I'm sorry to those people who like generic american singing accents but it's really starting to bug me. Why on earth would a NZ band want to have a singer who sings with an american accent? it's totally anti-nationalistic, especiallt in this day and age! i'm not insulting american bands at all, there is some fantastic stuff but why would you want to imitate... (One band that comes to mind is Goodnight nurse... i mean c'mon guys... you're new zealanders, who you tying to fool?)
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Maybe it's because NZers are not fond ...
Maybe it's because NZers are not fond of their own accent, the so-called "cultural cringe"
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You know what would be cool, if we all ...
You know what would be cool, if we all spoke maori - then we'd have maori pop songs only kiwis could understand - it'd be wicked. I want to learn to speak Maori... *ahem ahem* Te Reo.
Lime green, thats a relly good point. ...
Lime green, thats a relly good point. Are we infact ashamed of our own accents? If you look at the likes of Toogood from shihad, the datsuns, d4, and the likes of David Kilgour (heavy eights), these guys exploit the kiwi accent and are happy to force it down peoples throats overseas and they like it! I guess a huge proportion of airplay here is american too, so people grow up wanting to be musicians and sing what they like to listen to which is predominantly from the states....
haha if you were to sing in a 100% pure ...
haha if you were to sing in a 100% pure NZ accent it would sound totally stupid... and as for the 3rd post claiming that The datsuns, D4 and shihad sing in Nz accents.. Thats totall 100% horseshit... How can you say that the chorus of harmonic generator is in a new zealand accent.. and shihad certainly dont sing in a pure new zealand accent. Yes you do hear a few NZish sounding words but majority of it is americanised. Its just SOO common do do it that it goes un-noticeable. The closest band i have heard to do it is elemeno P but even they still say some words americany. Listen to any band and you will hear it... lets just face the facts, stop our bitching about " Cultural identity " and just deal with the fact that Its the way its got to be... If there was a band out there singing in a pure nz accent they would never make it past a rockquest heat cause they would sound so shit.. IN fact if i heard that there was a band like that around, I would sink a dozen beers and get some popcorn and get front row seats and call it a comedy fest... Singers these days... (and i am a singer and no heaps of singers who i have talked about this to) Will learn to sing with an american (or some sort of) tinge to their voice. Its a subconcious thing that you dont have much controll over.. mainly because all your influences do it... american or not. There are no pure new zealand accented rock singers around.. Maybe in classical or opera it would sound ok but not in rock or pop. end of bloody story
right....
right.
go the english accent...
go the english accent
...
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WHO CARES the quality and integrity ...
WHO CARES
the quality and integrity involved in the production of music has many worries and accents are the least of them.
there's nothing anti-nationalistic about it. quite often the music being presented has it's sound rooted in the states, so that's what sounds best.
and besides, why do you think having a national identity to your music is important? i make my music for me, not to mimic and reflect the country i live in
I think it's important for people to ...
I think it's important for people to be themselves. Are you still being yourself if you're actively trying to sound exactly like something else?
but trying to deliberately sound nz by ...
but trying to deliberately sound nz by empahsizing your own accent? how is that doing what you want to do? people should be able to sing however they want
Thats true but without some kind of ...
Thats true but without some kind of nationalistic identity to NZ music, there wouldn't be an NZ music industry, our bands wouldn't be popular overseas (NZ bands are popular overseas because they are different). I believe that infact these elements are far more important than the production process because they are the true fruits of a bands sound, and production doesn't alter that to any astronomical extent, they are still going to sound like who they are. Your point about making music for you, I am exactly the same, however, if you sing with an american accent, doesn't that mean you're infact imitating something that has already been done, and are infact trying to sound like something you're not? There's a million points of argument on this, and i'm not saying i'm right, thats just my view...
Another point, Nationalistic identity ...
Another point, Nationalistic identity is important, i think, if you really want to have a go at breaking a hole in the market. If you're just pissing around with music and having fun, not trying to turn heads, then obviously it doesn't matter, and thats cool too!
not at all. you see the artists that ...
not at all. you see the artists that are currently getting airplay on tv? they are presenting themselves and their music with the assistance of a scene or counter-culture. and whilst these cultures may have their roots in the states, i hardly think they are bound by any sense to that geographical location.
that's why i think this whole argument is totally missing the point, because our music and culture is no longer bound by geographic or national constraints. hasn't been for a couple of decades now.
it's the product of globalisation, where people are more willing to identify themselves by a scene as opposed to a nation
blah blah blah nationalistic ...
blah blah blah nationalistic identity... i just want people to sing in a voice that is theirs.
this topic: took me a while to get on ...
this topic: took me a while to get on board,
it's cos it's boring, see - I'm bored.
most of you posters are all a wee bit waco!
and this time I've chosen to agree with prozaco.
woohoo!...
woohoo!
// just want people to sing in a voice ...
// just want people to sing in a voice that is theirs.
I'm pretty sure most do. I don't know what the rest of you are on about.
"Imagine there's no countries It ...
"Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace..."
fuck countries. who cares where you sound like you are from. im not going to like a band just because they sound like a 'new zealand band'.
what the hell does new zealand music sound like anyway?
all bands sound like another band to me.
Culture is colour. Would you prefer the ...
Culture is colour. Would you prefer the world to be grey?
If all bands sound like one another to ...
If all bands sound like one another to you, and you ask what a new zealand band sounds like, then I am a little concerned for you.... New Zealand bands whether you like it or not, sound unique and you can pick one a mile away, unless of course they are trying to be something they are not. My point of argument is that I think people need to start sounding like who they are instead of who someone else is... thats the essence of artistic expression (well it is for me anyway)
Nana squad: I like your thoughts! what ...
