Here's where you can ask how to pronounce exotic band names

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And emphasis on BÜR, btw.

― OleM (OleM), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 10:51 (twenty-one years ago)

so, to clarify is sufjan really "soof-yawn"? Cus' that's
not nearly as much fun to say as "soof-gin". Dammit, this means ive been saying it wrong over the radio for a year now. why dotn you tell me these things!

― holysandalkcsc, Thursday, 28 October 2004 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

gygax! I don't want to be a dick about this but nickn is right:

Tet-soo ee-no-ooh-ay

― Good Dog, Thursday, 28 October 2004 04:17 (twenty-one years ago)

sufjan = soof-yawn

― the leglo (the leglo), Thursday, 28 October 2004 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

Merzbow?

― Every country has their stupid (AaronHz), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 10:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Mertz-bow (as in bow-wow)

― Ol' Dirty Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)

... assuming it's pronounced the same as Merzbau of course

― Ol' Dirty Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 11:38 (twenty-one years ago)

thought so

― Every country has their stupid (AaronHz), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 11:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Pete Doherty is Pete Dokkerty, right?

― JoB (JoB), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 12:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Depends where you come from

― Ol' Dirty Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never heard "St. Etienne" pronounced. Do people pronounce it in full-on French mode, or Anglicize the pronunciation?

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always said "Saint eh-TYEN".
I might be wrong.

― Every country has their stupid (AaronHz), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I say 'Saint' the English way.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 01:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I was questioning the pronunciation of Geogaddi the other day. I say jee-oh-GOD-ee, but I then realized it could also be pronounced jee-AH-gud-ee, as in "geography", or any number of different ways.

― bill neil (inabillity), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

MUM - the icelandic band? there's an accent on the U.
also, husker du, should be hoosker doo, shouldn't it? but everyone i know, myself included, has always pronounced it husker doo. anyone else?

― bg, Wednesday, 17 November 2004 10:50 (twenty-one years ago)

If it's pronounced in Icelandic, the ú = a more rounded, and long, English "oo", or more precisely a German "u". So approx "moom"

― OleM (OleM), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I once read that XTC is supposed to be pronounced "ecstasy." Does anyone actually do that?

Also, surely the Joao Gilberto pronunciation given above is incorrect?? It's "zho-an", since the -ao ending in Portugese is read as "-an" when the "a" has that squiggly line over it that I can't reproduce here. Like Sao Paulo, which is pronounced "San Pow-low."

― Dr Benway (dr benway), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 11:43 (twenty-one years ago)

And how do we stop this thread from being in bold type?

― Dr Benway (dr benway), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 11:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I knew someone at university called Joao, he just pronounced his name Jow.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 11:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sure you've all heard this pronounced many times before, but I live in Singapore - please help me with Fugazi?

Foo-gah-zee? Or Foo-gaa-zee where gaa rhymes with sheep's baa?

― syntaxfree (syntaxfree), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 12:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Pete Doherty is Pete Dokkerty, right?

Depends where you come from

I take the view that it depends on where the artist in question is from. In this case, England. Therefore...?

― JoB (JoB), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 12:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, it could be pronounced Doe-herty. Being as it is an Irish name, it should be pronounced DoCHerty (CH as in loch) but a lot of you non-Celts out there have a problem pronouncing that sound!

― My Son Calls Another Man Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Tiefschwarz = teef-schwartz?
Akufen = ack-yew-fenn? (and if so, where's the accent?)

― W i l l (common_person), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

emphasis on the first syllable in Akufen

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Bettie Serveert?

― Dutch College Rock, Wednesday, 5 January 2005 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Vitalic

Vital-ic?
Vit-alic?

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 6 January 2005 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)

four weeks pass...

Fursaxa?

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Friday, 4 February 2005 05:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Tiefschwarz = teef-schwartz?

Should be, as long as the "a" is pronounced as in "father", not as in "all".

― OleM (OleM), Friday, 4 February 2005 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmmm!!!!!

I think I'll call my new Gabberfolk band Zykkxxzlyll Qjiuqreghptl, From New Cumnock!!!!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Friday, 4 February 2005 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

... Which incidentelly is New Cumnockian for "Ziggy's Quick Red Portal"!!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Friday, 4 February 2005 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Vybz Kartel?

― whenuweremine (whenuweremine), Sunday, 6 February 2005 02:24 (twenty-one years ago)

A year ago someone mentioned pronouncing the Notwist as "note-vist" in jest, but when I saw them live, that's how Mr. Archer pronounced it (with emphasis on the first syllable). Which ruined the bet between my friends and me, as we were also debating between not-wist and no-twist.

