dancy pop song ensuing. 

Kate Havnevik (album 1) - Melankton

Kate Havnevik's first album, released in Norway in 2006 is called Melankton and has subsequently received 3 other release dates in the world :

2006 (UK) ; 2007 (USA & Canada); and finally, 2010 (Poland)

I loved every single song on my 12 track version, and my favorites are Kaleidoscope, and New day... but, really, I love it all...with its radio friendly tunes, as well as the more original creations Kate gave form to....

Kate Havnevik (part 0)

I discovered Kate Havnevik as a guest on Schiller's Atemlos Live, the first concert that I listened to, by this German project. As I loved each of her guest songs on his albums and lives, I searched for Kate's own solo material, which seems to be difficult to come by.

Indeed, this delightfully quirky singer and songwriter was born in Oslo, Noway, and her cds don't seem to get international releases - except for her first album Melankton, released in 2006 and which has several editions, all with the same cover and mostly same track listing, give or take a song...

Pet Shop Boys (part 0)

Back in the late 80's,  my then-best friend and fellow classmate introduced me to his favorite bands : Pet Shop Boys and Erasure, each composed by 2 members and which are still active to this day. They quickly became 2 of my top-10 bands, and I enjoy most of their songs, their rhythms, and the beauty in writing and singing.

Erasure (part 0)

Back in the late 80's,  my then-best friend and fellow classmate introduced me to his favourite bands : Pet Shop Boys and Erasure, each composed by 2 members and which are still active to this day. They quickly became 2 of my top-10 bands, and I enjoy most of their songs, their rhythms, and the beauty in writing and singing.
I'll now concentrate on Erasure, a synthpop band formed by Vince Clarke the musician and Andy Bell the singer, in 1985.

Yehuda Poliker (part 0)

I’d like to introduce you to my favorite singer of all times: Yehuda Poliker. I believe the first song I heard was ‘’the shadow and me’’ from his 4^th album ‘’less but hurts’’ from 1990. As far as I know, that song was written about a homosexual’s wish to live in a better world where he wouldn’t have to hide in the closet – to cast light on the shadow so to speak. Although not concerning my personal case, I had to lead a double life and thus had my very own shadow. The hope expressed in the bridge ‘’let’s soar high above, you’ll be my wings’’ spoke to me greatly as I, too, wished for freedom – and that’s how my love for Poliker’s music and songs was born and never waned. 

Sylver (part 0)

Sylver is a Belgian dance/pop, or more precisely EDM : Electro Dance music, group.

The original band members were Wout Van Dessel (born October 19, 1974), the keyboarding and songwriter, and Silvy De Bie (born January 4, 1981), the vocalist from 2000 to 2014 and who forced the band into a hiatus upon her departure as she decided to focus on her solo career.

I discovered the band while checking items a seller was proposing on ebay, as I tried to save on shipping fees for another item that I wanted. Not knowing the band, I went and listened to a few songs on youtube, and fell for Silvy’s melodious voice which suits greatly the synth rhytmes.