This week we again had 5 students.
I mentioned to the class that this weekend I would go see a concert by Khaira Arby (Seattle Times article about her). I showed a video and asked if anyone would like to join me. No one was interested; this is not the kind of music the class likes, I guess. (Note after the concert: it was FANTASTIC and I loved the concert!!)
Next we listened to a song called "Go Hard" (video with lyrics) by Thai, Nump Trump & Dew Deezy. This song was chosen because one of the rappers in the crew is Vietnamese.
After this song we talked a while about why some videos rely on showing extreme materialism and emphasize sex so much. One student mentioned that when a woman watches a video like that, she's looking at the clothes she would like, while the guy is looking at the beautiful girls he fantasizes about having. That's a good observation! Another student said that the visuals are meant to distract from the lack of talent in the song; that when a song is good, it doesn't need all those extreme visuals. Another good explanation.
Along that theme, that it's more about the song than the visual, I played Susan Boyle's (bio) "I Dreamed A Dream" (video, lyrics) performance from Britain's Got Talent to show how a visual can make one impression (how people reacted when she came out on stage) but the actual performance can change that perception (and many people we ashamed at their reaction to her visual presence once they heard her voice).
Speaking of talent, I showed a video of KT Tunstall (bio) and how she, as one person, could build a song up from many parts, by herself, using taping + loops. "Black Horse & The Cherry Tree" (video, lyrics) live on French television.
The next song was "African Queen" (video, lyrics) by 2Face Idibia (bio). I noted that in this song he compared a woman's beauty to the moon; I find this a very romantic comparison. One of the students from Vietnam said that it is also common there to compare a woman's beauty to the moon.
Next was a clip from the Arab's Got Talent show, which has just started. We watched the Salama Crew (video). It is very interesting to see how these kinds of shows are done in different countries/cultures!
Next was another Arabic video, "Aa Bali Habibi" (video with English translation) by Elissa (bio). Mohanned, who chose this song, finds the lyrics to be so extremely overdramatic that it is hard for him to listen to them. He showed another example from her with "Bitmoun" (English: "I owe you") (video). Sabine, who lived in Tunesia, loves this song!
I can't remember how the next song was chosen, but it was "A Time For Us" (video with lyrics) by Andy Williams (bio). The question arose why the play Romeo & Juliet is considered the greatest love story ever. That was a great question and I am not sure how it got elevated to that status! I did find this discussion on the topic.
Someone wanted to hear "Hallelujah" (video, lyrics) by Alexandra Burke (bio). I asked the student why she chose that song and she said it's because the emotion is so strong. She had heard it in the movie Shrek.
"Hallelujah" is a classic song from the 1960's, originally by Leonard Cohen (bio). I showed how he originally did it.
Next song was "Isnebo" (video) by Faadah Kawtal.
Our time for this week was coming to an end and the last song chosen was "Irreplaceable" (video, lyrics) by Beyonce (bio). The theme of that song is telling a guy to not get so sure of himself to think that he cannot be replaced.
That inspired me to show my favorite song on that topic: "Tyrone" (video, lyrics) by Erykah Badu (bio).
And with that, class for the week was over. Very fun!!
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