#music as language

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Music is the language of feeling and passion, just as words are the language of reason.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

[postorbital]

They'd never managed to form a common language with the aliens, so the chief diplomat relied heavily on puppeteers and musicians.

[pencildragons]

bro i LOVE indigenous fusion music i love it when indigenous people take traditional practices and language and apply them in new cool ways i love the slow decay and decolonisation of the modern music industry

[liesandnights]

My version of flirting is looking at someone I find attractive multiple times and hoping they're braver than me.

[soul-from-another-era]

Sharing music is a huge love language for me 🤍.

[boltlightning]

do allow me, will you? ➢ THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[jay-birds-fly]

A candid image of me cleverly tricking my unsuspecting friends into sharing an interest with me so I have someone to infodump to

[murmuringbug]

Every single frame of this show could be put in a museum

[heavenlydolly]

If you want, you can let me know the language(s) in the tags, and whether or not you speak it fluently!

[thesevenstarfoxes]

"Odysseus could have raised Astyanax as his own son! He shouldn't have killed him! Zeus is just an idiot who doesn't understand anything about children!"

Imagine you are Astyanx. Imagine that one day, you discover that your father, the man you thought was your father, is actually the murderer of your real father, who stole you from your cradle. Imagine that for years, you see your father lying to everyone, but the thought never crossed your mind that he might be lying to you. How do you know he didn't take you to ensure Troy would have no heir to the crown? That he took you to one day make you a puppet king in Troy for him? He's such a good liar, how do you know he wasn't lying when he looked you in the eye and said, "I love you, my son."

You know that your father—no, he's not your father, never was—did terrible things, but it never crossed your mind that you were one of the terrible things he did. You are a Trojan prince. You are Hector's son. You are not a little orphan from the battlefield that Odysseus took pity on. Odysseus destroyed your city. Odysseus lied to you. Odysseus has manipulated you. And Odysseus will PAY.

So many Greek tragedies tell about exactly this - about the attempt to prevent a tragedy, and about how the attempt failed, just as the gods and prophets had warned. If Astyanax had stayed alive, he would have murdered Odysseus' family no matter what Odysseus did, because that's how Greek tragedies work.

and yes, zeus suck.

[esyson]

i really think learning languages is like. good for your soul. net positive.

[scribefindegil]

As much as I adore conlangs, I really like how the Imperial Radch books handle language. The book is entirely in English but you're constantly aware that you're reading a "translation," both of the Radchaai language Breq speaks as default, and also the various other languages she encounters. We don't hear the words but we hear her fretting about terms of address (the beloathed gendering on Nilt) and concepts that do or don't translate (Awn switching out of Radchaai when she needs a language where "citizen," "civilized," and "Radchaai person" aren't all the same word) and noting people's registers and accents. The snatches of lyrics we hear don't scan or rhyme--even, and this is what sells it to me, the real-world songs with English lyrics, which get the same "literal translation" style as everything else--because we aren't hearing the actual words, we're hearing Breq's understanding of what they mean. I think it's a cool way to acknowledge linguistic complexity and some of the difficulties of multilingual/multicultural communication, which of course becomes a larger theme when we get to the plot with the Presgar Translators.

[sgt-dignam]

aren't there 12 notes in a scale? what'd you say? music. my mom was a piano teacher. she used to say that music is the universal language.

FROM | 3.10 - Revelations: Chapter Two

[ironcladrhombus]

I have some very specific thoughts about the Wisdom Saga to share:

On the very first listen I was like "hm idk about this, it's different and idk how I feel about it yet" bc quite frankly it's not just new, it's modern. The addition of video game mechanics in Little Wolf, the use of the words "tramp" and "champ" in Legendary, "Splendid" in We'll be Fine- it's all closer to the way we speak than Odysseus.

But here's why I think this choice is so interesting; there was a study I read about people who leave their home country and live somewhere that doesn't speak their home language. The results showed that for those people, their language and vocabulary is sort of stuck in the time that they left. They don't develop variations, or the new slang that gets incorporated, and so people who move home after many years away are then seen as speaking sort of archaically.

This means that Odysseus for the past TWENTY YEARS has only had the same linguistic patterns between him and his men, whereas Telemachus has been developing his language along with his country his whole life. Twenty years is a long time, especially where technology and language is concerned (video game mechanics and "that is so sick!") which is why it felt so different on the first listen.

[kutyozh]

not only langblr music resources

people irl often ask me where the heck i find the music i listen to, so i figured i might as well make a handy resource masterpost!

Radio Garden: Listen to radio stations all over the world. You can save your favourite stations, explore radio playlists, and search for stations in specific countries or cities. Love this one. You can download the app (android and apple) or listen via your preferred browser.

Radiooooo: Lets you choose a country, a decade, and a 'genre' (slow, fast, or weird) to listen to. You can download the app (android and apple) or listen via your preferred browser.

Charts: Charts can be tricky if you're looking for music in a specific language since there are multiple languages present in most country specific charts. It is nevertheless worth checking them out. Spotify charts or Top 40 Charts are your places to go.

Tunefind: Heard a song in a film or tv show that you enjoy but can't find it in the credits? This is the website for you! I use it when shazam fails me or when I'm at the cinema and can't use it or w/e. The songs sometimes come with a description of the corresponding scene for easy checking. Just very handy to have on hand.

Local events: Check for concerts etc. in your area. I know this is not an option for everyone for a bunch of reasons, but if it is for you, visiting local concerts can be a gold mine. I got like ten whole new songs in spanish and one in rapanui from one event I went to (it was like a culture fest with singing, dancing, and poetry). Also listening to live music just connects you differently to the art imo.

Friends & Acquaintances: Last but not least; sometimes my nosiness beats my social anxiety and I simply ask people what they like to listen to. If I'm being extra confident, I ask if they listen to music in languages other than english. Go forth and ask people about their music, go go go!!

Spotify specific recs:

Every Noise At Once: Sounds overwhelming - and tbh it can be. For this reason I personally prefer to look at 'Genres by Country', although there are many other interesting playlists to look at, such as 'We Built This City On' or 'The Sounds of Places'. You can find more if you scroll all the way to the bottom. Unfortunately, due to the layoff of the creator of this site, some features are not available anymore. This website is entirely based on Spotify.

LindsayDoesLanguages. Individual language playlists + more

Shameless self promo - my own account with individual language playlists. Also on YouTube !

700+ Languages. A playlist by Matthew Bofenkamp that contains one (1) song per language, and as it says on the tin, Matthew has so far collected songs in over 700 languages. Might be a good starting point for more music in your language of interest! Accompanying g0ogle spreadsheet with youtube links here.

One Song in Every Language. A community playlist by looky_dooky that aims to collect one song in every language. Everyone with a spotify account can contribute.

Another research tip: If you're on desktop, a good way to find language specific playlists is to go to any artist's profile and scroll down to the "Discovered on" section, then click "show all". Voilà!

(These showed up when I visited Haleluya Tekletsadik's page)