Magazine / Culture / Sing! / Article | 21/05/2008

Tell me how you sing...

...and I'll tell you where you live. eurotopics correspondents on the song cultures of Denmark, Finland, France and Greece.

A melody to get things going
The scene is the annual conference of a Danish newspaper: while the speakers put the finishing touches to their power-point presentations, someone sits down at the piano and everyone enthusiastically joins in a popular 1940s love song.

Photo: AP

Singing at work? In Denmark this is nothing out of the ordinary. Seminars, conferences, club meetings, and in smaller communities even local council meetings often begin with a song, and everyone joins in: in spring it's a song about spring, the trade unions sing workers' songs, in Church it's a psalm. Not everyone knows all the words, but thanks to the classic evening classes for adults and regular singing sessions, the tunes at least are familiar to most Danes, and if need be one can just hum along.
At real parties people sing their own songs: guests at weddings, birthday parties or confirmation ceremonies compose their own lyrics especially for such occasions and everyone joins in singing them to some well-known tune off the cuff. (Brigitte Alfter)

Stage animals
In Finland everyone's mad about tango Finnish tango. It's even more melancholic than the Argentine original. Since 1985, each July the Finnish city of Seinäjoki celebrates its annual tango festival. Candidates for the title of tango king or tango queen must first qualify in national trials for the finals of this now world-famous singing contest. Not only tango singing, but also singing on prime time television has become very popular with Finnish audiences. The shows have names like "Tartu mikkiin" ("grab that microphone") or "Biisikärpänen" ("song-fly") and have earned the country its reputation as the stronghold of karaoke. In 2007, singing fans from Kouvala broke the world's non-stop karaoke record by singing for 211 hours, 38 minutes and 4 seconds. The sixth karaoke world championships will take place from 23rd - 25th October in the Finnish city of Lahti. The website Karaoke.fi dedicates 57 pages to informing surfers about the karaoke competition. (Cornelia Kiaupa)

On connaît la chanson
France's national music culture is particularly vigorous. It is amazing to see how singers like Johnny Hallyday and Charles Aznavour have sung successfully for decades now and are still going strong. Nonetheless, over the past few years young musicians like the guitar poet Renan Luce or singer Olivia Ruiz have breathed new life into the traditional "chanson française". These singer-songwriters enthral audiences with their intelligent lyrics, accompanied by minimalist music. At the annual Fête de la Musique the French belt out their idols' songs at the top of their voices. On June 21 free open-air concerts will be given by both amateurs and professional musicians in many French cities from Paris to Perpignan. This initiative was set in motion by French dance and music director Maurice Fleuret when he organised the first festival back in 1982. The concept has now been exported to several other countries, including Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Nina Schönmeier)

Sacred serenades
The music never stops playing, the village singers are worshipped like superstars and guests sing and dance sentimental traditional Greek dances like the Kalamatianos or Syrtos. In Greece, the panigiria - open-air concerts which originated in rural areas - are an important element of the country festival and singing culture. These concerts, where the wine flows and meat and other delicacies abound, usually take place in summer, for example on Assumption Day (15 August) or other name days of important Orthodox saints such as Agia Marina (Saint Marina) on 17 July or Saint Dimitrios, the patron saint of the city of Thessaloniki, on 26 October. The singers accompany their song with traditional Greek instruments like the lauto, santouri and lyra, but instruments like the clarinet, guitar, tambourine and violins can also be heard. Young and old celebrate together, and sometimes a new musical talent is discovered, as was the case with Giannis Charoulis, a successful singer from Crete. (Chrisa Wilkens)

Further articles on the subject » Music, » Public Culture, » France, » Greece, » Finland, » Denmark, » Europe
More from the press review on the subject » Music, » Public Culture, » France, » Greece, » Finland, » Denmark, » Europe