Non-verbal Communications and Sigur Ros

You've probably seen this data before. It shows that only 7% of communication comes from words.

It's one of the most misused pieces of research in recent history (the research was conducted specifically on emotional content of communication - NOT understandability).

At the same time, we can quickly validate the general 'truthiness' (thank you Stephen Colbert) of the research with some examples:

• parents can communicate effectively with babies, without verbal communications
• children from different cultures can play together without a common language
• the evolution of non-verbal signals in emails - emoticons, 'all-caps', underlines
• the effectiveness of silent movies
• the scariness of mimes
• Sigur Ros

Okay, you might be wondering what a Sigur Ros is.

They are an Icelandic band that is quite successful globally.

Their song "Hoppipola" appears in the new trailer for "Slumdog Millionaire", at the 1:15 mark.

"Staralfur" provides the soundtrack to the climax of "The Life Aquatic". 

Despite the fact that Sigur Ros sings in a language that 97% of their audience doesn't understand, they have created an intense emotional experience with their listeners.

Here is an incredible video of "svefn-g-englar", with the Perlan Theater Group.

I'm convinced that even a single word added to this video would only detract from it the power.

How can you use non-verbal communication more powerfully?

Additional Links

• Sigur Ros - Hoppipola video
• Sigur Ros - Glosoli video
• Image from The Message