Lisa Ekdahl

Lisa Ekdahl a Swedish pop, jazz singer and musician is known around the Europe though she sings mostly in Swdish. She also has whole albums in English and her latest gigs were in Finland, in Turkey and in Switzerland...

She has released albums since 1994 and in 2009 was published her nineth album.

For some her voice is too odd to listen. I know people who hate her for she is so exceptionel.

Check also: Vem vet ("Who knows"), Hon förtjänar hela himmlen ("She deserves the whole heaven"), Jag tror han är en ängel ("I believe he is an angel"), Now or never, Du var inte där för mig ("You were'nt there for me"), Sakta,sakta ("Carefully"), Gå dit ifall du minns ("Go there if you remeber").


BORTOM DET BLÅ

¤¤¤ Jag såg en man vada ner i vattnet
Jag frågade vart han skulle gå
Han sa: "Jag går dit benen bär mig
Det ska inte va svårare än så"

Han talade om himmelen och havet
Han valde de slitnaste ord
Men orden fick liv då de kom ur hans mun
Ja, det var som om jag plötsligt förstod ¤¤¤

*Att vi är många som talar om havet
Men få har havet i sin blick
En gång mötte jag en man med såna ögon
Men ingen jag frågat vet vart han gick
Och vi är många som talar om himlen
Men få kan förstå en evighet
Jag såg en man han bar himmelen inom sig
Men var han finns nu finns det ingen som vet*

¤¤Jag såg en man... ¤¤

*Att vi är många som... *

Han såg solen i ögonen
Han var lätt som en vind
Han såg bortom det blå på himmelen
Då han gick föll en tår på min kind

*För vi är många som.. *

BEYOND THE BLUE

¤¤¤ I saw a man wading down in the water

I asked where he was going

He said" I go there where my legs carry me

It will not be  so hard"

He told about sky and sea

He chose the most used words

But the words came alive when they camo out his mouth

Yes, it was like I suddenly understod  ¤¤¤

* That we are many talking about the sea

But few has sea in the eyes

Once I met a man with eyes like that

But none of them I asked knew where he was going

And we are many talking about the sky

But few can understand the eternity

I saw a man carring the sky inside him

But where is he going there is no one who knows *

¤¤¤ I saw a man... ¤¤¤

*That we are many.. *

He saw the sun in the eyes 

He was light as the wind

He looked beyond the blue of the sky

When he went fell a tear to my cheek

*For we are many... *

Johnossi

Johnossi a duo from Sweden. Those two members are (from left) Oskar "Ossi" Bonde (drums, percussions, vocals) and John Engelbert (vocals, guitar, lyricist). So simply together they are Johnossi. Believe it or not it took quite some time before I got it, sad to admit.

Johnossi plays also tambourine, guiro, chims etc. Their lyrics are a bit angsty and the following song is one of the cheerest ones.

John and Ossi met when they were under 16 years old and duo was formed in 2004. They relesed their first album only after five moths of performing and financed the album with the income of their gigs. And now one of their albums has been released in Japan where thay also performed  first time in 2009.

This song is very creepy but oh so true. The music video is brilliant - it has that something. You can watch it when you click the title of the song.

Check also: Summerbreeze, Glory days, Bobby, What's the point, MySpace,

MAN MUST DANCE

We're the people, the lucky
With the fragile bones
The ones who sit and worry
About getting to old
We're the people, the happy
With the broken hearts
The ones who draw a picture
And proclaim that it´s art

But you, and you, and you and you
You're just an animal developed into
You and you and you and you
A monkey needs to dance so do you

We're the people, the lucky
With the fragile bones
The ones who sit and worry
About catching a cold
We're the people, the happy
With the broken hearts
The ones who draw a picture
And proclaim that it´s art

But you, and you, and you and you
You're just an animal developed into
You and you and you and you
A monkey needs to dance so do you

*You like to do it as a child on your own
You're in the jungle and the monkeys
Take your mind from your home

How many time do they have to tell you
That it's perfectly fine for you to dance around
Naked when you're all by yourself*

Cause' you, and you, and you and you
You're just an animal developed into
You and you and you and you
A monkey needs to dance so do you

We're the people, the lucky
With the fragile bones
The ones who sit and worry
About getting to old
You're the monkey in the jungle
Trying to find your place
The one who let the sunset
Bring a silly kind of smile on your face

But you, and you, and you and you
You're just an animal developed into
You and you and you and you
A monkey needs to dance so do you

*You like to do it as a child...*

Cause you, and you, and you and you
You're just an animal developed into
You and you and you and you
A monkey needs to dance so do you

Sidonie

Picture is from here.

