Syncopation for the nation part 2

Hello everyone! Happy last day of June!

Even though we may feel as if we have been robbed of a couple of months this year, summer has finally arrived and we are ready for it!

At Euroschool we have taken all the measures to ensure that both staff and students are safe while learning: one direction hallways, separating screens between students, hydroalcoholic gel for everyone’s use, temperature checks and the cleaning of each classroom in between classes are just some examples.

This year we are offering 3 types of courses:  presential, 100% online or hybrid. Whatever your needs are and whether you feel comfortable attending our installations or not, we got you! Give us a call (981140024) or write us an email (info@euroschoolofenglish.com) and we’ll be happy to tell you all about the details of our summer courses.

But now, we couldn’t leave you hanging all summer without knowing the end to our collaboration post by Steve, right?

Here’s “Syncopation for the nation part 2”, enjoy!

(…)

This got me thinking if foreign groups and singers, who were writing and performing songs in English instead of their first language, were doing it for more than just the hope they would become famous worldwide. So maybe, there is an element of practicality to this stress timed stuff for musicians.

In 1999 the rules for the Eurovision song contest changed to allow nations to once again sing in any language and no longer restrict them to just their own. English  became a quick favourite for different reasons, but it is true that since then a disproportionate amount of winning songs have been sung in English. It being an already widely understood vernacular contributes to this too.

(Picture from Wikipedia)

Having said all this, there are genres of music that don’t lend themselves too kindly to English. Opera is one that springs to mind, you may have heard an operatic performance in English or even Esperanto or klingon, but it doesn’t have the same impact or popularity as the more traditional Italian or German equivolents.
Although there are songs known globally that are in other languages, it is fair to say that more modern styles – pop/ rock/ rap / hip hop have the vast majority of success worldwide written in the language you are reading at this current moment.

This raises another question then. Is it the origin of a type of music and its resulting culture that dictates success, more than the dialect projected from the artists’ mouths? It is definitely another large contributing factor. But if the music didn’t sound right then, wouldn’t we listen to something else or change it to the language that fits best?
Plus, given the fact that rhythm and also rhyming of words can be messed around with so freely is for me another factor why we see such dominance in the global music biz from English speaking artists in so many genres.  Something to keep pondering I suppose.

Any player of an instrument will tell you that the same riff or short piece of music can be played in a multitude of ways because of syncopation and putting accents and different timing on some notes.
Singers use syncopation with words in the same way a drummer or guitarist will hit a drum/ chord harder or softer. This is where English can be, and in my mind is taken advantage of for its melodic flexibility.

 

We really hope you have enjoyed it and that you have a fantastic summer! Stay safe!