On Musicking and Language
If you search for K-pop songs on YouTube, you will most likely find color-coded lyric videos. Lyrics are provided in South Korea’s modern writing system Hangul, Romanized Korean, and also translated into English. The lyrics are color-coded so that the audience can see which band member sang each part. Most, if not all, of these videos are generated by fans.
Fans of the Korean boy-band BTS, called ARMY, also helped connect them to their non-Korean audience by translating their songs and social media content. This is particularly important since part of the BTS branding is their honesty and genuineness. Baring their personalities provides a layer of authenticity in the K-pop industry, where pop idols are manufactured through intense training and development. As a result, many BTS songs talk about issues in their society and their lives. Initially, they didn’t perform well on music charts, partially because their songs were too complicated in comparison to their local competitors. But now we are actually at the point where people attempt to learn Korean through BTS songs.
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“Are we talking about songs or also music? Music is without any lyrics, it is just music. Song is with lyrics.”
The preceding excerpt is from a set of interviews I conducted with Pakistanis on how they discover and listen to music. The same interviewee also said that they used to listen to English songs while studying since they didn’t understand the lyrics. However, when they began to understand the language, those songs caused a disconnect because “I was just never able to relate to that kind of lyrics, not the music. I love the music.”
While some readers may not go as far as to consciously differentiate between the idea of a song and of music in general, it is perhaps safe to argue that connecting with words in a song creates a level of affinity.
Of course, we can’t understand songs without knowing the language. But it is also not necessary to know a language to appreciate it. BTS, whose songs surprisingly play in Pakistani cafes, and billboards for whom go up in South Asia (paid for by fans), are evidence of this.
There is a reasonable argument to be made that, part of the reason Coke Studio Pakistan has the following it does is that their videos have captions in Urdu and English. It is one of the few places where people are exposed to other regional languages. For instance, if today I asked Pakistanis which Balochi song they have heard, chances are Kaana Yaari comes to mind. The earlier seasons of Coke Studio fused Eastern and Western music, and it is likely that this approach led them to add translations for their songs starting from season 2. By providing captioning in Urdu, Romanized Urdu, and English, they made the platform more accessible, which likely contributed to its breakthrough.
We are increasingly noticing captions and translations being added to South Asian music looking to be known internationally. For example, Raf Saperra, who is making waves in the UK Bhangra scene, chooses to translate his songs. Even Pashtun artists that are yet to break out internationally but are slowly amassing a larger audience in Pakistan, have used this technique. Zahoor, Wajid Layaq and Pameer Yousafzai in particular, have caught my attention. My last example will be Think Music India which is a South Indian music label that also promotes independent tracks such as the current trending Tamil song, Aasa Kooda. They often include English translations for their most popular songs as it enhances accessibility. It is no coincidence that Tamil songs have started to trend worldwide; we’re just beginning to pay attention.
Humans are storytellers, so it is only natural that we listen and share stories which resonate with us and that is where language can act as a barrier or bridge. Ideally, by providing lyrics in our native language and translations we are bridging those gaps. Transliterations also help provide common ground between native scripts and translations by teaching us how to sing more confidently. We can enhance subtitles on screen by using a high-contrast color, which is why we often see yellow fonts in videos, and by making the text large enough to improve readability. However, most musicians are not full-time musicians in this country which means they do not have the time to do everything. I believe this is where fans can step in. Instead of relying on terrible AI-generated translations of songs, we can simply provide our own words in YouTube comments if making a lyric video is too much effort.
Musicking is a term coined by Christopher Small. “To music is to take part in any capacity in a musical performance, and the meaning of musicking lies in the relationships that are established between the participants by the performance.” In essence by just listening to music you are musicking. It is not limited to the performance or creation of music. By dancing we are musicking, by discussing a song we are musicking and by sharing songs over WhatsApp we are musicking. Therefore, by transcribing or translating songs we are also musicking.