The Universal Language

Published on July 27, 2006 By Dr Guy In Blogging

I was struck by a statement my wife made this weekend. As some of you know, her friend from Dallas flew in for Lunch (that is another blog). She is also Hispanic, but very well assimilated. So much so, she does not speak Spanish! So my wife is trying to teach her.

They were listening to a song this weekend and trying to translate it. But the singer was not Mexican or south of this (USA) border. They were Spanish and singing in Castillan (sp). And it was hard for them to follow it. And that got the old brain juices wondering - why?

I am privileged to have some of DynaMaso's songs. Very good I might add, and except for a few rare lyrics, they could be from Alabama! As could the Beatles, Olivia Newton John, Madonna, the Dave Clark 5. Just about any group you would care to mention. For in singing, we hear no accent (country music is something else). English, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, South African, American. Singing, they lose their accent and you just enjoy the music, not know if they are from Sheboygan, or Liverpool.

Even Nana and Abba can punch an English song with virtually no hint of an accent. Elvis, as deep south as you can get, did not have a southern accent in his singing. It was the R&B sound.

Music is the universal language! At least in English.

I know that Castillan Spanish is like Hoch Deutsch. Spoken by the nasal crowd that want purity in their ethnicity. So Mexican (Or Guatemalan or Venezuelan) Spanish is the common kind. Kind of like what every variant of American English is to "The Queens English" Taught by Rex Harrison.

Yet when we sing (not me! - but real singers), you cannot tell Rex Harrison from George Harrison, or Alice Cooper (OK, their style is different, but you get my gist).

Yet with a whole continent (almost) and half of another plus spots all around the world, including the mother country, Spanish seems to be a harder language to sing than English. For they had to CONCENTRATE to understand the Castillian singer.

Something no one has to do with Paul McCartney if they understand English (Rappers are another story).

Interesting.

Comments

dynamaso

on Jul 28, 2006

I am privileged to have some of DynaMaso's songs. Very good I might add, and except for a few rare lyrics, they could be from Alabama!

Thanks very much, Doc. I agree with you, which makes what I'm about to tell you even more farcical. We had been picked up by a local community radio station, which was all well and good. But then we noticed we weren't being played. After quite a number of phone calls, I finally spoke to someone who had heard our CD. When I asked why we weren't getting airplay, I was told it was probably because our MC sounded 'too American'. I asked what exactly the person meant by that and he couldn't tell me. Of course, I laughed in his face. How ridiculous, in this day and age, to catergorise something this way. As you say, quite often it is hard to know where a particular artist hails from until you hear them speak.

InBloom

on Jul 28, 2006

I have no knowledge of the Castilian language, but it does sound interesting.

As for the universal language of music, I love it! A person can be singing a song in French, Italian, German, what-have-you, and if I FEEL the song, even if I do not know what the words are, I can get an idea as to what it means.

As a kid, I remember trying to sing Italian opera songs...I had no idea what I was singing, but I could still understand that the songs had passion and love in them.

I'm just a fan of music, period (English and Spanish!), so any article on music is always interesting to me.

Dr Guy

on Jul 28, 2006

I was told it was probably because our MC sounded 'too American'.

Geez! Not even Americans can agree on what Americans sound like! Sorry for the snub, but thanks for the chuckle!

Dr Guy

on Jul 28, 2006

I'm just a fan of music, period (English and Spanish!), so any article on music is always interesting to me.

My Knowledge of Music could fit into a thimble. But I do know what I like and dont like (I dont like Opera!). Still, while I cannot understand a good latin song, I can understand the rhythm and like it. I liked Dominic, but have never spoken Flemish.

But as for artists, I will hear a song, like it, and then find out later they are from Australia or South Africa, and be going "WOW! I had no Idea". Of course when you hear them in an interview, then you know where they are from.

Trudygolightly

on Jul 28, 2006

Thanks for the neat article! I'm a music lover myself.

Exactly!

Dr Guy

on Jul 28, 2006

Exactly!

It actually amazes me! I mean, did Ray Charles sound black? Hell no! He had a silky smooth voice! And anyone that can name the nationality or race of Johnny Mathis by his singing is a liar!

At least in English, singing is the universal language. And I like it that way.

foreverserenity

on Jul 30, 2006

We had been picked up by a local community radio station, which was all well and good.

Nice Maso!

When I asked why we weren't getting airplay, I was told it was probably because our MC sounded 'too American'.

You gotta be kidding me!

I'm just a fan of music, period (English and Spanish!), so any article on music is always interesting to me.

Same for me!

Dr Guy

on Jul 30, 2006

Same for me!

Thank you. It was just one of those observations I saw when listening to DynaMaso and then the comment my wife made about a Castillian singer. hey! Dyna says he is Australlian, but how do we REALLY know?

dynamaso

on Jul 30, 2006

Dyna says he is Australlian

You know, the funny thing about this is that I've often been asked, by both Australian-born and others, what country I am originally from! My wife says I speak very well and have an excellent 'radio' voice. I don't know whether it is years of performing and making sure my enunciations are correct or the years I spent as a DJ on community radio but something about the way I speak has some thinking I'm not Australian-born.

I can most certainly assure all those I am, although there is no real way to prove it unless I put up a scan of my birth certificate (where ever it is).

Dr Guy

on Jul 31, 2006

I don't know whether it is years of performing and making sure my enunciations are correct or the years I spent as a DJ on community radio but something about the way I speak has some thinking I'm not Australian-born.

That will do it. When you hear yourself on the Radio, it often makes you start enunciating more clearly. Not all, but most of the DJs here in the states have little if no accent. I did Radio in HS (as part of an Explorer post), so that probably helped me. But no one has ever asked if I was Australian.

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