Music is a universal language, despite containing within it a set of more or less symbolic codes that are subsequent to linguistic expression. When I refer to this universal character of sounds organized with intention, I am not thinking about songs, considering that, in most cases, because they have some language at their base, they are more linked to some people than others. Still, the voice can be universal, because it contains ultra and paraverbal possibilities, which go beyond words.
A good example of this universality is Lisa Gerrard, who uses her powerful vocal apparatus as if it were any other instrument, without there being any concrete lyrics behind it. In the film (which is also an album) by Dead Can Dance titled Toward the Within (1994), Lisa Gerrard describes the pre-verbal state of her daughter, who, before she could even speak, when she was a baby, already knew how to sing. They were sounds with no apparent semiotic connection to any signifier, but with a purpose, which only a baby could express. Lisa Gerrard explained how this principle served as her inspiration for some songs, which contain a voice without defined words, although they are not devoid of meaning: this is where ornamentation, intonation and many other expressions that give meaning to the songs come into play.
A few days ago, during the initiative In Concordia Variety – organized by the National Culture Center and Europa Nostra -, which took place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Catalan maestro Jordi Savall, in conversation with baritone Jorge Chaminé and fado singer Katia Guerreiro, demonstrated how Europe, before being an economic organization, began with culture.
I don’t know if there is a common cultural denominator among European countries, but, during the conversation, Jordi Savall highlighted a foundational moment in European music: the creation of Ars Nova (art nouveau, in Latin), in the 14th century, which, in short, corresponded to an innovation in musical notation, which would open doors to polyphony and to all the great composers we have always heard about, such as Dufay, Bach, Vivaldi, Lully, Telemann, Mozart, Seixas, Fauré, Beethoven, Bontempo. The list is endless.
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