Have you ever thought about how many of the songs we listen to every day are recorded in English? ACL’s Joy Godwin took to the airwaves with her group.
Joy, one of ACL’s English for Speakers of Other Languages tutors, joined Welcombe Radio for Local Radio Day recently to interview some of her learners about their backgrounds and choice of music. As well as providing a fascinating insight into the experience of arriving in Warwickshire from different countries, it was a terrific round up of music from a variety of cultures, with vocalists singing in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Turkish, and Romanian. Desert Island Discs had nothing on this!
The group talked about their home towns - for some, busy capital cities where you could shop late at night, for others smaller towns more similar to Stratford, where the programme was recorded. Some had travelled fairly extensively, for others England was their first experience of living in a different country. Some of the students were just beginning to learn English, and, for them, to come and talk on the radio was particularly daunting. Others had been learning for longer and were confident.
Joy asked the group about their sense of community and touched on the challenges of living in a new country during lockdown, when you missed your hometown and family members. It can be important to find a group who understand what this feels like, and maybe who share your native language, too, but there are no guarantees that because you are the same nationality you will always get on! It was good to hear many mentions of how welcoming friendly English neighbours have been. ’I was so impressed when I took my granddaughter to school and someone said hello to me,’ one woman commented. ‘Everyone smiles!’
The obvious differences between home countries and England were food, people, and language. One woman said that she liked the multiculturalism of the UK, and Stratford was described as ‘quiet and beautiful”. As expected, the weather came in for some criticism - although it’s less inclement than the weather in Albania, apparently!
Music choices varied from a Turkish arrangement of ‘My Way’, to a song recorded by a learner’s musician son who came second in Albania’s ‘The X Factor’. There was music that inspired the Brazilian samba, and the traditional music of Maria Tanase. The Romanian woman who chose Tanase said ‘when I hear her voice I hear my history.’ The session ended with a piece by Fairuz, from Lebanon, the Syrian nomination. ‘I feel love when I hear it. I listen in the mornings, and I feel relaxed.’
It was wonderful to travel though the lives of the group via music, and to understands a little of where they came from. The standard of spoken English was incredible. It reminded me why language is important - so that we can communicate as human beings - but also that music can transcend language, on occasion. Listening to heartfelt compositions from around the world was a moving experience, and a useful reminder to listen widely and well.