Top Hits of 2010 - on my iPod

It wasn't so long ago, huh? I stayed up late and watched the French celebrity-packed (supposedly? Got me!) telecast. A nice message on my phone, a little early because of the time difference, and so began a crazy year.

SO, HERE'S to a 2011 filled with great new music, and old friends to share it with!


The start of the year... the Haiti earthquake. And, the music? That's live! Tennessee pride, baby...






La luz al final del camino... Light at the end of the road. Lots of her songs made my top 10 -- Loca, Waka waka (third most viewed YouTube video ever, and less than a year old-- they freakin' teach this song to kids in the schools in Morocco now...) plus Mon Amour, way back when I thought she was done for the year with all of the She-Wolf success... Now, I know you've seen those videos a ton. Somebody's seen Waka Waka 280,000,000 times, and I know/hope it wasn't just me that racked up that huge tally. So here's two songs by her you might not have heard. Sale el sol (above) and my favorite one from the English album, Mon Amour.






Two from Mexican ladies:





Heard both of these women on Alt.Latino from NPR (but not yet on my iPod) And couldn't be more different! This lady's voice is spot-on for a h*rd-on (I just coined that and already filed a patent, so if you ever use it you got to send me a dirham in the mail-- sorry Mama if you read that, but I dont think you made it this far into my top hits list).

Find more music like this here: http://www.npr.org/series/alt-latino/











The language I speak badly on a daily basis, but in itself a damn good tune. Same one, studio version:






This one is going to be in my movie someday.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=tp6sJuUUn4g#t=3s

The lady I heard the most:

Heaviest rotation on my playlist, two times more than any other song, easily. It's what I feel my life is/should/might be like. And certainly parts of the year, I felt like a young member of the jet-set, even on my salary of 200$/month.







HONOURABLE MENTION:



Two of my favorites, both great people, doing what they do well. But it's a little flat, and a little weird, and the English words are so ethereal, fluffy compared to the Spanish part. Like each singer wrote their part separately and showed up the day before to see if it worked. But this kind of duet is to be lauded!


And the song I've had in my head every since my Moroccan cousin and brother -- I've got to stop saying 'host' cousin and 'host' brother, it's useful but it's limiting after seeing them each day for the past 400 days -- asked me to transcribe the lyrics. And I had to hear it a dozen times to get it just right.



AND: GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, JAMAS






And just for fun



Been playing a lot of 80s ballads on guitar the past little bit - Hartmut's German visitor, Barbara, and Larbie, Moroccan English teacher in Tazarine have given me my fill of Whitesnake, Extreme, Scorpions and Knockin' on heaven's door.

And lastly an old favorite from the year I started driving - so you know I've got strong associations with this.