What is this song about? Sorry, I can’t remember!

photo credit: moniquewingard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

West Side Story

West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The musical’s plot is based on William Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet.

Set in New York City in the mid-1950s, the musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The members of the Sharks are first-generation Americans from Puerto Rico taunted by the Jets, a white  group who consider themselves the true Americans. The young protagonist, Tony, one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre. Bernstein’s score for the musical has become extremely popular; it includes « Something’s Coming », « Maria« , « America« , « Somewhere« , « Tonight« , « Jet Song », « I Feel Pretty », « One Hand, One Heart », and « Cool« .

Listen to an international version of ‘Stand by Me’, the famous song originally sung by Ben E. King in 1961. The version you are going to hear was recorded for the music project Playing for Change.

And here is the version of Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’:

The Nutcracker (Casse-Noisettes) by  Tchaikovsky is a very popular ballet performed mostly during the Christmas holidays.

Vocabulaire: the holiday season / the holidays, en anglais américain, correspond à la période des fêtes de fin d’année.

Here are two of the famous airs from The Nutcracker: The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and The Dance of the Mirlitons:

Listen to more Christmas songs on YouTube.

Listen to Strange Fruit (1939), a protest song in which Billie Holiday, a famous jazz singer, condemned the lynching of black people  in the South of the United States.

In the video, you will see images of the Ku Klux Klan. Learn more about the organization on Wikipedia

Where does the name Ku Klux Klan come from? ( an answer from WikiAnswers)

The name « Ku Klux Klan » was most likely originated from the Greek word « kuklos », meaning circle. Also, « Klan » was considered another version for the word « clan », so the founders of the KKK must have merged these words together to form the name of their organization, « Ku Klux Klan ». All together, the name suggests that the KKK is a circle, or band, of brothers.

(Ceci n’est pas une correction de l’exercice de traduction à faire pour vendredi mais vous pouvez l’utiliser comme point de départ et voir comment vous pouvez l’améliorer!)