18 February 2015 (Wednesday)

Today, the eve of Chinese New Year (actually, it had already started in China on the other side of the international dateline). 6 students came to talk about music. 

I sometimes take students to concerts but lately there haven't been any good all-ages shows. One student suggested the class go to see Kodaline (info) on 9 May at the Neptune Theatre. That's a great idea! We watched a song by Kodaline, "One Day" (video, lyrics, song info) to see what kind of music they do. I think this would be a fun show for us all to go to -- I will get commitment from people in the class as the day of the show gets closer.

I started by asking the Chinese students about traditions in the home on Chinese New Year. The highlights are that the family gathers, eats a lot of food and watches the New Years Gala on TV. Here's this year's gala.

The students said they don't really like watching the gala -- the music is old fashioned and boring. Maybe they will like it more when they are older...

The next song chosen had nothing to do with Chinese New Year: "Intergalactic" (video, lyrics, song info) by the Beastie Boys (info). The student who chose this song said he doesn't really like hip-hop music, but last year he tried to listen to it to give it a change (commendable!). However, the only hip-hop band he could get into was Beastie Boys.

I played my favorite Beastie Boys song for the class: "Shake Your Rump" (video, lyrics, song info), but they all prefer "Intergalactic".

At this point one of the students mentioned he bought tickets to see the Stone Temple Pilots (info) concert on 8 April at the Paramount. The band is touring with a new singer so we watched a clip of some lives songs with the new guy (video). Here's a full concert, in better quality.

The next song was "Fantastic Baby" (video, lyrics) by Big Bang (info). Apparently this songs was a MASSIVE hit in Asia, played *everywhere*. The student who chose it said this song simply makes her happy when she hears it. That synthesizer riff sounds a lot like "Gangnam Style" (video) to me; the Koreans must have a patent on that synth riff, hahaha! 

The next song was the title song from the film "Amores Perros" (video, lyrics) by Control Machete (info). The film (info) was directed by a Mexican director, Alejandro González Iñárritu (info), and nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film. The director is up for another Oscar this year for "Birdman" (info).

The last song we had time for (I guess I asked too many questions about Chinese New Year at the start of the class) was "Rather Be" (video, lyrics, song info) by Clean Bandit (info). The student who chose this song really likes the singer's voice. Others in the class agree. I like this song a lot, too, though I had always heard it before without the video -- this was my first time seeing it with a video.


Next class (25 Feb) will be in HUB 214. For a theme I suggest duets: songs with two singers. It might be man/woman but it could be man/man or woman/woman. Of course, any song will be welcomed, even if not in the "duets" theme.