Sidonie is a Spanish band from Barcelona. It was formed in the late 90's and at first the lyrical language was mostly English but after album Fascinado (2005) it's been Spanish. 

The members are: Axel Pi (drums, bongos, tablas), Jesús Senra (bass,  vocals, sitar, guitar, main composer) and Marco Ros (main lyricist, vocals, guitar, bass guitar). They discribe Sidonie as a surrealist, psychedelic pop and psychedelic rock band. According to Sidonie the influeces comes from the Beatles, Rollings Stones, Bowie and Pink Floyd.

First album "Dragonfly" was released in 2000 and the latest "El incendio" ("The fire") in 2009.

This song is my very favourite of Sidonies songs. The basic plot of the song: A boy tries to tell a girl he's in love with her but awkwardly he falls right in front of her with his sad daisy bouquet. She thinks he's crazy and is afraid of him and calls the cops and the boy has never courage to say "I love you". It's simple and easy but so fun AND sad to listen. I'm very fond of songs which are stories that really work. You can hear that some songs are foced to specific rimes to be perfect stories but Sidonie has done it so perfect. Not too short, not too many and hard phrases.

Check also: Jardín polar ("Polar garden"), El incendio ("The fire"),Los Olvidados("The forgotten ones"), Nueva York ("New York"), Un día mas en la vida(feat. Zahara) ("One day more in life"),  Giraluna (Girasol would be"Sunflower" so Giraluna is "Moonflower"), Sidonie goes to London, Viva el loco que inventó el amor ("Long live the one who invented the love"), lyrics, Interview (in Spanish), Another interview (also in Spanish), Interview (in Catalan), Fascinado (live in ipop tve2) ("Fascinated"), MySpace, Live performance.

EN MI GARGANTA

Es el día de la cita
te he traído margaritas
del jardín de mi casero
Te quiero!

En la plaza de repente
yo te veo entre la gente
me resbalo caigo al suelo
Te quiero!

Te tiendo la mano
y te ofrezco triste ramo
te apartas un poco
y me dices que estoy loco.

*Está en mi garganta

Está en mi garganta
Me está cortando y sangra

Me está cortando y sangra
Me ahoga el te quiero que jamás podré decir.*

Yo te hablo y me atraganto
estoy temblando quedo en blanco
tu me hablas yo no entiendo
Te quiero!

En las ramblas ya eres mia
tu has gritado policía
me he escondido en el puerto
Te quiero!

Espero la calma
mientras tu crucero zarpa
Agito un pañuelo
digo adiós a la que quiero.

*Está en mi garganta...*

IN MY THROAT

It's the day of the date

I've brought you daisies

From my home garden

I love you!

Suddenly on the square

I see you among the people

I slip and fall to the ground

I love you!

And to you 

I hand a sad bouquet

You draw away little

And to me you say that I'm crazy

*It is in my throat

It is in my throat

It's killing me and I bleed

It's killing me and I bleed

I suppress the "I love you"

That I never can say

I talk to you and the words get stuck

I'm shaking and I turn into white

You talk to me and I don't understand

I love you!

At market streets you are mine

You yelled the police

I hide into the harbour

I love you!

I'm waiting the peace

Meanwhile you cross the zebra crossing

I wave the handkerchief

I say goodbye to the girl I love

*It is in my throat...*

Jay Brannan

Jay Brannan is solo artist and songwriter from Texas. His music is a mixture of indie, pop, lo-fi and angel like singing. He has been reagarded as a male version of Joni Mitchell.

His youth was hard and specially at school he had no easy time. He has called his family as conservative Baptists and that's why it's no wonder that his parents were not very fascinated when he one day got a boyfriend. He is openly gay and one of his most beautiful and sad songs is ”I want to be a housewife”.

Check also: Can't have it all, Body's A Temple, The Freshman.

The lyric of the song is very touching and very very sad.

