The music I’m crazy about. Part 2: Slovenian rock

I love foreign languages. The music which I listen to is connected with that passion. I like listen to many kinds of music in many different languages. Sometimes the lyrics of the song aren’t so important to me. I like to listen to music in foreign language even if I don’t understand what the song is about. It is sufficient that I like the sound of the language and how it fits the music.

One of my favourite rock bands is Siddharta. It is one of the most known Slovenian rock bands. It was founded by four friends: Tomi Meglič, Primož Benko, Primož Majerič and Boštjan Meglič in 1995. In the course of time the members of the band has changed a little bit. Today the band consists of five members: Tomi Meglič (vocals and guitar), Primož Benko (guitar and back vocals), Boštjan Meglič (drums), Jani Hace (bass guitar) and Tomaž O. Rous (keyboard).

The name Siddharta comes from the title of a book written by a German writer Herman Hesse. They play songs in Slovene and English. Here is one of my favourite songs of Siddharta, Napoj:

At the beginning of 2014 the band gave a big surprise to their Polish fans. They recorded the Polish version of one of their biggest hits 'Samo edini' ('Samo jedyny'):

I feel very lucky because I had a chance to know the members of Siddharta in person after one of their concerts in Poland in 2013. Until now I’ve been only at three concerts of Siddharta. I can’t wait to another one and I hope that in the future I will have a possibility to go to their concert in Slovenia. I also would like to learn Slovene. Here is a photo of me and Siddharta’s vocalist Tomi:

The music I'm crazy about. Part 1: Ambient music

I decided to put aside my dreams for some time and dedicate a few posts to music. Recently, during our English classes I presented a podcast which was an interview with Brian Eno. He is an English musician, composer and music producer born in 1948 in Woodbridge.

He is a pioneer of one of my favourite music genres called ambient music. It is an experimental electronic music which as distinct from classic electronic music doesn’t contain linearly developed melodic line and tracks are composed of dispersed composition of sounds. Eno came up by accident with the idea of making music which isn’t a focal event but the surrounding or the background of our everyday activities. One day he had an accident, he was hit by a taxi and he was immobile for some days. He was lying in bed and listening to music but one of his speakers had failed and he couldn’t move from the bed to change up the volume. It was raining outside and the only thing that he heard was a sound of raindrops beating against the window and from time to time some notes of a harp coming from the player. This way he discovered a new way of listening to music.

Why do I love ambient music? I came across this genre for the first time about three years ago. I found it very strange but beautiful music. It is usually very peaceful and relaxing. It helps me to relax and calm down after a stressful day. It also helps me to concentrate during learning and is very inspiring during working on something. Listening to it is like a trip to another place on the world. If you have never had to deal with ambient and want to listen to it for the first time I recommend you to sit comfortably and close your eyes so you could derive more pleasure from that. Here is the first piece of ambient music that I heard and also my favourite one: An Ending (Ascent) from Brian Eno’s album Apollo:

Another ambient music I listen to: Biosphere, Boards of Canada, Tim Hecker, Ous Mal, Clubroot, Amiina.