Hello everyone. Welcome to another exciting episode of the afri inleo initiative 58 and I'm excited to share my opinion on this week's topic "What Makes Music a Universal Language".
Before I proceed with this, I want to make or rather use a simple illustration. The national anthem. Think of it's power. Every country in this world has its own anthem but the feeling people get when they hear theirs is the same. The national anthem is a song that every country has and sing literally everyday. The song that shows reverence, love and unity for a country. In sports events like the national football, when national songs are played, even strangers who are not a member of the country stand still and show respect for the country's anthem. That’s the power of music, one sound, one feeling, many people.
Music is something that almost everyone in the world loves listening to. You don’t have to really understand the words in a song to enjoy it. You don’t need to understand the words in a song to feel what it is saying. Even without lyrics of the song, the sound of a music can make you feel something.
Music goes beyond normal spoken words. It touches people in ways that normal talking cannot. It can be understood and felt by anyone, anywhere, no matter where they come from. It carries emotion and this emotions are the same everywhere in the world. When someone for example is heartbroken, the pain the person feel in Nigeria is the same as someone who is heartbroken in America or any other part of the word. If a song talks or expresses heartbreak, anyone who has ever loved and lost can feel it the sensation of the song. It doesn’t matter if they understand the lyrics or not. The tone, the voice, the instruments in the music, all of them speak louder than words.
Music is something that if you listen to it, it goes straight to the heart. You can feel it. If a music is about love even if you don't know the lyrics of the song, the melody of that song will make you feel the love sensation. When a sad song is playing, even if it is in another language, you might still feel the pain or emotion in it. You don’t need anyone to explain it to you. The heart already understands what kind of music is played. The same thing happens when you hear a happy song. It can make you smile and probably dance to the tone and the beat.
Music with no words can still speak to anyone. A person playing the piano softly can create an atmosphere or a feeling that can affect the mood of anyone. Drums can make people feel excited and ready to dance. The violin and other soft musical instruments can bring tears to someone’s eyes. The sounds of music speaks to the heart directly. You don’t need to explain them. The heart already understands. Music can make people dance without being told to. When a good beat starts playing, the body just begins to move sometimes even without the consciousness of the person.
You don’t need to know the words like I said earlier, the rhythm carries you. Take a look at babies for example, they also understand the language of music and that is why the respond to the sound of music when they hear it. You can see them clapping or trying to dance. Even in our schools, the play class pupils and the nursery classes are mostly taught using songs. Songs help students to learn. Teachers use songs to teach numbers, letters, and morals and this makes learning easier for the pupils. Children remember things better when music is involved and It helps with their thinking and memory. They understand the songs and rhymes more than when they are thought casually.
We use music in every part of life. In most of our celebrations like the birthdays, weddings or festivals, people play music. In sad moments like the funerals, people use soft slow music to help comfort those who are crying. Music becomes a way of expressing what we cannot say and this is same in every part of the world.
Sometimes, there are no words that can fully express how we feel, but music can do it. Music can travels fast and far within moments to different part of the world. With our phones, radios, TVs, and the internet, music from one small village can be heard across the world. A musician can become a global star with just a song.
A simple song made in Nigeria can be loved by people in the UK, Canada, or even as far as China. People from far away dance to Afrobeats, reggae, hip-hop, gospel and many other types of music. They may not speak the language, but they still love the sound.
So when we say music is a universal language, we are saying that it belongs to everyone. It speaks to every heart. It connects people. No matter who you are, where you are from or what you believe, music finds a way to reach you. It is one of the most powerful gifts in the world that has no limits or boundary.
Thank you for reading @joshel
Posted Using INLEO