Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Barthes: Music, Voice, Language

"Music is both what is expressed and what is implicit in the text: what is pronounced (submitted to inflections) but is not articulated: what is at once outside meaning and non-meaning, fulfilled in that signifying [significance], which the theory of the text today seeks to postulate and to situate."
-Roland Barthes - Music, Voice, Language, p284



This song was written by, gospel artist, Kirk Franklin after the crisis in Haiti. Mr. Franklin gathered several of his friends to sing this some to raise money for the Haitian relief. Barthes says that music is expressed, the message of the song is; "Is there anybody out there listening?". Barthes also states music is implicit. The implicit message, as I see it, why does it take a disaster for us to notice the injustice in the world. Haiti has always been an impoverished country, however the world does not take notice until a massive earthquake hits. Music is able to address an issue directly while bringing attention to another indirectly.

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