10 Days with Europe's Top 10 Pop Music Scenes. #2.

Number 2: Finland. 12.24% GREEN (12.24% of that country's charting songs earned top marks on my spreadsheet)

The Finns are famous for their metal music scene, which garnered Euro-wide attention when Lordi became the least-likely band in Eurovision history ever to win the contest. The Finnish metal scene supports several subgenres, including Viking metal and folk metal. Nightwish are one of the most popular metal bands in Europe, although their diction is sometimes a bit off.

The Finns also appreciate the sort of Eurodum-dum-dance music I like, not to mention straight-up rock 'n' roll.

Some tracks from the last couple of years:

Aste - Poikkeus Sääntöön
Dacia - Liikaa Sulta Odotin (Dance Mix)
Deck Jagger - Gay Clubs Are Better
Jenni Vartiainen - En Haluu Kuolla Tänä Yönä
Stratovarius - Deep Unknown
Turmion Kätilöt - Verkko Heiluu
Uniklubi - Kukka
Waldo's People - Lose Control


The list so far:

#3: Croatia
#4: Slovakia
#5: Bulgaria
#6: Sweden
#7: Lithuania
#8: Ukraine
#9: Slovenia
#10: The Netherlands

10 Days with Europe's Top 10 Pop Music Scenes. #3.

Number 3: Croatia. 11.11% GREEN (11.11% of that country's charting songs earned top marks on my spreadsheet)

The majority of my three months in Europe earlier this year was spent in Croatia. You've got your beautiful girls, friendly people, and myriad places to enjoy a beer (I recommend paying the relatively steep admission fee in order to enjoy one or three atop Dubrovnik's ancient walls overlooking the Adriatic). I posted several blog entries about my Croatian experiences a couple months back, but for those in need of immediate direction I will emphasize this link to a description of my favorite night out in Zagreb.

Croatia is blessed with plenty of coastline, which is something of a sore point to some of the neighboring countries. "The Mediterranean as it once was," goes the brilliantly accurate (and thus oft-cited) tourist bureau quote. Indeed, it is hard to find reminders of the war-ravaged Croatia "as it once was" only a decade ago. If you wish to wade into that, I highly recommend Slavenka Drakulić's affecting The Balkan Express, a used copy of which you can track down for literally pennies on Amazon.com.

Nobody's music better romanticizes the appeal of coastal Croatian living in the former Yugoslavia days than Oliver Dragojević's. Track down a greatest hits collection from this guy.

Oliver made a name for himself at the Split Song Festival (many of his 70s records allude to the festival, usually with the word SPLIT followed by the year the song was performed there). That festival continues to this day, and focuses on Croatian talent (a bit like Italy's San Remo festival). For the more internationally-minded, there is the Soundwave Festival, which was enthusiastically mentioned to me by more than a few Croatians. This July's Soundwave event is already sold out.

Because of the small populations of the former Yugoslav republics and their close proximity to one another, big-name artists don't see much point in touring the entirety of the Balkans, so they often just play Zagreb.

Croatia's music scene is wonderful, but before any of you Croatians out there get too big-headed, let me remind you that not long ago you were doing things like this. ;-)

Some tracks from the last couple of years:

Bijelo dugme - Hajdemo u planine (Karma Remix)
Dus and Kristijan Beluhan - Kao Nekad
Elemental - Nema Ga
Gibonni - Žeđam
Hari and Nina - Ne Mogu Ti Reći Što Je Tuga
Putokazi - Dvojnica
And as a bonus, I recorded some live, more traditional music in Zagreb back in March for your listening pleasure


The rest of the countdown so far:

#4: Slovakia
#5: Bulgaria
#6: Sweden
#7: Lithuania
#8: Ukraine
#9: Slovenia
#10: The Netherlands

10 Days with Europe's Top 10 Pop Music Scenes. #4.

Are you beginning to see a pattern? I promise to reveal all in a future analysis of just how things wound up the way they did. For now, we continue our countdown.

