What are some of your favorite songs in a language you do not speak?

Dragostea din tei (română) from O-Zone Heard it a lot when I was junger.

As a younger millenial I can't help it – Gangnam Style was and still is great

Music from Sigor Ros comes to mind.

Wolf Totem by The Hu

Carina Burina O Fortuna

Not individual songs, but Kraftwerk and Rammstein come to mind.

Alien weaponry have a track called Kai Tengata that includes Maori vocals

Although I listen to quite a lot of music from countries where English is not the native language, most bands just sing in English anyway

I don't speak any Irish, but I am obsessed with Kneecap at the moment. Some of their lyrics include English of course, some tracks are fully in Irish. Either way, they are great!

I believe the appropriate response is Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam. No but seriously. Band Maid, Die Antwoord, The Hu, all great bands that sing on different languages. Oh also The Warning.

The Pillows - because of FLCL

I'm a basic bitch, so some of the first that came to mind have already been mentioned by others:

• Papoutai - Stromae (along with some other of his songs)
• Baba Yetu - Christopher Tin
• Dragostea Din Tei - O-Zone

To those, I'll add some other meme songs / songs that have been used in English-speaking media:

• Tunak Tunak Tun - Daler Mehndi
• Je survivrai - Michele Richard

Also the ultra-popular ones everybody already knows and I won't bother to link, such as Bad Apple, Gangnam Style, the K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack, etc.

I don't speak Portuguese, but sometimes I get in a mood to listen to bassa nova. I like the rhythm.

Mas Que Nada - probably my go to. I listen to that enough to annoy people around me.

I also like Águas de Março, particularly Elis Regina's duet with Jobim.

"Baba Yetu" - we learned it for the choir. Luckily, i found a translation, so we now know that we are not ordering fridges or something. Look for "baba yetu stellenbosch" for a nice version.

if anyone here likes goth music, i highly recommend:

• she past away, most of their discography tbh (turkish)
• lebanon hanover (german, some of it)
• στο σκοτάδι (sto skotadi) by selofan (greek)
• nasha by aurat (urdu)
• reflejos by vacíos cuerpos (spanish)
• fantasmas by twin tribes (spanish)
• à contrecœur by hante. (french)

Con Te Partirò - Andre Bocelli
遙か彼方 - ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION
アイワナビー - Stance Punks
I Samma Bil - Bo Kaspers Orkester
A 67-Es Út - Republic
Papaoutai - Stromae

Lisa LeBlanc - self titled album, heard about her from the show Letterkenny, in French.

Several Japanese songs, such as Summer of Goodbye, Message in Rouge and Contrails

Garland of a Hundred Flowers - My neighbours' national anthem can't be this cute! (Nepali)

Halls of Hueyteotl and Baba Yetu (both Swahili, both from video games)

Baby Yetu, theme from Civilization 4, won a Grammy ( a first for a video game). It's the Lord's Prayer in Swahili.

El Derecho de Vivir en Paz by Victor Jara

Anything by Shin Jung Hyun, but especially Beautiful Rivers and Mountains and The Sun

https://altingun.bandcamp.com/music

Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros

Dragostea De Inchiriat

Iselilja

Tein kai lottorivini väärin

NAIMONONEDARI (not sure how much this counts. I took Japanese in high school but can't maintain a conversation to save my life.)

Sommernacht

Mikrofonkåt

Hit Sale

Сама-сама

Песенка (also grey area for me, I took Russian in uni but I'm far from conversational with it.)

Skyscrapers

LALALILALA

Dime Que Me Quieres

edit: forgot to include Spanish

A lot of Kino songs:

Группа Крови

Восьмиклассница

Место для шага вперёд

Перемен

Liu Yuning - Unintentional Big Dream (Fangs of Fortune OST)

刘宇宁 - 无心生大梦

This song is a departure from LY’s usual genre. It goes hard and is so exciting. All my friends know this song and can sing the chorus because I made them listen to it many times.

Pentagram - Bir (Turkish metal) Arkona - Yarilo (Russian folk metal)

Slanias Song - Eluveitie

La Forêt by Lescop

I married an Indian woman and have been getting into Bollywood music, and honestly there’s so many good songs!

Two of my favorites are:

Qaafirana

Khuda Jaane

German song "Redukt" by Einsturzende Neubauten

Ongaku by Yellow Magic Orchestra

I am going to make a playlist just from this thread, thank you all who have participated so far.

Seu Jorge's full album of Bowie covers is so epic. Love it, and really adds to the Life Aquatic

I'm enjoying No Comment by Kneecap recently

Mundian to Bach ke

Tuvan Internationale and Kongurei by Huun Huur Tu.

