Re: OT-- Sigur Ros

 --- tim talpas <tim@...> wrote: > #
> # Spotted this in the NYTimes, Sunday 1-/27:
> #
> # QUOTE
> # In skeptical, self-conscious times, Sigur Ros
> offers reverence without
> # religion and grandeur without guilt.  Its songs
> are processionals and
> # elegies, and a single one can stretch as long as
> 13 minutes on the band's
> # third album "( )" (MCA/Universal)...due for
> release on
> # Tuesday.....(snip)...[In previous albums] Mr.
> Birgisson sang in Icelandic
> # about war, elves, sin, salvation and being born.
> But the eight songs on
> # ( )" are untitled and sung in an invented
> languages he calls Hopelandic....
> # ENDQUOTE
> #
> # Sounds rather interesting.....is anyone familiar?
> #
>
> Sigur Ros is indeed an amazing band. Their last
> album Agaetis Byrjun was
> great also, and I recomend anyone and everyone to
> pick it up.
>
> However, I had read an article somewhere (dont know
> how reliable it is) that
> the "invented language" isnt so much a language as
> it is gibberish, aparently
> stemming from the fact that the lyrics are sometimes
> unfinished, and the singer
> will just sorta make speech noises where the
> "missing" lyrics are supposed to
> go.
>
how did i know Sigur Rós would appear at some point ?

they are indeed excellent (imho), altho they seem to
have a knack of making usually relatively coherent
people spout utter rubbish ( tears of angels . . .
rocky snowscapes . . . &c &c &c ).

music particularly characterised by the lead singer,
jón þor birgisson playing his guitar with a cello bow
and singing in a keening falsetto. influences range
from heavy metal to icelandic ( and by extension
celtic ) folk music

anyway, what tim says about 'vonlenska' is pretty much
how i understand it. when you hear the 'words' they
sound like icelandic ( similar phonology, ghosts of
inflectional endings ), but they're more systematised
logolalia. the 'language' is called 'vonlenska'
because it was first recorded on their track 'von' (
which is also the title of their first album )

the band are quite keen on puns ( except they seem to
be puns not intended to be funny, rather like in
sanskrt poetry ), the name itself means 'victory
rose', but is a pun on jón's little sister's name
'sigurrós' ; the remix album of 'von' was called
'vonbrygði' which translates variously as 'von
remixed', 'recycling bin' and 'disappointment' ; the
second album is called 'ágætis byrjun', 'a good start'
and these titles all appear in the last line of one of
their songs ( i hope i can remember the icelandic )
'ég gaf þér von sem ver til vonbrygðum . . . þetta er
ágætis byrjun' 'i gave you  hope that became
diappointment . . . this [at least] is a good start'.

the new album '()' is entirely wordless, altho the
tracks originally had titles as well. they also
apparently had lyrics at one point, but it was decided
to replace them with meaningless syllables

i imagine an analysis of 'vonlenska' would be quite
interesting, as it now forms quite a substantial
corpus of logolalic speech. don't think i'll be doing
it in a hurry tho

bn

=====
bnathyuw | landan | arR
stamp the sunshine out | angelfish
your tears came like anaesthesia | phèdre

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