Less Lyric, More Rhythm

Music is universal; it doesn’t have to be translated into every living language to reach the listeners. In fact, people do not care about the language a song is written or sung, but when it comes to listening to foreign music, it’s more about the rhythm than the lyrics. If it upbeats the heart, it’s a yes. On the other hand, despite understanding the lyrics, it's a big no-no if it fails to reach your heart and delight it.

Sounds familiar? No?

No problem, it’s true to my case, and whether you agree or not, I believe there are thousands of music lovers out there listening to foreign music years after years, even without understanding the lyrics or even trying to do so. The reason?

Well, it’s the rhythm that soothes, calms, and contends the mind— delights the heart. And that’s enough— you are not a singer, so you have to learn the lyrics to perform on the stage. At the same time, you are not critique that learning the lyrics is essential in earning a living.

And this has made me a bad listener. Or should I say it has corrupted my listening capability close to zero? Not trying to understand the lyrics and focusing more on sounds is now even threatening my understanding of my mother tongue— mostly regional dialects and, to some extent, very fast-paced songs.

Should I be concerned about this?

I have always feared this— being presented to fellow people as an imposter who doesn’t understand native dialects that sound even a bit different from the mainstream one, i.e. standard to close to standardisation. Speak in a CTG dialect or from the most southern part or, say, the northern part of the country; I will stare at you as if you are speaking Hebrew. Although CTG dialects are the hardest of them all to comprehend, still, not understanding even a bit is somewhat similar to disgrace.

I remember giving this blank look at a local man during my trip to that part of the country a few years back. I understood he was offering me a chair to sit down, but his smirking gave me the impression that his intention was not just to offer comfort to my buttock with all those heavy bags in my back. So, I didn’t accept his offer— god knows if his motive was honest, and it was my ignorance that failed to respond to his novelty. Although they sounded rhythmic, I couldn’t break through the message, and it didn’t reach my heart. Poor me.

About rhythm— I am a fan of medieval instruments, some from the folk genres that include nothing but beating the drum and soft yet sharp flute playing behind. Scottish bagpipe is one of my favourites followed by the Persian Harp, Greek Zither, and Chinese bamboo flute— together, they can create overwhelmingly comfortable music divine to ears. The problem is, they are so soothing to ears that you will forget about lyrics or won’t bother about it in the fear that you will miss a tone and the rhythm that your heart is dancing to will lose track.

Tenor GIF