In a ballad-y mood? Try Italian

In Mexico, Italians are known for their ballads. But not all of the Italian acts reach the other side of the Atlantic. There are some Italians singers that will blow you socks off but as of yet have not conquered the Americas.

Noemi

In my opinion, the best Italian ballad singer is Noemi. As much as I hate comparing people, Noemi is like an Italian Adele. She is also a singer-songwriter. My first encounter with Noemi was with her song Per tutta la vita (Lifelong). This song exemplifies her incredible voice. Another song that I really like from Noemi is Sono solo parole (They are only words). The last song that I have bought is Se non è amore (That is not love). 

Another incredible singer from Italy is Alessandra Amoroso. She came into the music scene by winning a talent show. Alessandra mostly sings pop ballads. One my favorite songs from this great singer is Stupida (Stupid). The song revolves around how stupid the person is and not really knowing who they really are. Another song that I really like is Senza nuvole (Without clouds). If I think of Italians ballads, Senza nuvole comes first to mind.

Jovanotti

The ballads are not only dominated by women. One artists that comes into mind is Jovanotti. Even thought he delves into other genres, he also sings some pop ballads. An example of this is his song named Tutto l'amore che ho (All the love that I have). 

Gianluca Grignani is another artist that comes to mind. His first album, Destinazione Paradiso was launched in 1995. His song, La mia storia tra le dita (My story between your fingers) from his first album was in hit in Mexico but in Spanish as Mi Historia Entre Tus Dedos. But one of his latest hits, Natura umana (Human Nature), has not really hit the American airwaves.

These are just a few of the artists that are really rockin' Italy. Give them a try and if possible try to find translations of some of these songs to get a better grasp of what they are really are about or just to figure its essence. 

By clicking on the name of the songs, it will take you to a youtube video of each song so you can take a listen to them. Most of these songs are available on iTunes. I believe that this will be my last post until after Christmas, so Merry Christmas.  Enjoy your holidays.

Bollywood and its Music Today

In an interesting way Bollywood is creating music with a perfect mix of  pop/dance/electronic music and traditional Indian. Even with the western elements Bollywood is still creating music distinctly Indian.


One such great example is Tumhi Ho Bandhu. This song is part of the soundtrack of the Hindi movie Cocktail. It is sung by Neeraj Shridhar & Kavita Seth and has dance components. This song is available on iTunes and if you want to sample it by clicking here it will take you to the video on Youtube.

Another song that is great to dance to is Tu Mohabbat Hai remix sung by Atif Aslam & Monali Thakur. This song is also part to the compilation of the Bollywood movie Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya. Click here to view the video.

If you are into a more mellow music I recommend Ishaqzaade. It is a pop ballad sung by Javed Ali & Shreya  Ghoshal. This song is also part of a Bollywood movie with the same title as the song. Just click here listen to the song.

I recommend these songs if you have never given a try to Hindi music. As the world becomes more interconnected we are becoming world citizens so give these songs a listen to. Enjoy music hunting!

Rumor Has It! Apple's October 23rd Event...

Apple is launching another event this 23rd of October. Rumors has been swarming that the new iPad Mini will be presented along with some new Macs. There has been other rumors talking precisely of other interesting things that iTunes has in store for us.

With the new iPad Mini Apple is going into direct competition with Amazon's Kindles. Apple is going to try to reinforce it sales of books in its stores by expanding books for purchase in other countries not yet available. Coming along with the iPad mini there is talk of a possible launch of sales of books in Latin America.

Other important rumors revolving iTunes is possible music store launches in Turkey, Russia, South Africa and other countries. In South Africa's case a statement was made by Yoel Kenan, CEO of  Africori (an African music distributor) that iTunes Music Store will be available soon in South Africa. There has been news flying around that Turkey will possibly have its own music store also. What has been more prevalent are rumors that Russia will have an iTunes Music Store coming this quarter. Now, it's my opinion that along with the iPad Mini launch on October 23rd these and other countries will have it's own iTunes store in which music is available for purchase.

