h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Would you be the person to answer this question?

Assuming that the soul does not exist...what are the qualities in a singer's voice that let us know that s/he has soul? I don't have the musicological vocabulary to but it into words.

The topic arose in relation to a well-known singer from the north of your island. The dumpy, short curmudgeon has something of a whiney voice, yet there's something in - what? - the rhythm? the phrasing? I feel I want to call it the syncopation, but I don't know if that's right. Something about the slowing down and speeding up and putting pauses in the right places.

Other examples:

Ella Fitzgerald - not so much when she's scatting. More when she isn't - but you know she could if she chose.

Dionne Warwick taught her niece, Whitney Houston to sing. Whitney can't sing an unembellished note - she's up and down and all around the houses. Auntie Dionne sings it straight and does something amazing with the - what? - phrasing? What do I mean?

There are two Irish female singers whose voices have (to my ears) remarkably similar tones: Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries and (Rev. Mother) Sinead O'Connor. The former just sings. I feel the latter has more control over her voice and, to my mind, makes much better use of it.

So...what on earth am I going on about?

I heard a terrific definition of soul (in music) just the other day on TV. Dave Moore (?) of Sam n Dave said "When I sing a song, with *EXTRA* *EMPHASIS* on the words . . . that's soul".

Seems to me about right. It has to do with the interface between understanding and communication.

And don't start me (again) on words such as "exist"

Talking of Van the Man, I had an interesting converstion with him a few years back. He was interested in getting into renaissance music, but didn't know where to start. He said he wanted to change his life, but it was too boring to do it. A young girl in the company said "you don't mean boring" but he said, yes, he did. It's like looking through several years of newspapers for the ad you want.

He said at his stage in life and fame, all people wanted to do was make money out of him. People were full of schemes for him to do things, for them to make money. I have to say I didn't particularly take to him, but I did feel sympathy for his plight. He was at least refreshingly honest.

Rev. Father Sinéad is dead straight, and well messed up. Her brother Joseph is a good writer.

I've observed this phenomenon before - everyone in Ireland seems to know one another!

Yes, a lot of Van the Morrison's recent output seems to be along the lines of Everyone wants a slice of me/ The bastards. I have to declare a fandom. I've seen him perform several times, and on two of those he's been brilliant. The nearest I get to religion is the brief hiatus between And we gazed out on/ And we gazed out on/ And we gazed out on/ And we gazed out on and St. Dominic's Preview. If God is anywhere, it is in that pause.

There's a lot of truth in Sam's definition. Like the revelation of hearing that Reggae is 'Rhythm and Blues played backwards'. But there's definitely more to it...a matter of WHICH words ARE emphasised. You can hear how dreadfully wrong it can go in all these TV karaoke shows in which pretty boys and girls sing covers of culturally inappropriate songs in the hope of gaining six weeks of chart fame. The favoured style seems to be random pauses and emphases.

That's why I thought of St Shine Head. I was watching a concert dvd recently (not the particular filmed performance I'd thought it was going to be, but never mind) and I was struck by a certain way she - and here's where my musical vocabulary falls down - kinda slows down and speeds up but still stays in time. Syncopation?

And there's also the way that, for instance, Dionne Warwick or Aretha Franklin can sing just ahead of or behind the beat at various times. What would that be called?

The proper name for that is rubato (Italian for "robbed"). Nowadays (over the past century or so) rubato has come to mean speeding up and slowing down the tempo of the piece (piano players do it a lot), but in Chopin's time for instance rubato referred to rushing or delaying the melody while the accompaniment remained steady -- exactly what good singers do (Sinatra did it in ways I couldn't begin to notate). Classical musicians find this hard; their training is to fluctuate with the soloist, not barge on insensitively. On the other hand a good string quartet or vocal or viol consort will have tempos criscrossing subtly all the time, coming together and stretching apart. Easy thing to botch horribly; but it happens spontaneously when beginners play with experienced players, and that can be magic. The joy of teaching.

Rubato! Thanks.

Naturally I had thought of Sinatra also. It's usually refered to as his 'phrasing.'

On the other hand - some very fine singers seem to manage without it. I'm thinking of Johnny Cash, for example.

(Sorry - I'm weak on classical references. One day, one day...)

Johnny Cash: the John Wayne of singers . . .

Did it on sheer personality.