Lingua constraintica

Sitting here all by my lonesome in the wee hours of the morning is one of my favorite moments, as some of you know. Everything's still; the silence is conducive to working. (Yes, HB, I'm working! At least I was, now I'm taking a break, haha!) We have a typhoon roaring through the Philippines, but it isn't passing through Metro Manila (where I am), thank goodness. So here I am: it's been raining, the wind has been blowing, the air is cooler than usual, and I'm listening to some good music.

Music is one of life's greatest gifts. We hear it almost everywhere, not just in songs: in the wind sighing through the trees, in the uninhibited laughter of children, in the tinkling of chimes as they sway with the breeze, in the drumbeat that the rain makes on the roof, in the crescendo of moans and ragged breathing in the heat of...well, never mind.

[note to self: keep this a wholesome blog]

Thank God for musically gifted people. I know there can be some question as to who can be called "musically gifted." After all, taste is relative. What is music to my ears may be to another like the sound of nails scratching across a chalkboard.

Instrumentation is important, and the rhythm that you can dance or at least sway to, but it's lyrics I'm thinking about right now. Hell, even the topic of lyrics is subjective. What comes across as banal to some people would tug at another person's heartstrings. Lyrics can be sappy (not that I have anything against sappy) or incomprehensible (at least to me) even if they're in English! However, there are many, many English-language songs that a lot of us find meaningful; I've come across several that just stopped me cold in my tracks because something about them reached deep inside of me and captivated my heart and soul. Conversely, there are others that just made my ears bleed; I regret ever hearing them.

One thing that I also regret is my inability to share some wonderful Filipino songs with you guys who don't speak my language. Sure, there are English translations, but I feel that something falls through the cracks in the translation process--and the secondary audience misses out on something that's vital in the song's essence. I think this holds true for any song that's been rendered in another language: something gets lost in translation. No matter how poorly or how well it's done (heck, sometimes the lyrics of the translated version are better than the original!) there will always be something missing. I find that to be ineffably sad somehow.

It's like you have something you really, really want to say...but you can't, simply because no words exist that can convey the depth and magnitude of your feelings. And approximation just doesn't cut it.