I couldn’t do posts of Christmas music without including an all-time favorite, but it truly defied classification. I finally came up with a solution – Christmas favorites that come to us from other countries/cultures. It just might work….
From Germany (“Froehliche Weinachten”) comes “O Tannenbaum” – this version is being sung by two Spanish guys and some Italian dude (and yes, I know “who” they are….):
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Next we have “Il Est Ne (He is Born)”, a beloved carol from France (“Joyeux Noel”) – this rendition is sung by a bunch of kids from Austria (yes, I know who THEY are, too….):
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From the British Isles (“Happy Christmas”/”Nollaig shona duit/daoibh”) comes Celtic Woman’s ethereal rendition of “Away in a Manger” (the tune heard is different from the one most Americans are used to hearing):
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From the West Indies (not even goin’ there – do you KNOW how many different languages are spoken on those islands?) comes “The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy” – this Mack Wilberg arrangement was done by the International Festival Chorus of Singapore (the Mormons took theirs off of YouTube 😦 ):
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And finally, the inspiration for this post: the perennial favorite, “Feliz Navidad” written and sung by some blind guy from an unincorporated territory of the United States (silly me – I actually looked up “How do you say ‘Merry Christmas’ in Spanish?”; surprisingly enough, they say “Feliz Navidad”…..):
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There you have it – a trip around the world, and you didn’t even have to leave your chair! Have a great day –
Koch's Tour 
Of all of these, the Three Tenors is my fave, and believe it or not, the last is my least fave.
And this coming from a Puerto Rican 😀
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Dissin’ a fellow traveller from that “unincorporated territory”, eh? 😛
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Teresa-
Thank you for doing this series; I’m enjoying it tremendously!
I sent the “Rocking Christmas’ clip to my co-mil. She teaches fifth grade at our local elem. school, and that’s their song for the Christmas program the last day of school. I’ll be waiting to see how many of the numbers from our set-in-stone program make it onto your list.
The a cappella group guy with his clay dreidel made me remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSJCSR4MuhU
Stay warm since winter’s finally here!
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I LOVE that video that you linked!
I don’t know how many songs from your program will make it on my series, but I checked last night, and so far there are 89 songs in the line-up. I’ve got all 25 days’ musical selections chosen- (if I find something that I’ve forgotten or just have to include, that number might go up by one or two, but I think most of the “big tunes” are included! (I had a special request to NOT include “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer”…..)
I hope some of your favorites make “the cut” – there are several songs that have been included more than once, due to different artists covering them, but I made sure that the same song/same artist wasn’t duplicated (which is why there are actually more than 89 clips – I think there are easily over 100 clips in all).
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Great stuff TIFW! I clicked around after and found some other amazing music. Thank you.
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Yeah – they really shouldn’t let folks like me loose on YouTube or the Internet; I’m so insatiably curious that I can get lost in there for days and never figure out how to get back where I started….
But the journey sure is fun!
(C’mon back – I’m here all month; try the veal 😛 )
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