Disclaimer: Generalizations and (perhaps pretentious) philosophizing to follow.
European musician: Do you speak Spanish?
Me: Not a word.
European musician:
So why are you doing this Spanish song masterclass?
Me: Because I’m curious about Spanish music and I want to
learn?!?! (Baffled, thinking to
myself “Is it so strange that I want to learn about Spanish music even though I
don’t speak Spanish?)
This question really caught me off-guard, as did the context
of the situation: I was the only participant in this masterclass who didn’t
speak Spanish. Back home it’s
totally normal for singers to intensively study repertoire in a language they
don’t speak. I think this is
partly due to the fact that North American anglophones generally don’t speak other
languages (study yes, but don’t speak), but also because North Americans value
a broad musical education. Do
Europeans consider it inauthentic to perform song repertoire in a language they
don’t speak, or are they not interested, or are they just too busy paying homage to their own country's musical legacy? I'll let you know when I find out.
