Music of the Caribbean

Rommen, Timothy

doi:10.4324/9780429433757-11

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Seeger [ 40 ], for example, explicitly described the two main modes of song among the Suya as solo ‘shout’ songs and unison singing (the GJB sample, provided by Seeger, equally represents both). Interlocked singing is famously the most prevalent form among Mbuti and BaYaka [ 16 , 41 ], as is a different type of interlocked singing among the Kaluli [ 39 ]; solo singing has been described as the predominant form in Siberia [ 42 ]; and monophonic singing was described as the typical form of group singing across all indigenous North American societies [ 43 ]. Since such generalizations are prevalent in the ethnomusicological literature, it seems reasonable that a curated sample could give a good estimate of the typical type of singing in a culture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group singing is globally dominant and associated with social context

Shilton,

Passmore,

Savage

2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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Music is an interactive technology associated with religious and communal activities and was suggested to have evolved as a participatory activity supporting social bonding. In post-industrial societies, however, music's communal role was eclipsed by its relatively passive consumption by audiences disconnected from performers. It was suggested that as societies became larger and more differentiated, music became less participatory and more focused on solo singing. Here, we consider the prevalence of group singing and its relationship to social organization through the analysis of two global song corpora: 5776 coded audio recordings from 1024 societies, and 4709 coded ethnographic texts from 60 societies. In both corpora, we find that group singing is more common than solo singing, and that it is more likely in some social contexts (e.g. religious rituals, dance) than in others (e.g. healing, infant care). In contrast, relationships between group singing and social structure (community size or social differentiation) were not consistent within or between corpora. While we cannot exclude the possibility of sampling bias leading to systematic under-sampling of solo singing, our results from two large global corpora of different data types provide support for the interactive nature of music and its complex relationship with sociality.

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