Number 4: Slovakia. 9.93% GREEN (9.93% of that country's charting songs earned top marks on my spreadsheet)

Despite having been conjoined as "Czechoslovakia" for most of the 20th century, the now-separated Czech Republic and Slovakia cannot be culturally lumped together. A fair number of Czech and Slovak musicians surface on both country's pop charts, but most artists from those countries are more likely to appear on only one chart or the other. Last night I reviewed the last five weeks of both countries' top 100 charts and found that they had only 28% of their songs in common with one another during that period.

Both countries' local music scenes are characterized by a more laid-back, Central European sound, which is to say a greater emphasis on rock and jazz influences--very little in the way of ostentation or flash. One might say that the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia are more inclined to "play it safe" with their pop; I'd say they exhibit class, subtlety, and tasteful restraint. (Of course, as with all music scenes, rowdier exceptions pop up from time to time to liven up the proceedings.)

It's when you also consider the international artists appearing on their pop charts that Slovakia winds up with a definite edge, charts-wise, over its neighbors. I fiddled with music chart spreadsheets in an effort to determine the reasons for Slovakia's superiority over the Czech Republic, and I even examined both countries' demographics seeking clues (perhaps the higher level of "fun" on Slovakia's charts is a reflection of Slovakia's lower average age and higher birth rate?), but I couldn't make any convincing correlations. It seems the Slovakian pop chart is just more enjoyable for me on some subjective level that cannot be quantified. However, I did uncover one demerit for the Czech Republic.*

Some tracks from the last couple of years, plus a bonus 2006 number from Dara Rolins, since it's one of my favorite trash tunes:

Dara Rolins and Robo Papp - Chuť si ťa nájde
Knechtová Katka - Môj Bože
Kristína - Horehronie
PapaJaM - Nemusíš Sa Bá
Zdenka Predná - Kam Má Ísť?

* "In the summer of 2008, the Czech Radio Board terminated Radio Wave, which had catered to a younger audience. Council members’ arguments against the station—based partly on an incorrect translation of one supposedly corruptive song—indicated an overall lack of tolerance for alternative music and lifestyles." (from pages 191-192 of the 2009 edition of Nations in Transit, Freedom House's annual review of levels of freedom in Eastern European and Eurasian countries). The "supposedly corruptive song" was alleged by the Council to be fascist propaganda. It was Scottish rock band Primal Scream's "Swastika Eyes," which, despite the exciting title, is certainly not a fascist song. However, it may be dangerously groovy.


The rest of the countdown so far:

#5: Bulgaria
#6: Sweden
#7: Lithuania
#8: Ukraine
#9: Slovenia
#10: The Netherlands

10 Days with Europe's Top 10 Pop Music Scenes. #5.

Number 5: Bulgaria. 9.56% GREEN (9.56% of that country's charting songs earned top marks on my spreadsheet)

If this ranking system were based upon each country's pop contributions to the rest of the world, yesterday's number 6, Sweden, would have been Number 1. But that's not how I'm doing things. Instead, I am looking at the entertainment value provided by various countries' pop charts as a whole, and only from the last couple years, based on how the numbers came out on my spreadsheet of 9000 songs. By those measures, Bulgaria and four other countries outrank Sweden.

Not that the Bulgarian music scene needs apologizing for. It's a lively and varied thing, unabashedly fun and astonishingly varied. The rich diversity of sound may be a byproduct of Bulgaria's geography; it lies at perhaps the greatest crossroads of Europe, bordering such varied countries as Turkey, Romania, Serbia, FYR Macedonia, and Greece. All these cultures are reflected in their music.

Bulgaria's artists are willing and able to tackle anything from rap to breakbeats, and their chalga music is one of the catchier forms of the too-maligned turbo-folk offshoots in the Balkans. (Perhaps chalga benefits from direct contact with the neighboring Turkish music scene. It also packs a lot more percussive oomph than, say, Romania's manele scene to the north.) Sometimes Bulgarian artists mash the ethnic and dancefloor elements together with great finesse, as this--maybe the coolest Eurovision song of all time--demonstrates.*

Like the neighboring Romanians, Bulgarians have an appreciation for catchy dancefloor tracks, but whereas Romania has fallen in love with its own style of icy, minimal techno-pop (and lately has put a few too many eggs in that one basket), the Bulgarians seem to be better-rounded music appreciators.

