The Human Voice

Unfortunately my mother tongue lacks the phonetic beauty that others posses. Still, I don’t need to understand the song in order to appreciate it. Here are a couple of examples of exemplary language beauty.

Samba Vexillographica
Devendra Banhart
Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

Regardless of the language Devendra Banhart sings in, his air vibrations feel like silk flowing through my ear. Devendra produces one of the prettiest vibratos I know of in the male populace. It's all so damn playful. He grew up in Venezuela, and as such has hold of both Spanish and English. The album is definitely worth checking out, its an odd mix of genres all held together by this man's voice.

http://www.divshare.com/download/9917838-2dd

Hugann seiða svalli frá
Sigur Rós
Rímur

The Rímur album is a tad different from the rest of Sigur Rós’ albums in the fact that they utilize the voice of Steindór Andersen instead of Jónsi Birgisson's ambient focetto. I seem to like the rolling R and flow to the language, especially when using slight vibrato to glide over the syllables. Steindór's voice allows for the listener to better grasp the Icelandic language, both because he is saying real words (unlike the Hopelandish-Icelandic phonetic gibberish- of Jónsi) and his full, rich voice prominently holds center stage in these songs.

http://www.divshare.com/download/9917842-474

Alasdair Mhic Cholla Ghasda
Capercaillie
Sidewaulk

It's a shame that this is one of Capercaillie's few songs that has their lively celtic flair with Karen Matheson's Gaelic. I love her voice but they frequently loose the celtic instruments and take a downbeat approach to any lyrical songs. Nevertheless this song incorporates the best of the groups potential without much compromise. Gaelic and Icelandic exude utterly angelic phonetic beauty; I suppose they are indeed geographically neighbors. It requires little effort for a singer of these languages to capture my heart, unlike singers of coarse languages who must truly excel in their singing skill. Karen certainly possess both elements.

http://www.divshare.com/download/9917900-996