“Music is the social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is.”
Music is a human activity that functions within its social and cultural contexts. It has never been an autonomous art form divorced from social, political, economic, technological, and ethical developments. Instead, music in society and culture touches on an extensive range of human endeavors. It may accompany every human activity from the cradle to the grave and include lullabies, games, dancing, working, healing, battling, ceremonies, festivals, weddings and funerals. Music in and as culture suggest not only how people use, perform, compose and think about music and their general attitudes towards it, but also how it functions as emotional expression, aesthetic enjoyment, or as entertainment. In this section you find articles that look at music from a variety of interdisciplinary and current viewpoints. We explore music influence, the value of music, and music of life through the lens of folklore, cultural anthropology, performance studies, dance, area studies, cultural studies, gender studies, race or ethnic studies, or other fields in the humanities and social sciences. Music plays an important role in shaping society and identities, and it provides parameters that can be used to frame experiences, perceptions, feelings, and comportments. For better or worse, music has become a commodity and significantly changed our experience and social practices.