My quest to feature artists from 100 different countries continues with “Sen Gelende” by Samira Efendi. Efendi is a singer from Azerbaijan, and I should note that technically the name of this song is spelt wrong above. According to YouTube, the “e”s of Sen Gelende should be typed upside down. I’m not familiar with the Azerbaijani alphabet, so I couldn’t tell you why they are upside down. All I know is that I couldn’t figure out how to make my keyboard do that, so here we are.
I’m also not familiar with Azerbaijani in general. In fact, I’m pretty sure that listening to this song was the first time I’ve ever heard this language being spoken, and it was fascinating. The song itself is wonderfully soaring and dramatic. But I also loved just hearing a new language. It’s always fascinated me how many different ways we have to communicate through words, and I love listening to the rhythms of unfamiliar languages. Especially in beautiful songs like this.
Suggestions for artists I should check out? Please contact me with your ideas. I hope you enjoyed your daily helping of art!