Another rumor involving iTunes, to be more precise, iTunes Japan is the possible availability of Sony's Japanese Music Catalog in the Japanese iTunes Music Store. Sony has never made available its Japanese music on iTunes due to the fact that Sony saw (sees?) Apple as a rival to its business. These rumors revolve around Tetsuya Komuro's comments on twitter, who is a musician who worked under Sony's label in Japan.

The only way to know if these rumors are really true is to wait for the 23rd of October Apple event! One thing is for certain is iTunes 11's launch.

Swedish Electro-pop Anyone?

What is hitting the airways recently in Sweden is Alina Devecerski. This singer comes from Stockholm. Before starting her solo career she was a song writer and her songs went to other artists. Now she has launched several singles from her upcoming album Marathon which will come out on November 19. 

Her single Flytta på dej (Move) has been in the top charts in Norway, Denmark and obviously Sweden. The song has a mix of electronica, pop, and dance. The song is really catchy and great to dance to. The vocals may a sound a little bit weird but it is still enticing. I highly recommend it. If you want to see the translated lyrics in English just click here so see them. 

Alina has another single called Ikväll Skiter Jag I Allt (Tonight I Shit In Everything). This song runs in the same style as Flytta  på dej using electronic beats with dance and pop. 

Her songs are currently available in iTunes Music Stores in Europe, Latin America, Asia (except Japan), and Oceania. These songs will soon be available in Canada and the US (my prediction is it will be available when Marathon launches in November 19 yet I am unsure if they will be available in Japan).

Buying Music on a Foreign iTunes Store

If you wander outside of your local iTunes store you may run into the risk of liking a song that is in another country's iTunes music store. So what do you do now?

Somehow you need to create an account in the other country's store. As you all well know you cannot create an account if you do not have a credit card from that precise country.

Luckily there is another way to create and buy the song/s that you want to buy in the foreign store. Unfortunately this work around only functions in countries that sell iTunes Cards.

Best way to to obtain these iTunes cards is by going the localized versions of eBay.com. For example, the song that you like is located in iTunes Music Store France, you need to go to eBay.fr and see if there is any available iTunes Cards available for sale. When buying the card on eBay make sure the card is for that country because they tend to sell US iTunes Cards. Another thing to be aware is if the seller is willing to send the code of the card via email and that you are able to pay the seller. A great payment method is via Paypal. The great thing about eBay is that the cards tend to be cheaper than buying it from established sellers that focus on selling iTunes cards from other countries.

Now, there are cases that iTunes cards tend to be cheaper with established sellers. One example of this is the Japanese iTunes Cards.

Some songs are only located in a certain regions such as Scandinavia, Latin America, Continental Europe, and UK & Ireland. It gives a bit of leeway of obtaining the songs in other countries with iTunes Cards that are easier to obtain online.

Jbox.com has a great set of instructions on how to create a foreign account (This site focuses on Japan but just replace Japan for which ever country you are trying to create an account). Just click here to see the instructions.

The following is a list of countries with websites where I recommend you to obtain iTunes cards from.

Europe
UK - www.ebay.co.uk  & www.itunesvoucher.co.uk
Germany - www.ebay.de  & www.ituneskarte.de
Denmark - www.dba.dk Ireland - www.ebay.ie          Spain - www.ebay.es       
Sweden - www.tradera.com
France - www.ebay.fr  & www.carteitunes.fr
Italy - www.ebay.it              Russia - www.igroshop.com
*You may be able to buy cards from http://www.mitunes.tv/index.asp. It is an established seller of foreign iTunes cards but prices tend to be steep.

North America, Asia & Oceania
US - www.ebay.com            Mexico - www.mercadolibre.com.mx 
Canada - www.ebay.ca      Australia - www.ebay.com.au
Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore - www.play-asia.com

I wish you good luck on your future music discoveries!

My first post!

Welcome to World Music and iTunes. This blog is going to be focused on the subjects of world music and iTunes. Every other month I am going to present you a new music genres and songs. Songs and genres presented will most likely come from outside the US. On the iTunes side of my blog I am going to give pointers in creating accounts, creating lists, or just general news about iTunes. Hope you enjoy this blog.