I’ve noticed that when meeting a foreign person, mentioning that you like a beloved artist from their country is one of the best way to create a good vibe.

Which revered artist/group (not necessarily musician) from your place should I learn about?

A few examples I’m thinking about (correct me if I’m wrong):

Country Artist
Argentina Carlos Gardel
Australia Powderfinger
Austria Mozart, Falco, Thomas Bernhard
Beligum Jacques Brel, Stromae
Brazil Raul Seixas, Zé Ramalho
Cabo Verde Cesária Évora
Canada Leonard Cohen, Céline Dion, Gordon Lightfoot
Egypt Umm Kulthum
France Daft Punk
Germany Kraftwerk, Die Ärzte, Franz Kafka
Iceland Björk
Italy Elio e le Storie Tese
Malawai Evison Matafale
Mali Salif Keita
Scotland The Proclaimers, Sean Connery
Sweden Astrid Lindgren
USA Dolly Parton

Edit: Spent my Saturday morning vibing, adding the “consensual” suggestions to the table.

  • NX2
    6•1 year ago

    Germany is big, but I think a good one that ruffles no feathers is Santiano (a sea-man shanty like band), though obviously Ramstein is bigger, but some people think that they are nazis (which they aren’t, they are provocative)

    • AggressivelyPassive
      13•1 year ago

      Given that recent scandals and Lindemann, right wing connotations are the least of their worries.

      For the uninformed: he allegedly used the backstage area as a sex dungeon, including drugs, minors, rape, etc.

    • @[email protected]
      12•1 year ago

      Santiano is not universally loved. They’re too close to Schlager for that. And the issue with Rammstein isn’t really alleged nazism (which only came up briefly when they used Leni Riefenstahl’s footage) but rather their singer’s alleged backstage raping.

      So far, I haven’t met people who hated Herbert Grönemeyer, Marius-Müller Westernhagen, Jan Delay, Nina Hagen, die Ärzte, die fantastischen Vier or Reinhard Mey. A little more recent music that I have rarely seen associated negatively would be by Kraftklub, Peter Fox or Deichkind. None of this is particularly progressive, but it’s decent stuff that is so universally liked that e.g. weddings often rely on them to get people to dance.

      • @[email protected]
        8•1 year ago

        Just realised that this isn’t just about music. Those were all musicians or bands, but Germany of course has people from all trades.

        To universally loved artists I’d count

        • Janosch, a children’s books author. Love his work. Never met anyone who didn’t.
        • Franz Kafka. Like… Depressing stories? Dunno. It’s just that, despite his work being quite dark, it’s just pretty damn good.
        • Peter Lustig moderated a kids’ TV show, Löwenzahn. He eventually stopped due to his age and his successor does a good job, but he was just… Chef’s kiss, you know?
        • Michael Ende wrote what I guess would be some of the most famous German children’s books for older kids. The Neverending Story, for example. All his books are considered modern classics.
        • There are a lot of famous actresses and actors, but when it comes to being loved for their work without any attached drama, I guess Bjarne Mädel takes the cake. Tatortreiniger is brilliant and I haven’t heard anything negative tied to him.
        • Armin Maiwald und Christoph Biemann spearheaded the German kids show “Die Sendung mit der Maus” and are very much loved for their work.
      • Matengor
        1•1 year ago

        My personal suggestion list would be:

        • Die Ärzte
        • Peter Fox
        • Nina Hagen
    • @antim0ny
      4•1 year ago

      What about Kraftwerk. They’re so influential and iconic.

    • NX2
      2•1 year ago

      Another Idea I had is The Sandmännchen (A berry young kids show that runs every day since 1959) there almost no talking so you could say that “your kids love it” or something

    • oce 🐆OP
      1•1 year ago

      Santiano

      Interesting! I knew the French version of this song by Hugues Aufray, which happens to be the inspiration for this band’s name. Although, Aufray’s inspiration is the sea shanty Santianna referring to the Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna, which has many variations.