A Tale of Two Melodies – When Hymns Are to Be Sung in Cantonese
(Part IV of V: Theological Reflection and Biblical Foundation of Singing Tone-matching Lyrics)
In the last blog, I have responded to the six myths relating to singing non-tonal lyrics. Let’s continue to reflect on the biblical foundation of singing tone-matching lyrics.
1. Worship of all nations and tongues
Our Lord was slain, and with His blood He purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. (Rev. 5:9) While there is only one Body of Christ, the depiction of every tribe and language and people and nation indicates a picture of multiplicity. Definitely, every language has its own characteristics and accents in its expression. Therefore, the worship of all nations and tongues is destined to express the kind of worship with all languages’ full capacities to the infinitely great God. In this sense, it should be the worship of multiplicity and unity. Cantonese has been created by God and thus, in this grand scenario, it should have its own place. God has given us Cantonese which has musical tones as our mother-tongue language. How does God want us to use it to worship and praise Him? And how can we learn to appreciate and utilize this gift from God?
2. Worship engaging the whole body and soul
In recent years, molecular gastronomy has gained in popularity in Hong Kong. This novel kind of food calls for our faith and imagination to enjoy it. It is so because the taste, feel, texture and appearance of the raw ingredients are fully deconstructed and then recomposed into a new dish, e.g., a potato in the form of foam, or xiaolongbao (steamed dumpling) in the shape of an egg yolk, etc. When we enjoy the food of molecular gastronomy, we know what we are eating; however, what our eyes can see is something different. This experience is similar to what we experience when we sing hymns with twisted tones: we know what we are singing, however, our ears hear something very different. For example, when we sing the chorus of “How Great Thou Art,” we know that we are singing ‘我靈歌唱ngo5 ling4 go1 coeng3’ (Then sings my soul); however, our ears will hear something like ‘鵝靈個槍ngo4 ling4 go3 coeng1’ (one possible meaning will be ‘goose, soul, piece, gun’). We definitely need some imagination to convince ourselves that we are indeed singing “then sings my soul.” No wonder some brothers and sisters often feel that, although they have sung the hymn once and can manage the melody pretty well, they feel that they cannot grasp the meaning of the lyrics concretely. One of the possible reasons is that they actually cannot “hear” what they themselves and the community have sung. If we hope that we can sing hymns with both our understanding (1 Cor 14:15) and our hearts (Col 3:16), what I have presented above will hinder these two aspects. Therefore, if we can closely connect the minds, hearts, eyes, ears, and mouths of the people, I believe that we can then encourage the congregation to sing with more engagement and passion.
3. Worship embodying love for one another
Another dimension for reflection is the Great Commandment of “loving one another” (John 13:34-35). Our Lord Jesus was among those who were in need, and condescended for the weak and lowly. His model calls for our reflection and learning. From my experiences and conversations with different brothers and sisters, I have found out that in the situations mentioned below, they cannot be fully engaged in the singing of hymns or songs to a certain extent:
- Feeling distant and unfamiliar to the songs with non-matching tones, some “Cantopop Natives” mentioned in the previous blog cannot accept the songs or feel they are weird or funny.
- Some non-believers need more time to adjust to singing this kind of song.
- Some people who do not want to go to Church use this as an excuse to stay away.
- Some people, when they find that their singing encounters some difficulties, will switch to singing in English or will skip the embarrassing lyrics.
- Some people need to mark the final sounds in order to sing the songs. For example, when they see ‘我靈歌唱’, they need to mark ‘鵝靈個槍’ so that they can sing it correctly (to Cantonese readers, this may seem a bit exaggerating, but this is a real case!).
Although the above-mentioned situations may be individual cases, if the songs with lyrics matching the melodies can assist these brothers and sisters to praise and worship with fuller engagement, and help if the next generation and non-believers to accept it, this will definitely be a beautiful thing to start off the re-translation work.
4. Worship with our best gifts
Language, music, and translation skill are all gifts given to us by God. If we can fully utilize these gifts to translate some hymns with rich content and longstanding history into Cantonese hymns with matching tones, so that these hymns can be widely used to bless more brothers and sisters, or even non-believers, all these will demonstrate that we are ministering to each other with the gifts from God and are good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10).
5. Worship with the Word of Christ dwelling in the hearts richly
The disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues to share the good news to different people (Acts 2:4). If we have more Cantonese hymns with matching tones, I believe that its advantages will outnumber its disadvantages in both evangelism and spiritual formation of the believers. As mentioned previously, singing songs with one’s heart language can let the message be heard in the heart with resonance, thus fostering the Word of God steadfastly and richly dwelling in one’s heart (Col. 3:16). If the Word should be prioritized and be served in all that we do in our worship, then anything that can enhance this aspect should be tried out with effort and be encouraged. Furthermore, when we face up to the requirement that music should serve the lyrics, maybe we should look at the reality with fairness and objectivity, and see if the music is serving the lyrics, or if the lyrics have to kneel before the music, and thus cannot function well enough.
In case you have missed Part I-III, you can find them here: Part I of V, and Part II of V, and Part III of V
Blogger Yvette Lau has bachelor degrees in Chinese and Translation, and Music, a Master in Worship, and a Doctor of Pastoral Music. She has served as one of the executive committee members of the Hong Kong Hymn Society from 2011-2017. Her passion lies in choral conducting, song writing, hymn translation from English to Cantonese (main translator for New Youth Hymns), event organization, translation of books on worship including The Art of Worship, Beyond the Worship Wars, The Worship Architect, and Glory to God, and training and teaching on worship.
