Communication Through Music

-Yam Bahadur Dura

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had rightly opined, 'Without music, life would be a mistake.' Human life would have been boring if there were no music. Music is one of the greatest creations of human, which gives us relief in pain and help us to reduce the stress in the hustle-bustle of daily life. In a real sense, music is life and life is music. Everybody under the sun loves music. It is scientifically proved fact that listening to music helps our brain work better.  Not only this, music makes us smarter as well. That's why music is as considered soul and driving force of human life.

The whole saga of music remains incomplete if we don't talk about communication. Human life is impossible without communication. Music has much to do with communication. In other words, music itself is communication and it communicates sorrows and joys of human beings opening floodgates of human feelings and emotions.   Music and communication go hand in hand and they cannot be separated.

Being the universal language, music facilitates the process of conveying human feelings and emotions.  For instance, western music is superseding homegrown music and vice versa. Given the fact youths are following various genres of music, communication barrier is just rare. Music can communicate many dimensions of human life ranging from love to war.

History says that Prithivi Narayan Shah, the founding father of unified Nepal, used music to communicate message of 'Nepal unification campaign'. He utilized Gandarvas, the traditional musician caste, to sing in favor of united Nepal during 'Nepal unification campaign'.  This fact makes us to believe that music was the part of 'Nepal unification campaign'.

Gandarvas used to travel from village to village playing Sarangi and spreading news long before newspaper, radio and television came into being. Even after the arrival of radio and television, the role of Gandarva was in place. Karka, an eventful song sung by Gandarvas, was one of the key sources of information in rural areas of Nepal. Karkha, was consisted of news regarding killing, natural disaster, arson, famine, and so on. For this reason, Gandarvas were considered as oral newspapers in nooks and corners of rural Nepal. Their traditional role of spreading news is being sharply replaced by the modern communication tools like, newspapers, radios, TVs, online, mobile sets.

We all know that Rubin Gandarva who sang influential songs during April Movement of 2006 and he proved himself as a celebrity. His song communicated a strong sense uprising to the silent masses, which ultimately assisted to hammer  autocratic system and it became one of the forces that played a key role to topple king Gyanendra's direct rule.

Jhalakman Gandarva, a noted folksinger, sang an epoch-making song called 'Aamaile sodhlin ni, khai chhoro bhanlin...' The tear-jerker song is based on a real story. The story is about a laahure, an army, of Armala Village in Kaski who was killed in the World War II. The song represented the sentiments of ill-fated laahure families and Jhalakman Gandarva became a household name overnight. It proved that music is a powerful tool of communication.

Experts say that music plays a vital role in child education. Nursery rhyme, nursery song, lullaby, ballad, etc. are those musical media that communicate knowledge to the children keeping them happy and open-minded. According to experts, music helps children to develop listening skills, to recognize words, to build vocabulary, to develop creativity and imagination. Experts recommend that children should be taught through music.

According to a website content developed by National Literacy Trust, a UK based organization; babies can recognize their mother's heartbeat and voice from when they are in the womb. The website called 'Talk To Your Baby' further says that newborn babies come into this world able to hear and with a sense of rhythm.

The website reads, '...They recognise sounds and enjoy making their own. From the day one babies communicate and they enjoy using music to express themselves.'

Religious and spiritual orators use Bhakti Sangit, devotional music, while preaching. Devotional music is supplementary to their preaching. On many occasions, devotional music gives the meanings of the points that orators missed out to deliver in the course of preaching.  In addition, it gives a visual image of the things that the orators talked about. The message communicated by music is powerful and leaves a lasting impression on audiences and take them to a spiritual world.

Music is a cultural heritage, and communication gives life to it.  Communication and culture are inseparable.  Communication scholars have lots more to do with inseparable aspects of communication and music. Nepal lacks research works about relationship between communication and music. Clock is ticking. It is indicating that we need to discover different facets of correlation between communication and music. Let's explore the largely unexplored world. And, let's learn to communicate through music.

[Courtesy : Media Newsletter  (March, 2013) ]