Rhiannon Giddens Quotes

You get the feeling that many of my guests feel that the French language gives them entry into a more cultivated, more intelligent world, more highly civilised too, with rules.

I have no idea what it would be like to be just one thing and speak one language. I feel enormously privileged to travel and be able to mingle and speak to people that, had I only known English, I wouldn't have been able to meet.

A different language is a different vision of life.

Americans are people who prefer the Continent to their own country, but refuse to learn its languages.

Singing in Gaelic is very, very natural to do. I think lends itself very much so to being sung.

I loved France, although I initially thought they were stubborn for always speaking French.

Getting access to diverse civilizations should be easy, and languages are the gateway to that.

When I go to different countries, I want to know how to at least say hello and thank you. Language is a great hobby.

I started travelling doing shows everywhere to make people feel like a sense of New Orleans wherever they may be.

The last thing an Englishman wants to hear is a man from Brussels trying to imitate his language - you want to hear a different point of view. You may not be able to understand the details, but you can understand the feeling.

If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky, they can learn to say Uzoamaka.

It's so wild to be able to say that I can do shows in front of thousands of people and have them sing my songs in Korean and in English - that is wild to me.

It's good to be around an English manager.

The English experience has greatly enriched me, and I'd like to carry on as manager.

Music is common language. I can sing 'Bebot' in front of white people and they will dance.

I enjoyed living abroad. I enjoyed the differences as much as anything.

Recording a Hindi song takes me around 40 minutes whereas a Kannada song takes me about two hours. The music isn't a problem, since the notes used are universal. The language is the problem. I try my best to get it right, as I'm sensitive about respecting every language, since all of them are sacred in my heart.

Taking someone else's language and fitting it into your own speech - you learn a lot about other people's brains, doing that.

When we were working on 'River Ota' in the '90s, I learnt to read Japanese, which was how I discovered that it incorporates elements of Chinese calligraphy.

None of us had really any interest in doing a sort of 'Babel 2.'

I enjoy the company of overseas people. It's always good learning.

I think that a lot of teams aren't as close-knit as we are because a lot of the Spanish speakers don't know English and some of the English guys don't care to try and learn Spanish and relate to Latin players.

I studied French and English literature because I liked it.

Being able to play all over the world to different audiences and have them sing my lyrics back to me, even if they can't speak the same language, is crazy.

I would even love to do a Bengali film if a good offer is made to me.