May 2003 - Yello - mailman.xmission.com

Om Kassoum & Farida [long]
by Rob_King 21 May '03

21 May '03

Hi folks, I did some research, and I think I have the solution to who "Om Kassoum" is. I believe it's an alternate spelling of "Oum Kalsoum", who was a very popular Arabic singer and poetess from Egypt. from http://digiboek.50megs.com/oumkalsoum/ <http://digiboek.50megs.com/oumkalsoum/> "Her name also is written as Umm Kalthum, Umm Kulthum, Oum Kalthum, Um Kalthoum, Umm Kulthume, Oum Kulthum, Oum Kalthoum, Um Kolthoum, Oum Kulthume, Oum Kolthoum, Om Kalsoum, Um Kalsoum, Oom Koolsum, Umm Kalsoum or Omm Kalsoum, but we prefer Oum Kalsoum. Oum Kalsoum was born at the beginning of this century and died in 1975. She was unquestionably the most gifted singer and musician of this century in the Middle East. She was continuously popular for over 50 years and her songs are still played nightly on any number of Arabic language radio stations. She was the "voice of Egypt". More than twentyfive years after her death, her devoted audience, drawn from all strata of Arab society, still numbers in the millions." Here's a website where they translate to English one of her love songs called "You Are My Life". http://www.shira.net/inte-omri.htm <http://www.shira.net/inte-omri.htm> In my humble opinion, the lyrics are quite passionate, and are probably a good indicator of what her other poetry is like. Seems also very Yello-ish to use such powerful lyrics as well, in my opinion. I guess it's a matter of trying to figure out which poem she sang that Yello borrowed, and finally matching them... As for who "Farida" actually is, it's difficult to browse the web as that name is quite a popular Arabic name. I did find one Arabic singer who goes solely by that name alone. Here's a couple of websites to back that up: http://www.mondomix.org/womexshowcases2001/artistes/farida.htm <http://www.mondomix.org/womexshowcases2001/artistes/farida.htm> (samples here) http://www.faridamaqam.com/ <http://www.faridamaqam.com/> Here's another Farida, who was a 'superstar' back in the 70s, which makes her a more likely candidate than the other: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/awards2003/profile_kaboul.shtml <http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/awards2003/profile_kaboul.shtml> http://www.mondomix.org/mix_fr/decouv/festivals/fes2002/jour03/jour03.htm <http://www.mondomix.org/mix_fr/decouv/festivals/fes2002/jour03/jour03.htm> (samples here) I was able to listen to audio samples of both persons listed above, and neither are singing like the voice on "Le Secret Farida", which means that *neither* are probably the voice. Yello's Farida tends to rasp out the song, not sung with a full-bodied voice. Also, the difficulty in identifying any women who can sing and go by the name "Farida" makes this a pretty daunting task, as there are very many of them. Maybe a certain someone named "Jonas" who is working on a book and has (hopefully) an upcoming interview with a certain someone named "Boris" can ask the man who Farida is, and where they met, etc? ;) Just a thought... All of this is in my guesstimation, of course, although I believe the Oum Kalsoum connection is most probably correct. Also, another final thought - someone mentioned how some of the phrases sound French, other lyrics sound Arabic. Perhaps, would this be a pointer to a singer from Morocco? Have either of the Yello gents spent time in Morocco? Cheers, Rob

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Nice piece, Rene....
by Joseph Pagan 21 May '03

21 May '03

Yeah, what Julz said....... cheers, joseph --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.

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RE: [Yello] Le Secret Farida - What is it?
by Rory Filer 21 May '03

21 May '03

Well if you listen to the vocals on Le Secret, one thing is clear. The chanteuse has either practiced the words a lot or she is fluent in what ever language it is. I've listened carefully to the reference to a "diamond tiara" near the end, and it *could* be what she's saying, but it's pronounced with an accent, and not a french one - especially the word "diamond". Near the beginning of the verse she seems to say "and who will enter", again with an accent. The pronunciation is a little on the oblique side, enough to make me wonder whether it's a different language which just sounds like "and whooooo will enta". >From my first point above, someone went to a lot of trouble to sound convincing in the verse, so it makes me think it is one or two languages instead of gibberish. Anyhow, the song makes me laugh (the Shhhhh part) and I'd like to meet this woman with the sweet voice. Ahhh to dream. On 21/5/03 7:45 AM, warlock(a)seste.net wrote: > When we are talking about this...in what language are the vocals on > Santiago? According to the text inside the Of Course I'm Lying 2x12" set: " 'La Secret Farida' is part of a love poem by Om Kassoum" (No idea who Om Kassoum is.) and: " 'Santiago' narrates a story in the Afro-Cuban dialect" (I assume that should be *an* Afro-Cuban dialect, but I could be wrong. I have heard parts of those vocals used in other techno tracks - I forget which ones as techno isn't terribly memorable!) > Chris Mark ----------------------<http://users.tpg.com.au/mrpulley/>------------- --------- Laurence Scarman: I see. Doctor: I'm sure you don't but it's very nice of you to try. ("Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars (Part 1)") _______________________________________________ Yello mailing list Yello(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/yello

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Re: [Yello] Le Secret Farida - What is it?
by Mark Pulley 21 May '03

21 May '03

On 21/5/03 7:45 AM, warlock(a)seste.net wrote: > When we are talking about this...in what language are the vocals on > Santiago? According to the text inside the Of Course I'm Lying 2x12" set: " 'La Secret Farida' is part of a love poem by Om Kassoum" (No idea who Om Kassoum is.) and: " 'Santiago' narrates a story in the Afro-Cuban dialect" (I assume that should be *an* Afro-Cuban dialect, but I could be wrong. I have heard parts of those vocals used in other techno tracks - I forget which ones as techno isn't terribly memorable!) > Chris Mark ----------------------<http://users.tpg.com.au/mrpulley/>------------- --------- Laurence Scarman: I see. Doctor: I'm sure you don't but it's very nice of you to try. ("Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars (Part 1)")

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Le Secret Farida - What is it?
by Rory Filer 21 May '03

21 May '03

I've been listening to Le Secret Farida again and it reminds me of an old question. What is the secret??? Does anyone know? Perhaps the language spoken by the girl in the song is Gibberish ( I suspect Yello uses gibberish in a few of their songs, take Bananas to the Beat as an example, but I'm not 100% sure about that). Anyhow, it *sounds* like Arabic, but since I don't speak it, I though I'd float it to the group. It must be a pretty good secret because after she tells you in the song - twice - she then reminds you not to spill it with a long sensuous Shhhhhhhhh. Rory Quel question!

