One Song

Piggybacking on the flute story, just a thought here that everyone should know at least one song from each culture that people in that culture will recognize. It’s an instant connector. I have stories a’plenty about the power of shared reconnection. One of my first was at the end of a trip around the world in Kyoto, Japan back in 1979. I attended a Bon Odori folk dance, delighted to watch the community dancing their shared repertoire and almost jumping out of my skin when I recognized a dance I actually had learned in San Francisco called Tanko Bushi. I jumped into the fray and the people around me were astounded —either that I could learn it so fast or that I actually already knew it. In either case, they gave me a lot of appreciation.

 

Many years later, I was Christmas caroling around the neighborhood with the neighbors as we have done each year since 1985. At one house, a woman came to the door and said “My father is ill but I’ve brought him downstairs because he wanted to hear you sing.” Somehow it came out that he was from Italy and I sang an Italian folk song that he instantly recognized and he lit up like—well, a Christmas tree. Another year, some folks came to the door and when we asked if they had any requests, they said, “We don’t know these songs. We’re from Bulgaria.” With missing a beat, my daughter and I began singing a two-part Bulgarian folk song, much to their delight and amazement. 

 

And so it has continued. Whether singing for people visiting San Francisco or singing with them in their country, everyone is so touched that you know a tiny slice of their culture. 

 

This has been one of our hopes in introducing kids at The San Francisco School to songs from all cultures. I’ve heard a few other stories from alums as to how that came in handy visiting Brazil or Bali or Bolivia. As it did for me singing my now favorite go-to Chinese folk melody, the Kang Ding Song. Maybe it’s time to ask my friends in all parts of the world which songs they consider the most well-known (folk or classical, not pop) from their culture and put together a “Meet Your Neighbor Songbook.” I’ll put it on my to-do list.

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