Music is always present in our lives, from the happiest moment to the worst one. We can listen to music to relax after a hard day, have fun at a party or sing loud our favorite song. To have an idea, the primitive human beings had already used music to express joy, pleasure, love, pain and even religion.
Thus, over the years there were several musical styles, each one sought to express the feelings and aspirations of their original community. Music became as a means of spreading ideas and lifestyles. Due to this, here we show some interesting facts which connect music and society. No matter how or where, music has always a way to influence or be influenced by what we do.
Music and dictatorship
Music isn´t only noise. Many people consider it as a way to protest or denounce something in the politics, society or the world.
I believe that when we talk about music, we have to remember the importance of it in our history. Music is a form of expression and a good example is the musical consequence to the dictatorship in Brazil. Many artists like Chico Buarque, Caetatno Veloso, Gilberto Gil and others used music to protest. They talked about the suffering of the population and life under pressure. In the 60´s some songs were censored by the military forces and the people who denounced the government could be killed or exiled. The musicians wanted to call people´s attention to what was going on in their place and time.
Music is more important than we imagined, there isn´t any simple song. Arthur Schopenhauer said: “The song expresses the highest philosophy in a language that does not understand the reason.”
Music and social responsibility
If you think I´m going to spend my time talking about melting icebergs, look for another post! I´m here to talk about another fact which is present in our MP3 players, radio and video clips.
As time goes by, we see more celebrities in the music area who mark their territory through their irreverence, influencing people towards their attitudes and opinions. These celebrities´ way of living and thinking fascinates people, turning them into followers who live by their concepts; it means that famous people have got an impact on how society behaves.
Because of it, I found myself thinking: Are we moving the world to a place where people sing with their soul and, consequently, conquer R-E-S-P-E-C-T or are we still stuck in our old mistakes because of our bad romance?
Music and the hippie movement: Woodstock
Woodstock, a great example of music as a cultural manifestation, was a strong vehicle of hippie´s philosophy and it even inspired a film.
This festival was in-between the Vietnam´s War (which would be a world loss later on) and it was, due to that, a protest by the young american society. Preaching peace, love and power to the folks, it attracted half million people – more than twice of expected viewers – on a meetup of great musicians from that time.
Joe Baez, pregnant, protested at her concert against her husband´s arrest, who was a Human Right´s activist; Country Joe McDonald eternalized himself by making people sing the ironic and contusing lyrics “Feel like I´m fixing to die”. These people are a proof of the insatisfaction with Harry Truman´s government.
Even 42 years later, Woodstock still has an effect in that generation´s minds, as this video below confirms:
As we have seen, music is an admired element around the world, and it's followed by countless fans. From Country Music to Heavy Metal, artists keep on innovating the themes of their creations for generations. Each one expresses feelings, thoughts, ideologies and so on. Anyway, enjoying what music has to offer is at the same time serious and fun. After all, who has never said: "This is my music?"
POSTED BY CE5 - Friday 8:00 - Vivian Alonso
POSTED BY CE5 - Friday 8:00 - Vivian Alonso
