Cultural diversity traces its roots across West High, featuring students fluent in Korean to Bengali to Farsi. There is no shortage of foreign customs in the halls that surround us. With that, welcome back to the second edition of the playlist series, featuring six MORE students of our bilingual community with their favorite songs.

KOREAN

“Fine” by Taeyeon

“[Fine] is really popular in Korea. I visit [Korea] almost every summer for two months. I feel like this is a song that anyone can like. People usually think that Korean music is just K-pop and all these groups, [but] this song is just [from] a solo artist that people who aren’t familiar with K-pop can still like. My mom only speaks Korean, so at home we just speak Korean, but [I listen to] English music more. I feel like I can relate to [English songs] more because [when I listen to Korean songs], it takes me a second to hear the lyrics and think about Korean because I’m not as good [with it as I am] with English,” sophomore Yein Ahn said.

BENGALI

“Durge Durge Durgatinashini” by Asha Bhosle

“My favorite Bengali song is ‘Durge Durge Durgatinashini’ because when I was younger, my grandma would play the song and I would dance to it. It talks about [Goddess Durga], and how she killed a demon and [protected] the world from being destroyed. It’s [a] festive song that I hear every single year whenever [Durga Puja] comes up. There’s a lot of repetition [in the song] because [of a ritual] that we do called Anjali. The [lyrics are] framed [like] a poem, [and] in the verses, there’s a three-time repetition of the goddess’ name and how you worship her,” sophomore Tanisi Saha said.

VIETNAMESE

“Yêu Một Người Vô Tâm” by Bao Anh

“[The artist] talks about her struggles growing up and how she was in a relationship, but [her partner] only used her for fame. [Anh] wrote it just to express herself in a way that everyone can listen and relate to. It shows her expressing her emotions and hardship. [I heard this song from] my parents. We’re really traditional, so we listen to Vietnamese music every day. I like it because it got me introduced to Asian culture. I would recommend this song to anyone who wants to get into Vietnamese [culture]. The Vietnamese language is really hard, especially if you’re reading the subtitles, but, she sings really slowly and [the song is] very smooth, so you’re able to match the words [with the subtitles],” sophomore Kaylee Thanh Thao Vu said.

RUSSIAN

“Прекрасное далеко/Beautiful Far Away” by Guest From The Future

“My mom [is] from Russia, so I used to go to a Russian elementary school. I learned how to speak Russian there. I don’t listen to Russian music that much, but there was this one movie, [‘Guest from the Future’], I would watch a lot when I was younger. [It was] about this boy who travels to the past from the future and then saves the future. I remember listening to this song in [the movie] a lot when I was in elementary school. I really liked it. I would recommend the song to anyone [who] wants to listen to Russian music; it’s especially good if you’ve seen that movie or if you want to see that movie,” sophomore Nicole Paquette said.

TAMIL

“Nila Kakiradhu” by Hariharan

“The actual meaning of the song is [from] very old Tamil. The song [is] about how beautiful nature is, how we can admire that and how our two eyes won’t be enough to look at it. It is a little girl singing and [it] is very melodious. I would suggest it to a person who would love to listen to music and fall asleep. [Also,] I would suggest you play [this song] if you prefer slow music and you want to dance around the house slowly and have a nice, calm evening,” freshman Sanjana Chintalapati said.

FARSI

“Ey Joonam” by Sami Beigi

“I love [‘Ey Joonam’] because it has been a song that my family has played for me every birthday. It has such a beautiful rhythm and harmony, and it makes me want to get up and dance every time. It truly is a bundle of happiness and energy that always gets me up on my feet. I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys listening to music from different countries, loves rhythmic beats and loves music in general. In the case of ‘Ey Joonam,’ it is more rhythmic and has this type of beat to [it] that you normally don’t hear in American music. The [lyrics] itself are pure Farsi. Persians tend to be more romantic and lovey-dovey in the pieces that they write, so everything that you hear is about love. In general, Persian music is a beast. Listen to it,” senior Dana Zafarani said.