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.

  • autumn@reddthat.comEnglish
    91·
    1 year ago

    I’m watching this thread with great interest 👀

    For the US, maybe Dolly Parton?

    • Kit Sorens@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      41·
      1 year ago

      Unfortunately, Taylor Swift is probably the most traditionally american top 40 artist, given her genre inspirations, but the US is probably too large to pick just one artist. I bet it’d be far more interesting to find out what each state has contributed to our national artistry.

  • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
    8·
    1 year ago

    Scotland - probably the best chance of a good reaction is to mention The Proclaimers (they of the 500 Miles song)

    Although personally I’m not a fan! So if you’re in Dunfermline, mention The Skids and you’ll probably be alright :-)

  • boogetyboo@aussie.zone
    7·
    1 year ago

    Sticking to popular, mainstream rock and pop options I’d say Bernard Fanning/Powderfinger is a good representation of Australian rock that doesn’t really polarise as much as the more cultural cringe options like Darryl Braithwaite, John Farnham or Jimmy Barnes. There’s also Kylie Minogue who might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but is unlikely to be actively disliked by most.

    Midnight oil, INXS would be good picks too.

    • maporita@unilem.org
      3·
      1 year ago

      Hey there fellow Canadian. Glad you got in before someone mentioned Anne Murray or Justin Bieber.

        • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
          1·
          1 year ago

          Even if depressing, it’s probably a rather good song. At least based on Suzanne; So Long, Marianne; and Joan of Arc. (I know, I know, the later is about the historical character, but still.)

      • lemmyvore@feddit.nlEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        If I were asked to mention a Canadian musician I’d think of Celine Dion long before Justin Bieber. Hell I’d think of Woods of Ypres.

  • NX2@feddit.de
    62·
    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@feddit.de
      141·
      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.

    • Opafi@feddit.de
      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.

      • Opafi@feddit.de
        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.
    • oce 🐆@jlai.luOP
      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.

    • NX2@feddit.de
      1·
      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

  • livus@kbin.social
    3·
    1 year ago

    Aotearoa. Suzy Cato is universally loved, but people could be suspicious about how you came to know about her.

    • oce 🐆@jlai.luOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      Suzanne Noreen Cato (born 20 June 1968) is an Australian-born New Zealand children’s entertainer. She is best known as the host of several New Zealand children’s television programmes, most notably Suzy’s World and You and Me.

      Yeah, not really the kind of thing you would discover by immersing yourself in your hobby.

  • maporita@unilem.org
    3·
    1 year ago

    In Argentina it must be Carlos Gardel - the most prominent exponent of Tango. You can walk around a corner in Buenos Aires on a Sunday to find a bunch of people dancing tango … all dressed up to the nines (sorry!). It’s amazing. Beautiful country and such an elegant city.

    • oce 🐆@jlai.luOP
      2·
      1 year ago

      Chuck Tingle is a pseudonymous author, primarily of niche gay erotica. The stories mainly take the form of monster erotica, featuring romantic and sexual encounters with dinosaurs, imaginary creatures, anthropomorphized inanimate objects, and even abstract concepts.

      •̀ ͜ﻌ•́

  • vettnerk@lemmy.ml
    31·
    1 year ago

    Depends on the crowd, so here are a few options in the order of my preference:

    • The Kovenant (Not to be confused with Covenant. They’re swedish and awful)
    • Dumdum Boys
    • Postgirobygget

    Honorable mention: Circus Maximus. They’d be ranked on top of this list if I believed that the random norwegian you ran into had ever heard of them.

  • LostCause@kbin.social
    2·
    1 year ago

    The only artist I would personally get excited about if someone foreign knew of them is the author Thomas Bernhard (Austria), but he was famous and infamous for hating Austrian culture and it wouldn‘t go over well with many others here I suppose.

    So I posit some more widely liked people: Mozart, Falco or Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    • oce 🐆@jlai.luOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      Falco :
      Rollerblading in jeans while wearing sunglasses at night and also rapping in two languages and still not being caught by the polizei

      Yes