Lord Matt

I finished listening to Rie Fu’s “Rose Album” a few minutes ago, and I’m in love. The response of the emotions is so simple, considering that I’m an English-speaking American listening to a Japanese singer who studied music in England. The simple truth is: her music knows no borders.

Music has always had a certain romanticism to it. Whether it was the mathematic nature of harmony or pop culture, music is touted as a common language among the world’s peoples. Math helps explain the universal appeal of classic melodies, but the addition of lyrics impose a cultural separation once again. It’s difficult to admit but clearly obvious that a person’s musical experience can be hampered by language, despite the sound of foreign words to music having a marginal appeal. I notice the language gap most acutely with my favorite foreign musicians, such as The Indigo, with which I sing along without a clue as to the source of that wonderful feeling. Not so with Rie Fu.

Her gift, or skill as one may call it, is the ability to mesh Japanese and English to form a lyrical flow so smooth that it feels as though she has created a new language all her own. Suddenly one finds a common ground between cultures through a simple song, as only music can do. Whereas I feel a distinct disadvantage listening to The Indigo, love them as I do, with Rie I feel no such separation. I don’t know Rie’s japanese any better than Miki Taoka’s (they both have a wonderful sound), but Rie’s songs have enough english lyric to forge a sense of understanding of the whole.

It certainly helps that she’s good at it — the characteristic omission of abrupt consonants and the difficulty with r and l are all but nonexistent in Rie’s songs. I attribute her sound not just to practice, but a natural talent for music. Pronounciation is musical in nature, after all. Much like Brazilian singer Joyce’s lovely accent of French, Rie’s English is a testament to a musician’s acute listening ear.

More than talent, Rie’s music is much like an enabling technology. Already we see additional talent following up with wonderful music — like Angela Aki, the latest Final Fantasy diva, having a lovely western accent to her English, and not afraid to use it. Even if I end up wrong about this being a trend, the truth is I love Japanese music much more than before Rie Fu took the stage.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 28th, 2006 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.