25 Sep 2024

Music with Kirsten Zemke: The la-la-la phenomenon

From Nine To Noon, 11:05 am on 25 September 2024
Image of a jukebox, close up to look at the records.

Photo: Pixabay

Music correspondent Kirsten Zemke looks at why non-lexical vocables or nonsense syllables are used in a variety of music genres.

Common examples include "la la la" or "da da da" and some go back to the Middle Ages.

They're often used as a filler or accompaniment in songs, particularly in choruses.

Kirsten shares some tracks with great examples. Kirsten Zemke is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Auckland's School of Social Sciences.