GODDAMNED

I’m marching to Zion
A camera in my hand
I hear people cryin’
Dyin’ for this blood-stained land
The streets of old Jerusalem
Are lined with souvenirs and those buying them
It sounds cold, but I cannot see
How this theme park has shaped history

Cause virgins don’t have babies
And water isn’t wine
And there’s a holy spirit maybe
But she would never rent a room with walls built by mankind
Mary and Mohammed
Are screaming through the clouds
For you to lay your goddamned arms down
Rip your bigot roots up from the earth and salt the goddamned ground

Stand in line patiently
To supercharge your rosary
Or stuff your prayers inside this wall
We once had god trapped in this great hall
But we’ve been cast out from this place
They say a prophet floated from here to outer space
Am I crazy? maybe it’s me
But this all sounds like mythology

Cause virgins don’t have babies
And water isn’t wine
And there’s a holy spirit maybe
But she would never rent a room with walls built by mankind
Mary and Mohammed
Are screaming through the clouds
For you to lay your goddamned arms down
Rip your bigot roots up from the earth and salt the goddamned ground

Zeus was afraid of his girlfriend
So he swallowed her in bed
Then he bore forth Athena
When they cracked open his head
Her brother tried to rape her
Athena got away
And when his seed hit the ground
The grass gave birth that day
Now we all freely admit
This story’s clearly bullshit
No one would lay down their life
Or start a war for it
So throw your stones and pray
You’ll be rewarded someday
I hope it all goes your way
But something tells me
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
Save yourselves
From turning earth into hell

No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you

Mary and Mohammed
Are screaming through the clouds
For you to lay your goddamned arms down
Rip your bigot roots up from the earth and salt the goddamned ground

Laleh

Laleh Pourkarim, known as Laleh is a singer, songwriter and actress from Sweden though she really is from Iran. Her father was a well-kown Iranian sociologist. She sings in English, in Persian and in Swedish. Her first album was released in 2005 and she won three of her seven nominations of Grammis Awards. Her latest album ”Me and Simon” was published in 2009.

Her small movie career was in 2000 when she was in a major role in Swdish movie called Jalla! Jalla!

In additin to singing she also plays guitar, saxophone and percussion and her musical style is somewhere between pop, rock, folk and indie.

Check also: Bjurö Klubb, Big City Love, Simon Says, Nation, Svalorna( " The swallows").

This song is also in the movie called Arn - tempelriddaren ("Arn - the knight templar").

SNÖ

(Music&Text: Laleh Pourkarim)

När staden snöat över, och gården blivit vit
Då vet du att jag drömmer, jag drömmer dig hit
När allt snöat över, och gården blivit kall
Då vet du att jag drömmer
För det är snö, det är som moln överallt

Då vet du att jag finns, att jag finns kvar hos dig
Trots att jag alltid springer, är jag där du hör mig
Om du inte hör mig, om du inte gör
Så ska jag sjunga för dig, precis så du hör

Jag, jag älskar dig
Så högt så du hör
Om det är så

Hur länge, tror du att längtan kan växa, växa?
Om vi förgör
Hur länge, hur länge?
Sommaren har gömt, sommaren har gömt

Men jag har inte glömt
Hur det är att älska
Och jag älskar dig ,jag älskar dig
Så högt så du hör

Och hungern den sitter i rösten inte i magen, i rösten
Därför är vi tysta, om saken
Och det är så
Och det är så
Jag älskar
Så högt så du hör
Och, och det är så
Högt, högt, högt, högt...

SNOW

When city is covered with snow

And the courtyard has became white

Then you know that I'm dreaming

I'm dreaming

I'm dreaming you here

When all is covered with snow

And the courtyard has became cold

Then I know that I'm dreaming

For it is snow

It's like clouds everywhere

Then you know that I am

That I still am with you

Even though I'm allways running

I'm where you hear me

If you can't hear me

If you do not

Then I'm gonna sing for you

Precisely so you hear...

I love you

So loud that you hear

And so it is

How long

Do you think

That longing can grow

Grow

If we are free

How long - how long

Summer has hidden it, yes,

Summer has hidden it

But I haven't forgotten

What is to love

And I love you

Yes, I love you

So loud

So you hear

And hunger stays in the voice

Not in the stomach

In the voice

That's why we don't speak about it

And so it is

It is so

I love you

So loud that you hear

It is so...

Loud, loud, loud, loud...