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Sunday, September 09, 2007

Asha Ali - A Promise Broken  

Asha may have been born in Ethiopia, but her sound is definitely Swedish. If you like the indie-pop of Hello Saferide, Marit Bergman etc. then you'll enjoy this too. She has several nice songs on her MySpace but this one, her current single, is my favourite. Maybe it's because it isn't their first language that Swedes seem to put more effort into their lyrics, but it's not just effort that makes them better - the emotions in these songs just feel more real, to me at least. Singers like Kate Nash and Lily Allen are supposed to capture how it feels to be a British teenager, but the cultural references, although good fun, are not really necessary. I find myself identifying much more with the sentiments of these quirky Swedish popettes who are never afraid to show their foibles, in fact they revel in them. The influential Scandinavian indie site It's A Trap has stated this to be one of their favourites of 2007 so far, and Annika Norlin has also championed her, so we'll have to see if success outside of Sweden is in the path of Asha Ali.

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