Not the flashy clothing, or the experience of hearing another culture’s popular music (followed by the delicious thrill of noticing similarity and dissimilarity in the sound), but the music itself that the greater part of fandom does not even understand. No disrespect to the bands, but most times, even when in English, is unintelligible to the English-speaking listeners. Sure, translations come along, but most times they are only looked at out of curiosity. Recently, when I stood in the front row of a venue, surrounded by fans from Japan, China, Canada, and the US, I realized that truly, music has no boundaries and language is unimportant. Perhaps, simply because we can’t understand it, we can enjoy the feel of the vocals and the music together better without becoming too engrossed in the lyrics.

Even if it’s not the same reason for everyone, I feel that’s completely brilliant. It has a meaning, but we don’t have to think of every word’s weight within the emotion that’s being conveyed. And maybe that in itself is the appeal.

What’s your take?

Written by Danielle Brooks of Five For Magazine.

Image from: 24-7designheaven

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