In addition to their own country's music, the Bulgarian music charts also introduced me to such diverse non-Bulgarian fare as Alexandra Burke's "All Night Long (Cahill Edit)" and Kasabian's "Fire." Even a popular South Korean pop star called BoA landed on the Bulgarian chart recently. And despite the usual homophobia one unfortunately comes to expect in Southeastern Europe, the Bulgarian people are not afraid to court a little controversy on their music charts.

Some tracks from the last couple of years:

Deep Zone Project - DJ Take Me Away
Kamelia - Useshtam te oshte
Mastilo - Dumite
Miro and Krum - V Edno Ogledalo (Salma Ya Salama)
Upsurt - Doping Test
Ustata and Sofi Marinova - Bate Shefe

* They came in 5th.


The rest of the countdown so far:

#6: Sweden
#7: Lithuania
#8: Ukraine
#9: Slovenia
#10: The Netherlands

10 Days with Europe's Top 10 Pop Music Scenes. #6.

Number 6: Sweden. 9.19% GREEN (9.19% of that country's charting songs earned top marks on my spreadsheet)

A Swede once told me that Sweden, more than any tropical destination, was the land of sun-worshippers, because after the long, dark winter nobody appreciates the return of the sun more. Perhaps that explains Sweden's love for sunny pop (and the frequent use of reggae beats in their pop tunes).

Every Swedish pop group stands in the long shadow of ABBA, but Eurovision's only truly successful band is far from the only well-known Swedish export. Consider Ace of Base and Roxette (which, despite short careers in the U.S., have sustained a loyal following in Europe) and, to a lesser extent (time will tell), Alcazar and Robyn. But that's just looking at the surface. Behind-the-scenes, Stockholm producer/songwriter Max Martin may become as huge a cultural influence as ABBA, having written an astonishingly large number of top 40 hit songs for many American artists.

There seems to be some sort of partnership between the Swedish recording industry and Disney (perhaps distantly related to Max Martin's early work with former Mouseketeer Britney Spears), judging from the appearance of Swedish pop groups on Disney soundtracks (including Play [which have recently regrouped] and The Merrymakers), and the propensity for Disney stars to rework Swedish tunes (such as Hilary Duff, who offered a craven, G-rated take on Swedish singer Sahlene's delightfully raunchy "The Little Voice"*). In other marketing tie-ins, most of us Americans are familiar with Teddybears' "Different Sound" thanks to its effective use in an Intel advertisement which, judging from this, had some pop cultural traction.

I wish I could describe each of the dozens of great Europop artists of Sweden's recent past, but that would be an especially exhausting exercise. Suffice it to say, whether tackling pop dance, rap, rock, heavy metal, or even jazz, Sweden's music artists are always ready to unleash The Big Hook. OK, there have been some misfires as well, but still...

Here are a large number of good/interesting Swedish songs from the last couple of years:

Adiam Dymott - Miss You
Aextra - Himmu and Höll
Agnes [Carlsson] - On And On
Alcazar - Stay the Night
Jazzattacks - Bootleg
Mange Schmidt - Ledig
Maskinen - Dansa med vapen (feat. Marina Gasolina)
Melody Club - The Only Ones
P-Bros feat DJ Trexx and Olga Pratilova- Tingaliin
Sabaton - Cliffs Of Gallipoli
Salem - Astronaut
The Sounds - No One Sleeps When I'm Awake
Veronica Maggio - Måndagsbarn


* "The Little Voice" was written by Patrik Berger, a Swede, and Kara DioGuardi, an American who is now best known as an "American Idol" judge.


The rest of the countdown so far:

#7: Lithuania
#8: Ukraine
#9: Slovenia
#10: The Netherlands

10 Days with Europe's Top 10 Pop Music Scenes. #7.

A bit late in the day with this post; I had an old-fashioned epic night out in Atlanta with a friend last night (made possible in part because it's an American holiday today). I have spent much of the day in bed. Only now am I beginning to feel human again.