Nana squad: I like your thoughts! what do you do bro?
refer to above in regards to the ...
refer to above in regards to the culture shift moving away from national culture.
and though people still take direct inspiration from the country they live in, or are from (king kapisi for one, has a very strong national identity with his music) how can you say that it's wrong when someone else takes their inspiration from a seperate culture? the bleeders for example, take inspiration from the punk and hardcore cultures. a culture that isn't bound to the states, as scenes all over the world have picked it up.
remember, if you're calling for a nationalistic attitude to be brought back into our bands, then you're asking for just another shade of grey- another restriction to be placed, to bind the hands of artistic freedom
the kiwi accent is a beautiful force. ...
the kiwi accent is a beautiful force. embrace it. fear it!
"Culture is colour. Would you prefer ...
"Culture is colour. Would you prefer the world to be grey?"
atleast there would be no racism!
yeah, lets round up all the coloured ...
yeah, lets round up all the coloured people in camps and give them 'happy' gas, so that only the whities are left...
ugh, so soon to the anniversary of auschwitz too
Why do subcultures come about?...
Why do subcultures come about?
whoa, whos sounding self-righteous ...
whoa, whos sounding self-righteous now?....
It's not only accents that are being ...
It's not only accents that are being copied. What about the fashion?
andrew, re-read my shit. sure fashion ...
andrew, re-read my shit. sure fashion is being copied, but it in no way has to reflect 'american' culture, because the example i used is one that exists outside of national definition.
Yeah I know, I was kinda taking the ...
Yeah I know, I was kinda taking the piss.
If I were in a pop punk band, I think I would probably sing most words using an American accent. How many pop punk bands in NZ are there that don't use an accent? And how weird would it sound if it was a kiwi accent they used instead? I'd probably use a cheesy American/English accent that doesn't sound english at all but you can imagine that singers from such bands as Green Day and Blink 182 are trying to copy.
But yeah dave i agree with what you're saying.
i thought the rolling stones did ok...
i thought the rolling stones did ok
sup who dis...
sup who dis
Nationalisim should be crushed....
Nationalisim should be crushed.
i agree. wats nationalism...
i agree. wats nationalism
na·tion·al·ism ( P ) Pronunciation ...
na·tion·al·ism ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nsh-n-lzm, nshn-)
n.
1.Devotion to the interests or culture of one's nation.
2.The belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals.
3.Aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination
this topic refers to the second definition of 'nationalism'
A little related to the nationalism and ...
A little related to the nationalism and culture arguments, Jack Chambers, a leading light in sociolinguistics and language change argues that accents are generally merging (somewhat toward an american model), and that national influences are becoming far weaker. However, as an opposing trend, there is some diversification occurring as well as the merging, but this is happening at a much finer level than the national accents of the past. That is, smaller groups are creating new distinctions as an identity thing, but they're no longer along national lines.
yup yup, that's exactly it. i ...
yup yup, that's exactly it.
i remember getting told off because i said something along the lines that someone was getting 'rolled' or some shit, and got hit up about it because i was 'pretending' to sound 'gangsta' or some shit.
i've accumulated a hell of a lot of colloquial language in my 23 yrs on this earth and i'll use whatever language i damn well want to
egad. are we agreeing with ...
egad. are we agreeing with other?
Interestingly enough, there is still an enormous amount of language innovation in nz, and I've heard some people from the dictionary centre saying that for all the americanism coming in, we're still bastardizing up the americanese and creating novel definitions and neologisms with them.
It's probably very simply because most ...
It's probably very simply because most of the music we have heard all our lives has american accents... Alot of what we learn is by example. With more Kiwi music on the airwaves (hopefully with kiwi fm), we might be able to ween ourselves off this habit... who knows?
One of the reasons why I think Sophie Ellis Baxter was very popular is because of her lovely pommy accent when she sings... You know what is really funny... American's love our NZ accent. Whenever I have gone over there, this has been the case, because it is different. We need to dare to be different in our music and singing accent too.
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dude, i say fuck a lot, it doesn't ...
dude, i say fuck a lot, it doesn't mean i can't be reasoned with, or necessarily care enough about what i say to hold a grudge against you.
so yeah, we can agree this once maybe
:-P...
:-P
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i heard there is this new zealand opera ...
i heard there is this new zealand opera dude who sings in italian or something. whats that all about? at least american accents are still english.
show some pride opera dudes.
good call...
good call
It was probably more to do with the ...
It was probably more to do with the fact that He was likely to be singing at Italian piece of music rather than any nationalistic bais. Tho I'm sure there has to be someone out there writing NZ opera music
If you go to the doctor about that ...
If you go to the doctor about that bruise, they're going to think that you're covering up abuse at home when you're forced to say that you walked right into that one.
*badoom chish*
There have been several operas written ...
There have been several operas written in New Zealand by new zealanders, but no money to fund production so... they have been written but never sung. I find that very sad
theres no funding for lots of bands. ...
theres no funding for lots of bands. so they do it themselves.
wheres the spirit opera dudes?
Whenever a band truly sings with an NZ ...
Whenever a band truly sings with an NZ accent, it sounds british to me.
Weird.
When 'We Dunno' do it, they sound ...
When 'We Dunno' do it, they sound like Frenzal Rhomb
haha yeah. But they're awsome....
haha yeah. But they're awsome.