Well, my grasp of musical theory is abysmal XD; (I actually have some sort of block for it, I think, it shouldn't be this hard to grok when I've close-listened to so much music.) So it's entirely possible I've gotten the wrong end of the stick. But to be fair, the last time I talked to my sister - who has a degree in Classical music and plays indie rock, and finds "this thing that Asian pop melodies do" irritating - she couldn't quite pin down what "this thing" was either.
As a child I was exposed to much more traditional Western classical music than to blues, rock, or non-vocal jazz. Whatever it is, is also something a lot of "easy listening" pop doesn't do - 60s girl groups, Carpenters, Belle and Sebastian.
The chorus of "Love Mail" is very folk but the verse melody sounds a lot like contemporary C-pop as well. In fact the whole thing sounds so familiar it may be cribbed off some Cantopop hit - I even find it difficult to parse in English.
Amadou and Mariam also play blues guitar, although again without the 12-bar (that I've heard).
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As a child I was exposed to much more traditional Western classical music than to blues, rock, or non-vocal jazz. Whatever it is, is also something a lot of "easy listening" pop doesn't do - 60s girl groups, Carpenters, Belle and Sebastian.
The chorus of "Love Mail" is very folk but the verse melody sounds a lot like contemporary C-pop as well. In fact the whole thing sounds so familiar it may be cribbed off some Cantopop hit - I even find it difficult to parse in English.
Amadou and Mariam also play blues guitar, although again without the 12-bar (that I've heard).