Good news everyone!

https://youtu.be/FM3aJQzqV90

And if you don't speak English, let me know what you think:

https://youtu.be/O3gz3nnYv68

"Buka" by Kwiat Jabłoni

Anything by Maximum the Hormone and Band-Maid to be honest, but I like "F" and "Different" most :D

La Rage by Keny Arkana

I often take little exploratory searches for some of my favorite genres in foreign languages, though the ones I remember the most tend to split between English and the other language. Stuff like Tomcraft and Sido

Metal Band-maid

bloodywood

Just some incredible and fun music out there when you explore the world.

First that come to mind:

Afrobeat/pop : great Xhosa rap/singing by moonshine sanelly (English tracks too)

Prog rock: magma creates their own language

Pop: Jay Chou has great tracks in Mandarin

Punk rock: exists in most local languages

Jazz: Avishai Cohen has tracks in ladino.

Electro song: Omar Souleyman has a very interesting background and tracks a nice, sung in Arabic.

Industrial : einsturzende neubauten sings mostly German.

Neu Deutsch Harte : Rammstein is the most known example.

Electroacoustic : Gedalia tazartes, includes vocals of diverse origins

I speak/understand Spanish, Icelandic, Dutch, Arabic and German but I ended up listening to Estonian music for a bit and they have some bangers there.

🇪🇪 Alüspukse by 5MIINUST

🇪🇪 push it by nublu

🇪🇪 kanuu by säm

Also, fun note, for a country og 400k Iceland has 3 entries here.

Catalán
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wM5QK_G7WRo

Gaelic
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNRfUK6qv98

Japanese
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wsKw_Astidg

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=JK_hBk2f01k

säkkijärven polkka

Cafe Tacvba - Hola Adiós

Nao Force - Joutro Mundo https://youtu.be/A2I6dEdQqOY

Tongo Barra - Vieux Farke Touré, Khruangbin https://youtu.be/bVDRTYeGw6Q

Un Simple Histoire - Thievery Corporation https://youtu.be/sCoeuDvwUFk

The French Open - Foals https://youtu.be/MuRODr6vygw

Dude! I love mundian to bach ke!

But most of my "foreign" language music pleasures are less identifiable.

Like, there's a lot of zydeco that's in French that I love, but it's hard to find recordings of any kind, much less digital options.

And I can essentially endlessly listen to what's called throat singing, but have no idea what titles would be to recommend. Almost all that I have is Mongolian or tuvan, and didn't come from a CD.

Ya Rayah by Rachid Taha

wikipedia page

Loved it on first listen and it made me a fan of Taha’s. It’s kinda Arabic pop rock but with traditional instrumentation.

If you like this, maybe checkout the album Diwan 2 afterwards.

Luna - Diljit Dosanjh

Zuco 103 - Zabumba no Mar - Portuguese

Leningrad - Fish - Russian

Mohammed Rafi - Jaan Pehchan Ho - Hindi(?) (That song from the movie "Ghost World")

kate ryan - desenschantee. (no idea how to spell it)

Lafee - prinzeschen

rammstein - du hast

MOVITS! - Fel Del Av Gården

万能青年旅店 - 大石碎胸口
Apashe ft. Instasamka - Uebok (Gotta Run)

Basically anything by Ado. This one's probably my favorite.

Songs in Russian minorities languages:

• In Bashkir language Homay by Ay Yola
• In Tatar language Piala by Aigel
• In Chulym language Legend by Otyken

Two Steps From Hell - Never Give Up On Your Dreams

Quelqu'un m'a dit by Carla Bruni - https://youtu.be/EelX_LwPHbA

Hjerteknuser by Kaizers Orchestra but it's a lil' cheat since I understand a little Norwegian.

Hoppípolla by Sigur Rós this one sounds so so beautiful.

Jumalan terve by Markus Krunegård when he expanded to Finnish music I was a bit surprised to learn he speaks Finnish natively. So when he then released this album I was very excited. It's Swedish styled pop but in Finnish.

Sexy Doll by Republika
Sola by Amplifiki
Hudey Hudey by Asu Maralman
Viszlát Nyár by AWS
Matando Sueños by Euroshima
Kufi by Duman
Mówię Ci, że by Tilt
Ich zieh nur noch einmal um by Das Auge Gottes

Just to name a few

Rush Job - Sheena Ringo

Swamp - Mid-Air Thief, but the whole album Gongjoong Doduk is pretty good.

Dixie - Harmonium

Le tombeau est vide - Chromb!

For fun:

El Corazón - Hard n Phirm

Honorable mention that might not technically count:

Prisencolinensinainciusol - Adriano Celentano

New World, by L'ArcenCiel

Slack Bird - Tupakkarulla

Nas Ne Dogoniat

https://youtu.be/uFJ2I3jvw_Y

A rap about abes odyssee. Probably. Thats what the title and video say. Got some serious flow.