― Curt Warner, Sunday, 6 February 2005 04:01 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Loleatta Holloway... not exactly exotic, but I'm still uncertain.

― babyalive (babyalive), Monday, 7 March 2005 08:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Lolita Hollo-way

― Black Arkestra (Black Arkestra), Monday, 7 March 2005 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

OK, how do you pronounce Ege Bamyasi?

And what about Sonny Sharrock? (SHARE-uck or Sha-ROCK)?

― Mila, Monday, 7 March 2005 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Ay-gay Bahm-yah-see, I think.

What about Justus Kohncke? I get the vague impression that his first name should be something like "Eustace" before my pitiful grasp on German sounds gives out completely. And is his last name "Conk" or is there some rule of German that makes it sound completely different?

― Telephonething, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:53 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

Justus: Something like "Yoostoos" rather, with both vowels short.
Köhncke: Approximately "Kernke" with non-pronunciation of the r.

What about [Marc] Ribot? Rib-EAU in the French manner or simply Ribbot?

― OleM (OleM), Friday, 8 April 2005 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Ree-BOW, I think, but I could be (and probably am) completely and embarrassingly wrong.

― Telephonething, Friday, 8 April 2005 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Sharrock: Shuh-ROCK

― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Friday, 8 April 2005 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

How about Urusei Yatsura?
OOD-sayee yachts-da.
Maybe in Scottish! In Japanese it's "Ooh-Ru-Say-Ee Ya-Tsu-Ra"--Just like it looks

-- Good Dog (feather...) (webmail), October 19th, 2004 4:09 PM.

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Haha, good luck in Japan!
-- gygax! (gygax0...) (webmail), October 19th, 2004 4:11 PM. (gygax!)

This is funny. I think gygax is close but if you say it the way good dog wrote it while using a lazy 'r' that comes close to sounding like a 'd' and while eliding the 'u's, you'll have it.

No one ever answered this upthread, ages ago, so I'll do it.

Les Rita Mitsouko = Lay Reeta Meetsuko

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 8 April 2005 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

AC/DC : "Ach und Dich"

― donut debonair (donut), Friday, 8 April 2005 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Kitsune: Kitsoon? Kitsoonay? Kitchen?

― davidsim (davidsim), Friday, 8 April 2005 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always just pronounced it kee-tsu-nay with no syllabic emphasis, like the Japanese word. I imagine the Francofied version would sound pretty similar, too, just with an emphasis on the final syllable (they write it with an acute accent, IIRC, or is it grave? whatever).

― Telephonething, Saturday, 9 April 2005 03:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Charalambides is correctly pronounced "shar-uh-lam-bee-dez"

Dif Juz is a corruption of "diffuse"

― Ian Riese-Moraine. To Hell with you and your gradual evolution! (Eastern Mantra), Saturday, 9 April 2005 03:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Did anyone ever clear up the Jandek "jan" or "yan" thing?

― Fa Fa fa FA, Fa fa Fa fa FA Fa (poop), Friday, 15 April 2005 01:15 (twenty-one years ago)

This is funny. I think gygax is close but if you say it the way good dog wrote it while using a lazy 'r' that comes close to sounding like a 'd' and while eliding the 'u's, you'll have it.

-- M. White (deir...), April 8th, 2005 12:40 PM. (Miguelito) (later)

In the west the lips get round for the "R" and the tongue is isolate; whereas in Japan I hear more of a brief tap of the tongue behind the front teeth with a "D"/"L" hybrid enunciation. The measured phonics (as MWhite and Good Dog suggest) I never seem to hear outside of gaijin-speak. Many of the middle and trailing "U"s in Japanese are so short they're barely audible... for example:

Kitsune: Kitsoon? Kitsoonay? Kitchen?

the hiragana for kitsune is:
‚« ki, pronounced "kee"
‚Â tsu, pronounced "tsoo"
‚Ë ne, prounounced "nay"

Speaking in measured phonics would sound like "kee-tsoo-nay" but what i hear in a typical japanese speaker tone is more like "keets-nay". YMMV.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 15 April 2005 01:45 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

From an ignorant New Pornographers (and Destroyer) fan:
Dan Bejar = BAY har? Bee JAR?

― jedidiah (jedidiah), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I always just say "Sakamoto" to avoid that first name:

Ryuichi...

Ry-oo-chi?

Ry-oo-ee-chi?

I had a friend who just called him Ricki.

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Bejar:
I have a friend with the same last name and he pronounces it Bee Har.

Ryuichi:
Leeoochee (to say it gracefully: evenly and quick, like 2.5 syllables).

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

David Pajo: PADGE-o? PAY-yo? PAH-ho?

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

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