Believe it or not, there are about 6,500 different spoken languages throughout the world today. Still, if there’s one thing that transcends all languages, it is music. One of the most beautiful things about it is how music unites the world in one form or another. It doesn’t really matter what language you speak or where you are from. Music, is a language that all of us can understand.
Love Without Understanding
Aside from all of the numerous reasons why we humans love music, it is also because music is universal. Music doesn’t care what kind of car you drive, where you live or what language you speak. One of the best ways to prove this is the way people can fall in love with a song even when they don’t speak or understand the language it is being sung in. This rule applies to people in America or any other part of the world where they can end up feeling passionate about an artist and his music from another country. Case in point is how many famous singers such as Katy Perry, Adele, Justin Bieber and Beyonce have constantly sold out concerts in all parts of the world. These concerts take place in countries where very few people speak or understand a word of English. However, they simply love the artist and his or her music.
The late Pop singer & icon Michael Jackson was widely loved all over the world. His music eclipsed the language barriers as his sold out concerts and millions of records sold worldwide proved that. Many of us have heard songs on the radio, watched a video on YouTube or in a concert in a language we did not understand. However, we were instantly smitten by the rhythm or beat we listened to. This confirms that the love for music can be evident even when we don’t understand it.
Study Proves Music Unites Us
The Tokyo University of the Arts and the University of Exeter both performed a study which affirmed how music unites us. Their studies found that different songs from all over the world have similar aspects which promote both coordination and bonding among social groups. Over 304 studied recordings were performed on diverse complex music from all parts of the world. The results established that consistent features related to rhythm and pitch resulted in statistical characteristics pertaining to inter-relationships and social context. Dr Thomas Currie, from the University of Exeter explained that “The results show that the most common features seen in music around the world relate to things that allow people to coordinate their actions. They also suggest that the main function of music, is to bring people together and bond social groups – it can be a kind of a social glue.”
The Evidence Behind A Tune
The proof of the studies can be evidenced in music played in concerts or discotheques which play genres such as ‘techno’ and ‘club’. Most of the clubs all over the world play this kind of music and tourists as well as locals all come together to dance in unison night after night. The same applies to classical or instrumental music. During these events or concerts, one can see strangers immediately begin to interact and connect with one another; even when they don’t speak the same languages. You can take a person from every country in the world and put them all in one room. If kept in silenced, the majority of them will probably never socialize or attempt to speak to one another. On the other hand, by playing a certain song or music, you can instantly bring most of them together. Whether it is via dancing or simply enjoying the tunes being played.
Someone once said “Music is not a universal language… music lets us connect without language.” A quote such as this exemplifies exactly why music is a language that the entire world can understand and how music unites the world.
