I always listen to Chinese music when skrittering. Works perfect for me. Also works great when you need to just get used to the sound of Chinese. There are so much great Chinese music out there but here are some of my past time favorites ( Yes I like the older ones better). Please add your favorites.

Tian Zhen, fantastic strong rock voice

Tian Zhen (田震 - 执着) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFZbxrYOZYU&feature=related

Tian zhen (田震 - 野花) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY-gRDwz4nA

Modern pop

Pan Wilber (潘瑋柏 & 弦子 - 不得不愛) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvu2mEsHKdI&feature=related

Everybody have heard Wang Faye, many good songs there.

Wang Faye (dreams mandarin version) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJuLg3AD8Rg

Wang faye (王菲 - 棋子) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Ip9Xle_So

wang faye (王菲 - 執迷不悔) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThYrYJPSQIk


SHE - Super Star(my oldest daughters absolute favorite, Taiwanese song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srGToRDxhgI

Etc, etc. I am however still looking for a pop song that I only remember part of the lyrics from the chorus, 你是我的爱人，你是我的.... Very popular some three years ago but I can't find it anymore. Anyone that do recognize it?

Sorry, sloppy me, mandarin version of dreams should be this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVdTjrNlJB8&feature=related Sorry, I have just get stuck with the canto version somehow so grabbed the wrong link. Both are great but though.

My friend's Chinese name is 玫瑰， so I recognized it right away! Here it is: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTExMDQ4.html

Wow, thanks! That's the song! I heard it every single morning I where running around west lake and the Chinese where doing their morning exercise. Never took me the time to stop and ask abut the tune and nowadays i never hear it anymore. Now I buy it. I found it very easy to study Chinese when running. People look weird at me when i am singing Chinese tunes when running here in Tokyo but is is fun:-) Thanks a lot, this makes my day.

不用谢！

hmm not really to my tastes
you might also know 歌曲：两只蝴蝶 歌手：庞龙

@mandarinboy is that the right Tian Zhen video? I don't hear a "strong rock voice", I hear light pop. To me a "strong rock voice" suggests Paul Rodgers or Pat Benetar. ;) I won't post videos as they're not in Chinese but feel free to Google them to see what I mean.

But apparently our tastes are very different. For Chinese pop I prefer MC Hotdog. Somebody posted this song on a previous pop music thread and now I'm addicted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sfDuDue_r8

James

For background music while studying, I prefer something pretty mellow. I listen to a lot of music sung by Cai Qin (蔡琴). She has an amazing voice. YouTube and YouKu have a lot of her videos. Try the songs 最后一夜, 恰似你的温柔, 几度花落时, 把悲伤留给自己 and many more for a rich vocal treat.

While in Qingdao last May, I asked some friends to take me to a music store. In addition to some great 蔡琴 CDs, I also got a lot of music by 邓丽君(Tersa Teng), 徐小凤 (Paula Tsui), 韩红 (Han Hong) and 毛阿敏 (Mao Amin).

I don't know how you guys can do it... The only times I've enjoyed Chinese pop were those ironic moments when I've heard an awful American pop song getting an even worse cover, like the rendition of "Achy Breaky Heart" I heard in Mandarin one day in downtown 荆州.

When I listen to music with my Skritter, it's often the album Blueberry Boat by The Fiery Furnaces - long enough to get me to 30 Skritter clock minutes most of the time, weird enough to keep me on my toes, and incoherent enough that it doesn't distract me with poignant lyrics that I want to sing along with.

I just play music I like which is upbeat enough not to make me fall asleep...

1236 characters to go........

@FatDragon yeah I have recently been posing the following to people: Jamaica's population is 2.6 million, while China's is 1.3 billion. So why is it that Jamaica is the source of all sorts of innovative pop music and China is... not? If it was proportional to population, there would be 50 million Chinese Bob Marleys. Of course, they'd all be in jail... ;)

Good choices, Randy.

I don't know a lot about Chinese music, but 邓丽君 is definitely inseparable from Chinese culture. Could you imagine a China without 月亮代表我的心，甜蜜蜜 and 小城故事?
蔡琴 comes next, with songs like 恰似你的温柔.

韩红 is one of the most famous 民族歌手, add 德德玛，刀郎, 乌兰托娅 etc.

加油，高歌猛进。。。

Thanks:

As we near the Mid-Autumn Festival, we can't leave out 但願人長久, as sung by 邓丽君, and 明月千里寄相思, which has been performed by most of the singers we've mentioned. I especially like the versions of 明月千里寄相思 that incorporate traditional Chinese instruments. Try this more traditional instrumental version...

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzA2MjE1NDA=.html

If we're talking Chinese classics, let's not forget 两只老虎 or the theme song to 喜洋洋.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTE2OTkxMjg=.html
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTkyMzI5ODQw.html

@FatDragon the second video is very upsetting...

Another version of the 喜洋洋 with subtitle can be found at: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzk3OTgyNzY=.html

It seems that songs are not a good mean to learn the tones. At 40s 天再高一样奔放, that 奔 is sung as the 3rd tone. Again at 51s 有什么危险, that 危 is also 3rd tone. Then at 57s 也当作游戏一场, the 戏 is 1st tone.

Some really old stuff (recorded during the WWII): 夜来香 by 李香兰
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTk1Nzk4OTgw.html

Also the Japanese version for those learning Japanese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGqdb9xIPsc

@jww1066 - Thanks - I wasn't sure what the actual name of the song is, so I searched for 喜洋洋歌, though I might have accidentally typed 喜洋洋哥. It came up with few results, so I took the most ridiculous one to drive in the sarcasm.

However, when I get home today, I'll dig up the ultimate video of disturbing child performances in China (think the little sister's dance team from Donnie Darko on crack, if you've seen it) and pass it on for anybody with the right disposition or sense of humor to appreciate/be galled by it...

@pts - I've always been advised against using songs to learn tones - some songs drop tonal language altogether to fit a tune, and others tweak tones for the same reason, so, while they can be a good source of vocabulary, they're not the best place to learn to say the words you're learning from them.