Live music and translation: The case of performances involving singing

Abstract

This article explores the multicultural and multilingual context of live music today in relation to translation, focusing primarily on a European context. A first section examines the complex relationship of music and translation, arguing that in many respects, music is a form of translation. The article then focuses on the case of vocal music and/in translation, before considering accessibility in relation to music and how it is understood in this article. Past and current traditions and expectations of translation in live music are discussed in the next section. Two more sections explore respectively contemporary audiences' preferences, and artists' engagement with their public, as well as the solutions they find to communicate with their audiences and convey the verbal content of their songs. The conclusion draws on the findings of these sections to emphasise the importance of lyrics translation in the live music scene. It also outlines the key role that music can play in translation, particularly in the cosmopolitan context of live musical events.