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PU problems/Tibet Yello
by Juhana Sadeharju 17 May '03

17 May '03

Hello. I found an audio problem in Pocket Universe. If you digitize the whole CD to one audio file, it is at 11:50.7730-11:50.7750 on word "escape". Check file "puproblems.tar.bz2" at "ftp.funet.fi/pub/culture/music/western/Yello/" Can you copy the place for me so that I may correct my copy? Thank you. Can you make a full copy of Zebra album for me as they sold in Finland a defunc CDs at back then. I have two Zebra CDs with identical audible errors, many of them. By comparing my copy and a good copy I can figure out how less moral record company people has because they decided to sell damaged products in Finland. I'm sure they don't mind if you copy the entire album to me. :-/ PU's Resistor has a vocal saying "Yello". I found a record by tibetian monks which has a similar vocal. Perhaps Boris has manipulated his "Yello" from that same album. I don't know, but listen to yourself. Files "yello1.wav", "yello1.wav", and "tibetyello.wav" in the above mentioned ftp directory. Best regards, Juhana

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Re: Graeme's question
by Jonas Warstad 15 May '03

15 May '03

> Jonas, please let us know how the book is coming along Graeme and all, people ask me this all the time, the fact is that the book itself has been as finished as I can possibly make it for a long time now, but I need to do complementary interviews and Boris has not been able to do this yet. In fact, I last visited Zurich in May 1998 - five years ago! As it is now, I will go there as soon as the new album is out and Boris is ready for me again, hopefully this autumn. If I get my way, it will be a lot more than just a book. I don't want to give any details about that yet, not until I have presented my suggestions to Yello and know what they think. Regards/Jonas W

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Yello in the U.S.?
by yorik＠angelfire.com 15 May '03

15 May '03

I was wondering if there were any plans for Yello to tour in the U.S.? Beth ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus

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Yello Live
by graeme 14 May '03

14 May '03

Personally, as much as I would love to see YELLO perform live, I must admit that a lot of their masterpieces performed in front of an audience would NOT sound the same, unlike, say for instance she's got a gun which sounded brilliant live, but can you imagine ON TRACK performed or WHO'S GONE live? To me they would be spoilt by a live performance, if YELLO were to perform live again then I would much prefer if they "talked" about their experience "growing" up within the music industry and then performed their tracks...........to me this would be more beneficial to their fans, as I am sure that we, in YELLO land, are also interested in messers Meier and Blank coming of age and influencing the dance masters of recent and present times, if they had not would we really of had the album HANDS ON YELLO?, dance music would NOT!!!!!!! be the same without YELLO!!, they simply are the godfathers of modern dance and to me they still are a bit of an UNDERGROUND group....I mean how many times have you told your friends that you like YELLO? and they reply, WHO? then you mention either OH YEAH or THE RACE and they reply of course now I know them! Play BIMBO or NIGHT FLANGER for them and they say "what the?", thats not he same band? We are fans here in this group or we would of not signed up for it, thats the difference between us and "them" Jonas, if you are reading this then please let us know how(how) the book is coming along as I am sure that we are all waiting on baited breath for it. Finally for now I would like to raise my glass (and I suggest you all do the same, go and get one then if you don't have one one! lol) to YELLO for bringing us, the fans, many happy seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years of enjoyment and long may it continue for the "BOYS" and the fans. And please remember that we "ARE ONLY VISITING THIS PLANET FOR A FEW THOUSAND DAYS" Long may it continue for us all, Oh and a big HI to chris (how you doing mate?) Graeme --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com) Version: 6.0.478 / Virus Database: 275 - Release Date: 08/05/2003

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RE: Yello Digest, Vol 3, Issue 2
by Rob_King 14 May '03

14 May '03

> Yes, Rene, seems like that could be the reason, at least I agree with > you....ofcourse Yello/Boris could, like other techno bands, have recorded > the music before performing live and then just "pretended" as he was playing > it. > But then again that would be wrong too.... Too late - I believe that's exactly what they did on the Yello Video Show. I have the video on VHS, which I watch every once in a while, and sure enough, other than Boris singing and Deiter making some weird noises on a keyboard, that's it for the live stuff. They had a lot of it prerecorded (like the drum sounds, and a lot of the synths). It's actually very comical/cheesy to see Deiter pretend to play one of the keyboards (i.e. he waves his fingers over it, not actually hitting the surface of the keys). :) But what a stoner flick! Oi, they have some of the most awesome psychedelic videos I have ever seen! Definitely a must-see for those who haven't seen it yet... Plus has a nice shot of Diane Brill doing something like a "Birth of Venus" thing in the beginning, hehe! Since Yello is studio-heavy, I agree that it would be difficult to recreate it as a live performance. On the other hand, I've seen some newer bands, like Plaid, do wonderful things from their Power Books live! Then again, one tends to wonder how much work are the artists are actually doing on the laptops to make it a live performance, and how much work are the laptops doing. :) My $0.02

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