Du Hast - Rammstein (German) Fighting Dreamers from Naruto (Japanese)

Froukje — Groter Dan Ik

Wardruna - Helvegen (and the Kalandra cover) Bendik - Stille (all of the old albums before the style pivot are amazing)

Those are immediately on my mind and needed to share them in case someone else might enjoy! There is a lot more, those just popped right up without even thinking

Edit: Ekkolodd - Perler too, Asgeir - Heimförin!

These four songs are a solid intro to the bands if anyone’s interested!

Edit2: Well fuck me, I did mention Kalandra, but the absolute best from them in my opinion happens to be in Norwegian (I think?): Kalandra - Virkelighetens Etterklang!

Tldr:

Wardruna - Helvegen

Kalandra - Helvegen (cover of above)

Bendik - Stille

Ekkolodd - Perler

Asgeir - Heimförin

Kalandra - Virkelighetens Etterklang

El Coo Cooi - Voodoo Glow Skulls

Liebeslied - KMFDM

[온스테이지2.0] 이날치 - 범 내려온다(with 앰비규어스 댄스컴퍼니)

• INTERNETFREUNDIN by SALÒ (I'm learning German though and the lyrics aren't hard to understand)
• Cần Một Ngày by Cá Hồi Hoang
• La fin du Monde by Juniore
• Les Garçons de L'Été by Sébastien Delage

I could go on and on...

Ya maulana

Malagueña Salerosa by Chingon from Kill Bill

ETA: +1 for Carmina Burana, and I’ll add Hall of the Mountain King, & Beethoven’s 9th for good measure!

Seven Seconds by Youssou N'dour and Neneh Cherry (French and English)

• this was my first foray into "world music" in, like Grade 7.

Sadeness by Enigma (Latin and French)

Miserere by Arvo Pärt (Latin)

The Expanse by Clinton Shorter (Old Norse?)

Disappointment by Moon (Russian?)

Also, I lived in Korea when Gangnam Style dropped. It was magical at the outset, but now... well, hyperexposure is a real thing. But, good on Psy for his work.

Everything by MADKID and Chihara Minori is great

Судно (Борис Рыжий) - by Molchat Doma

Midori - Aratamemashite Hajimemashite Midori Desu

Ado, especially Elf

Polca Mazurca - El Guincho

or really any of the songs on Alegranza

Yura Yura Teikoku, “YURA YURA TEIKOKU DE KANGAECHU”.

https://youtu.be/uhz-B2NJ4n8

Lewa lesu mai - classic Fijian song don't know who the original artist is

Also anything from Altin Gün

Prédio - Apanhador Só

Does Prisencolinensinainciusol by Adriano Celentano count? It's sung in Gibberish that was meant to sound like an American singing in english to non english speakers.

Dragostea Din Tei ("Numa Numa") is unironically one of my favourite songs. It wouldn't have blown up as a meme if it didn't go so hard.

Pepas by Farruko is another bop.

I love good lyrics so am not wild about listening to music in a language I don't understand but its kinda common to have songs with english and another language so the stuff I don't understand is just kinda dispersed. Also since I watch animes Im used to having songs that are in a lnguage I don't know. Don't really have a favorite though. All my favorite songs are in english.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBTNyJ33LWI I like rammstein's zick zack, I know they are lambasting plastic surgery but as a trans person I love enthusiastically shouting CUT IT OFF when the chorus happens in a sort of ironic way

Anda inn by Ouse Idk what it means but by god is it catchy

I got this one. Just fun vibes. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg3-zq0s5kw&desc_update=1

Otherwise some Anri songs like

Remember Summer Days

And similar City Pop (i think that's the genre)

For metal - Utsu-P. He's a Vocaloid metal artist and his stuff absolutely slays.

Highlights: Pure White Poison, Sugarcoat of Love, Harakiri, Gorgon, and really anything he writes using Gumi.

Mahlalela by Letta Mbulu from South Africa

I don't really know what language that is. If somebody could provide a transcription of the lyrics, I would be very happy to finally be able to translate and understand it.

The Seatbelts, “The Real Folk Blues”

YouSeeBIGGIRL/T:T

I've been a bit obsessed with one of Cleopatra's arias from Handel's Giulio Cesare, Se pietà di me non senti. She's bummed that she thinks her brother is going to have her killed.

Se pietà di me non senti giusto ciel io morirò.

Tu da' pace a' miei tormenti o quest'alma spirerò.

Just heaven, if you feel no pity for me, I shall die.

I shall give up the ghost if you do not pacify my torment

I was originally gonna say Sigur Ros but that's already been covered

My shout out goes to Niteworks then, who sadly did their farewell tour last year. One of my favourites:

https://youtu.be/GY7q1DjmsiE

Panda Lux (Swiss German or rather German from Switzerland): https://youtu.be/oJrjzw7iYHQ