“Sema Na Moyo Wangu” (Speak to my heart, Lord) is a prayer. Frank Lowasa composed this prayer in pop ballad style and leads the song with his lyrical tenor voice. The style and form of this song is very accessible to western ears and I’m sure that many of you will enjoy it and even relate to the sentiment of it more than many of our other song posts. Your “natural” affinity to the style of this song is a great example of what is often called a “musical heart language.” We find it most easy to communicate in the languages we grew up with – our mother tongue. These languages can be spoken, sung, danced, painted, etc – but regardless, we have an affinity for languages that “feel natural” but they are, in fact, “learned languages.”
You may have heard it said that “music is a universal language.” But this is not true – music is a learned language. When symphony orchestras in both Seoul and NYC can both perform the same Beethoven symphony but do not have the ability to communicate with each other through spoken language, someone will say that this proves that music (the Beethoven in this case) is the universal language. However, what this particular example really shows is that musicians in both orchestras studied and learned the same musical language – in this case Western classical notation and the skills to make the appropriate pitch and tone on their instrument.
So, with that brief lesson in mind, I do hope you enjoy Frank Lowasa’s new song and that you can appreciate WHY you find this song, in Kiswahili language, to seem “natural” to your ears.
Enjoy!