Ferengi National Anthem?! (And others...)

[Nerys Ghemor]

This made me laugh so hard I almost cried.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8h70QMft8s

(Why do I think the Ferengi are marketing their anthem as a karaoke tune, pay per play? )

I've got to warn you...the visuals are crap in these. However, the audio is interesting.

The words are made-up in all cases (not an actual "language" as I've created), but interesting. Especially that even in the most "Western-like" songs, there is something slightly alien about the melodies and preferences each species exhibits. (I notice, for instance, that the Cardassian one slides subtly on and off-key, by Western standards, but it's done deliberately and not because the singer doesn't know what he's doing.) I only wish the instrumentation had changed with each song, to reflect different musical traditions, but I suppose the composer was limited by his program.

Here they are rated in my order of preference.

Cardassian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRzks4V-gT4 (Got kind of a Red Army vibe going...definitely favoring a "Slavic" sound to the language as I chose. Someday, I am going to record a song in my Cardassian language, where the lyrics mean something. One of the more "alien" of the singing styles here.)

Romulan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0OokTuq7Bw

Alternate UFP anthem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whv0oXt0R6Q (Derivative of the TMP/TNG theme, but not implausible.)

Klingon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiB1A9c-KQA (Skip to 0:24 on this. The lyrics are SO NOT in proper Klingon. This must be a German-Klingon pidgin. Yeah. )

Vulcan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcEdKrorFH8 (I think it was better before the singing started because the lyrics are pretty bad. I like the intro section, but the rest...meh.)

 

[Rush Limborg]

Okay...my review:

Ferengi: Very appropriate--but I'm confused as to why it often goes to English lyrics. It sounds very fitting that their "anthem" would be in the style of a "pop" song, the kind you'd hear in the mall.

Cardassian: Very appropriate, very well structured. A brilliant mix of "alien" and "order", "dark" and "artful".

Romulan: Good, for the most part. The "solo" parts were unimpressive (he sang in only one note), but the "choir" parts were superb.

Alternate UFP: Meh. I get what he was trying to do...but I like the "official" anthem better. (But maybe I'm biased, as I've written lyrics to the "official" anthem.)

Klingon: Superb--though at one point, the music and singing gets too speedy and "flowery" for Klingons. Also, I found the constant "Impera" in the lyrics to be kinda forced and cheesy (and way too derivative of English--"Imperial" or "Empire"). But then--get Mark Okrand to develop "official" lyrics for the melody, and make the middle secton less "flowery"--and all will be perfect.

Vulcan: ITA, Nerys. The lyrics--why? Just why? The music was good, though.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Well...for the Ferengi one, the English lyrics reminded me of what you get in Bollywood or Japanese songs sometimes--very poppish. But in-universe, I'd say it's a marketing ploy to get those Feddies singing part of their jingle.

Musically, yeah...the Cardassian entry is the strongest by far. Mriytic Cardăsa!

 

[Captain Verata]

I enjoyed those. I liked the Cardassians and the Romulans the best. UFP could have been a little better if I didn't feel like it was going to go into a full fledged Enterprise fanfare. The Klingons and the Ferengi were funny.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

The Klingon anthem reminded me of Rammstein, so also German elements.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that gibberish was based on German.

 

[T'Girl]

Thought the Klingon should have been more "operatic."

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Kind of a Wagneresque type thing?

 

[T'Girl]

Actually, I imagine a version of the Japanese Anthem Kimigayo, but sung by a German baritone, with appropriate Klingon lyrics, of course.

Lyrics along the line of, how hard our history has been, look at all we've accomplished, Kahless is with us always, Kapla.

(oh, and boulders covered in moss too)

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGUIuuWJxD0[/yt]

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Is that real-life gagh at the 1:00 mark??