Since childhood, I have always been passionate about music. As I have Indian roots, I grew up listening to Indian Classical and Bollywood music and I loved it. When I moved to England, my taste grew to accommodate new Western pop, rock and country. After coming to Nonsuch I found a love for Spanish, German, Korean and other foreign language music. I’ve always been asked, “How do you listen to songs that you can’t understand?” and I've always responded saying that music, to me, is a universal language. I never thought of language as a barrier which could stop me from discovering new singers, songs or styles. Whether it is the rhythmic beat of reggaeton or the calming essence of rāgas or the powerful emotions of ballads, each song, each style, each singer serves their own purpose.
Music is what binds all of us together. It’s a language we all speak and it can be used as a force for good. Throughout history, many cultures and traditions use music as a form of storytelling and community building as it is something universal and loved by all. Music allows us not only to display our culture and diversity, but embrace other cultures too. It gives us a platform where language is no longer a barrier but a tool to educate others around us. A large reason why I can speak Hindi is due to the fact that I grew up listening to Indian music most of my life. My love of Spanish music has led me to pick up on the language and I love to sing along to my favourite Spanish songs which surprises many people I know. Don’t let the unfamiliarity of something different put you off new languages and styles, let it excite you to find out more about it and you too can learn more about other people and give yourselves a platform to connect with more individuals.
Music is something that is personal to everyone. Some people like to analyse the lyrics of songs whereas some prefer the complexity of melodies. We fall in love with a new song because we can relate to it or it matches our mood. The emotional connection we feel to music is something so powerful that it helps us connect with others. We can build relationships over the love of music and bond with others when we find similarities in our styles. This is why people get overwhelmed in concerts when they find themselves singing together with the people around them, it gives them a sense of oneness, belonging, unity. For that moment in time, we can forget our troubles, and we find that all of us, no matter who we are, have one thing in common: the love of music in our hearts. If we could live our whole lives like that imagine how much of our pain and sorrow could fade away. If the whole world could live like that, imagine how much hatred and suffering could disappear. It's a powerful notion, isn’t it?
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