zondag 1 juni 2014

The musical journey part 5: Scandinavia

It may take some time, but eventually I will always continue taking you on a musical journey around the world. Today's theme will be Scandinavia: the part of the world where they make the best music, if you ask me.

Plumbo - Møkkamann (Norway)

If there are any lovers of Norwegian folk reading my blog, they will be very happy with me right now. Although I guess the lovers of Norwegian folk will know this song already, because it was quite famous in Norway. Møkkamann means "dirt man" or "shit man" in Norwegian and that's pretty much all I know about this song. But it's nice and upbeat folk-music and even without understanding anything about the meaning of the song it's worth a listen.


Krista Siegfrieds - Can You See Me (Finland)

Krista Siegfrieds represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013, where she reached the final with a catchy pop song and a lesbian kiss at the end of her performance. It seemed like she was just another ordinary pop singer. I thought the same way, until I discovered the following song by her.
Turns out that this" pop princess" can actually sing and perform a sensitive love ballad as well!


Robin - Frontside Ollie (Finland)

When a Finnish friend told me one day that Finland had its own Justin Bieber, I was a bit reluctant to click on the link to a YouTube video that was sent along with that message. I was pleasantly surprised though at what I heard next: this Bieber-lookalike actually made good music. Robin started making commercial music already in 2012 when he was just 13 and today he is already in the top 70 best-selling artists of all time in his home country. Not bad for a 15-years old.


Nabiha - Ask Yourself (Denmark)

We end this list with a song that could have easily been from any other country, but still, it's worth sharing. The singer of this song, Nabiha Bensouda, was born in a family with both Danish and north-west African roots, specifically Gambia, Mali and Morocco. She grew up listening to a variety of genres of music, from her mother’s Malian lullabies to soul, rock, and electronic. Nabiha scored some (minor) hits in countries like Belgium and the UK in the past, but this particular song never became popular outside of Denmark. I can't really understand why, which is also why I'm sharing it with you guys. Enjoy!