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Another performance! And I'm speaking!
Entry 27 of 28 | show all | print this entry |
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I learned one important lesson on our Transylvania Choir Pilgrimage: When accents get too heavy, you can't find the word you're looking for in the dictionary, and ultimately, words fail, there is one thing we can count on: music. One of the highlights of the entire Transylvania trip was the Garden Party at Summit's Partner Church in Barot. The town of Barot not only had a wonderful cookout, they made us feel like celebrities. The parade band, baton twirlers, folk dancers, solo singers, and choirs of the town performed to celebrate our four-day residence in Barot. It was all very festive, but sometimes when attempting to talk with the townspeople, who spoke little English, and we, little Hungarian, words did escape us. I often experienced awkward pauses, long silences, uncomfortable glances, and my own personal fear that I just may be looking like a complete fool.
But, after a good sausage on the grill, purely by accident, we figured out the perfect elixar to the language barrier. In good impromptu fashion, a couple of us started singing "Mercedes Benz" by Janis Joplin. Before we knew it, someone brought over an acoustic guitar, and we were singing many great songs representative of our culture - 60s songs, American folk songs, and African American Spirituals.
Eventually, a group of townspeople joined us in a circle and began singing their folk songs. So what if we couldn't speak each other's spoken language - music was our common sung language! The common phrase came to mind that music is our universal language. However, recently, I have heard the argument that music is NOT a universal language. All hearing people can listen to music, but can it really be understood as a language? Some academics exert that it wouldn't be a universal language because one cannot understand the implications, associations, and meanings of a foreign culture's musical mother tongue. This idea can be understood in the context of the emotions that music can evoke. For instance, many years ago, I heard a recording of a wedding song from Russia that sounded not joyous, as our Western ears may expect. To the contrary, the notes sung by the female singer resounded with a great distress and anguish. Two different cultures can interpret musical sounds in different ways based on the associations that each culture carries.
At the Garden Party, we were able to communicate using American folk and pop songs known by both of our cultures. Hungarians shared their songs that were very foreign to us - in words, timbre, and tonality, like the song that I opened with today. We could truly appreciate - for us, it was music for music's sake and was a true aural gift from our new friends. Athough we did not know what the lyrics meant, we could enjoy the different qualities of their music as opposed to ours, such as how the melodic lines were of a more nasal quality and composed of more modal tonalities than in American music. To me, I was hungry (no pun intended) - the melodies reached out and grabbed me - they provoked my desire to understand more about the culture, learn about the people who originally sang these songs, and the nature of the people now. If music isn't a "universal language" in itself, it can inspire relations and connections between cultures. Perhaps the notion of a "universal language" is really an invitation - to use music as a gateway to understanding another culture. Once the understanding and awareness between cultures has been forged, a new consciousness can arise.
Back to the party - we were having a true folk music moment and it really helped to break the ice. When I walked back with my host family to their apartment that evening, instead of conversation being slightly uncomfortable, we giggled all the way home.
During our stay in Barot, we also sung "Spirit of Life," the well-known Unitarian song as well as it's translation "Isten Lelke." We Americans sung it in English and then invited the audience to sing with us in Hungarian. There was an increased sense of comraderie between everyone, just from singing a song! When we began singing the Hungarian, immediately a smile crept over their faces. We knew they appreciated how we reached out to them and by the time the song ended, many audience members were wiping their eyes, moved by the connection we shared. We all were once foreign to each other, separated by oceans, but joined by a history of religious tolerance within the Unitarian faith. Now we were friends and comrades, sharing an incredible moment together.
Now, I would like to invite you to sing "Spirit of Life" with us. I invite you to turn to the printed music in your order of service and sing the Hungarian lyrics followed by the English. With this song, I will always remember the amazing times that we had on our pilgrimage to Transylvania and our meaningful cultural exchange.
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