Number 7: Lithuania. 8.72% GREEN (8.72% of that country's charting songs earned top marks on my spreadsheet)

For those flummoxed by geography, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania conveniently lie in alphabetical order as they run from north to south down the Baltic Sea coast. Lithuania is in the odd position of bordering Kalingrad, a Russian exclave (Kalingrad is part of Russia but is physically isolated from the rest of that country). Belarus, that odd duck of a county ruled by the "last dictator in Europe," lies to Lithuania's south-east, but the comforts of the EU lie just across a stretch of Lithuania's south-western border with Poland.

The result is a music scene of some complexity, reflecting both the trashy glitz of Russian pop (especially when it comes to leggy girl groups) and the more laid-back live rock band sound that dominates much of Central Europe. Oh, and WTF?

Some tracks from the last couple of years:

Alanas Chošnau - Išlaisvink mane
Diamond - Dangiški migdolai
SEL - Parašyk Man Laišką Iš Paryžiaus (Remix)
Stano - Šypsnis
Viktorija Perminaitė - Maža maža
Vilija ir Merūnas - Mano meilei

10 Days with Europe's Top 10 Pop Music Scenes. #8.

Germany won Eurovision yesterday, thus breaking the "No Big Four Country Will Ever Win Eurovision Curse." But how will Germany do on my own countdown of the top 10 pop music scenes in Europe?

Number 8: Ukraine. 8.11% GREEN (8.11% of that country's charting songs earned top marks on my spreadsheet)

In 2004 Ruslana's "Wild Dances" won the Eurovision song contest. Only a few months later the singer was addressing cheering Orange Revolution supporters in Kiev. The Orange Revolution reversed the results of a good old-fashioned Soviet-style rigged election and turned control of the government over to a more Western-focused group of politicans.

Unfortunately, due to massive and embarrassing infighting amongst its leaders, the Orange Revolution has now petered out. While Ukraine as a whole doesn't look like it's going to become the Russia lackey some pessimists imagine (it's in any country's best-interest to pursue a relatively independent track), the Russian influence will certainly grow under the current government's tenure, as has been signaled by a string of recent positions taken on Sevastopol, the Holodomor, and NATO membership.

In the USSR, the Ukrainian music scene was run from Moscow. Thus, when Ukraine declared independence the country had to build its own music distribution network from scratch.

I can't see how the Orange Revolution would have helped most Ukrainian musicians very much. Looking to the affluent west may sound great in concept, and Ruslana may have enjoyed moderate Western success after her Eurovision showing, but for most Ukrainian music groups business always lay to the east, and breaking from Russia probably left many artists feeling relatively stranded in a market not advanced or big enough to support those musicians--especially after the Orange Revolution.

The result of Ukraine's independence has been a music scene that is in disarray. But I think Ukraine's pop music is much stronger than Russia's, and in general it has large potential. Ukraine's music strengths may be a byproduct of the country's geographic position, where it soaks up interesting ideas from its many neighbors (it's worth noting how much easier it is, logistics-wise, for a westerner to visit Ukraine than to visit Russia). Ukraine is not massive, and so ideas can circulate more efficiently. Oddly enough, Ukraine may also benefit from a long history of invasion that has resulted in every single citizen being naturally a bit multi-cultural.

Over the years, I have seen Ukraine offer drum and bass DJs who utilize live instruments in their sets, a female rapper who also sat on a cake in Playboy (or so I was told), a rock/rap band that utilizes traditional Ukrainian folk singing, and an ostentatious drag queen who, in a telling hint of the general Ukrainian attitude towards homosexuality, has never explicitly said he is gay (his Wikipedia entry is worth a look).

Perhaps the most stirring Ukrainian music comes from the old ladies from the country's rural villages. This is some haunting and lovely stuff.

Some tracks from the last couple of years:

Dazzle Dreams - Disco Killers
Gorchitza - Final Cut
Tina Karol / Тина Кароль - Ne boysya
Zebra / Зебра - Vesna / Весна