|
|
Article: Sung poems: the incantatory voice.(Literature)(Critical essay)
- Article from:
- Quadrant
- Article date:
- March 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Quadrant Magazine Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
BETWEEN THE HUMAN voice employed as a musical instrument and everyday speech, lies a continuum of infinite variations and modulations. Within that continuum chanting can be said to lie somewhere midpoint between speech and song, whereas intoning and reciting are somewhat closer to spoken words.
Speaking in a way that turns ordinary words into an incantation has been practised since time immemorial, perhaps even with the dawn of language t itself; for just as all cultures have developed speech as a vehicle for communication, so all cultures have music, which is the most likely impetus to the genesis of language.
If I have brought the idea of the magical ...