CBC Radio Special 49:00 Music to my ears
CBC Radio Special 49:00 Music to my ears
Dylan Sinclair’s music lessons began early, in a gold Nissan Murano. Sinclair, a Juno-nominated artist in Toronto, remembers driving around with her father, listening to R&B cuts. Kevin Sinclair’s favorite type of music. Dylan also learned to like it.
One song stands out: Please, Miss by Chris Brown. Dylan was a bit of a kid: four, maybe five years old.
“I remember my dad playing his album, like, all the time, every time we went for a drive,” Sinclair said. “And this song, it was really funny. I don’t know, as a kid, I could relate to it. And to this day, it’s like one of my favorite songs. eat.”
Whenever Sinclair heard that song, he was a little boy, sitting in the back seat of the Murano.
“And she’s doing it again. That, Mariah Carey, just R&B,” Sinclair said, laughing.
Most of us are familiar with a song that triggers a memory: a song that comes on at a party or on the radio, and immediately, transports us to another chapter in our lives. , at some point or time that song was woven. in our lives.
Communication is one of the reasons why music—especially old music—is so important to people. This is also why music has become such an important guide during the COVID-19 pandemic, in part to connect us with people we cannot be with during lockdowns, quarantines, and travel restrictions. .
“Music is a great way to bring us back to those kinds of times before COVID when we were able to spend time with friends and family,” said Kelly Jakubowski, who a musicologist at Durham University in England. .
“Most of our memories are related to music involving other people, and it shows more than other shows. It’s best loved ones.”
Old songs jump in popularity
Since the beginning of the epidemic, we have seen a huge increase in the popularity of old music on the media. According to MRC, a company that provides music sales information, old songs will make up 70 percent of the US music market in 2021. Read also : Why shoulder season is the next big travel trend. That’s an increase from 65 percent in 2020. .
Of course, only songs released in the past 18 months count as new music. But that thirst for old tunes also shows up elsewhere, including in movies and television.
Stranger Things sent the British singer Kate Bush back to the top of the charts with Running Up that Hill, a song she released in 1985. The new film Top Gun tripled the streams of Heaven in Your Eyes, Canadian rock band Loverboy’s multi-platinum hit. from 1986.
Even the 2021 Super Bowl halftime show is a nostalgia rap festival, including artists Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent and Eminem.
Going back to the first lockdown period in April 2020, Spotify reported a 54 percent increase in listeners making “custom audio stories,” with an increase in listening to music from the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and ‘. 80s.
It’s part of our digital age, where music fans can search and find music from any era rather than relying on whatever comes up. the radio, or listening to a party or dance hall.
But according to Jakubowski, music can also be a social connection, something that many of us need during the disease, to cope with isolation and loneliness.
“Even if we’re not with other people, the feeling of music comforts us and makes us feel like someone else is there, in a way. It’s a kind of friend. think,” he said.
“Perhaps the message of the words is reaching us and making us feel like we are not alone.”
Canadian singer Jann Arden echoes that sentiment.
“Music is very important,” he said. “It informs your childhood and your youth. It gives everyone a hymn. It is a balm for the soul. It is a babysitter and a counselor and a friend.”
For Fatima Elrafie, music is a way to feel close to her mother, who passed away in 2013. Growing up with her siblings in Calgary, Susan Elrafie was forever singing, I Just Called to Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder. He also calls them on the phone and sings, as a result.
It made kids go crazy when they were young. But when Susan became seriously ill, the importance of that song became even more profound.
“When he was in his last days in the hospital, all the hospital staff volunteered to come in and actually bring a piano into his hospital bedroom, and they played the song for and they sing for him, like, the whole unit, it’s crazy,” Elrafie said.
“He was really sick, so he didn‘t show much emotion, but when they started singing the song to him, he had this big smile on his face, really. from one cheek to the other, his eyes just shone with great beauty. .”
Now, Elrafie can remember everything from that day, from what he was wearing – a purple hat and a new colored jacket – to the smell of fresh coffee in his room. mother, which the hospital staff brought on a trailer for family members gathered at his mother’s house. beside the bed.
“Every time I hear that song, it’s rare, all I can think of in my mind is that big beautiful smile he had,” Elrafie said. “It brings me back to that particular moment, even if it’s just a 10-second opportunity.”
The reminiscence bump
Jakubowski says that we tend to listen to the same songs over and over again – especially our favorites – more often than re-reading a book, or re-watching a movie. See the article : Can music improve our health and quality of life?.
That repetition helps solidify memories, especially those from our youth, as we continue to grow and develop our identity as individuals—including our taste in music.
It is related to a phenomenon called “reminiscence bump,” where we often remember events in our lives during our youth and young adulthood, including music from that era.
Not only that, but music is often associated with the most important moments in our lives: love, leaving home, marriage, or difficult memories, such as heartbreak.
Down the road, when we hear that song again, we remember a few moments of that moment. Researchers in Jakubowski’s field use the term “music-evoked autobiographical memory,” or MEAM, to describe the phenomenon.
Every time Hafsa Maqsood hears Low from Flo Rida, it goes back to Grade 3, on the school bus in Calgary. He remembers riding the bus at the end of the year with all the windows down while playing on the radio.
“When it comes, every bus jumps in response, waving their arms around,” he said.
“This is a big homecoming celebration, with all the kids of all ages, all backgrounds, just singing the whole song, most of us don’t.” to know what it means.
“But every time I hear that song, I remember that time back when people just came together on a piece of music from different eras and it wasn’t always packed with a their personal devices.”
Written and produced by Elizabeth Withey, with files from Meegan Read. Click “Listen” above to play Music To My Ears, featuring interviews with musicians Jann Arden, Hawksley Workman and Dylan Sinclair, and music from Canadians from across the coast on this coast.
