Is music the universal language?

Is music the universal language?

Ever wondered what it takes to call something a *universal language*? All in the Mind lines that question up against music, asking whether a melody can truly link minds across cultures and time. Host Natasha Mitchell hands the reins to producer and sound artist Kyla Brettel, who assembles a lively panel: neuroscientist Ani Patel, music psychologist Dr Laura Lee Borkwill, and ethnomusicologist Professor Catherine Fulk.

Together, they ask if our shared response to rhythm and emotion means music belongs to everyone, or if culture still calls the tune. You’ll hear big questions framed in very human ways. Patel notes that music taps ancient reward centres in the brain, so that a favourite piece can light up areas "typically activated by biologically significant behaviours such as eating or reproducing".

Borkwill’s cross-cultural experiments suggest people can recognise basic emotions like anger, joy and sadness in music from very different traditions, leading her to say that "music just is this passport that lets you communicate across cultures". Fulk pushes back, arguing that "music is not a universal language any more than language itself is", stressing how rhythm, tuning and structure grow out of specific social worlds.

Balinese gamelan, African rhythmic complexity and Japanese timbral detail are set against Western harmony to show just how differently sound can be organised. The episode also wanders into evolutionary puzzles (is music adaptation or "auditory cheesecake"?), babies’ early brain wiring, whale song, dance, and the subtle ties between musical grammar and spoken language.

If you’re curious about how brains, cultures and emotions intersect every time you hit play, this thoughtful sound journey might leave you asking what your own playlists say about you — and whether someone on the other side of the planet might feel them too.