Music, Culture and Identity; How they Interact.

What is culture without music? Music is one of the standing pillars of every culture. Most cultures have their unique dances and guess what, without music, no dance. Music is the mother of dance and the cornerstone of cultures.
Long before many of these musical instruments were invented, music and culture had been five and six. Music tells stories and can connect those who share the same background stories together.

For better understanding of this post, I would segment everything into single points and have them well detailed.

Most cultures have their rituals. Just as I often say, “Music heals”. Music can be used in rituals to heal illnesses and the kind of music differs from one culture to another. Most cultural and ceremonial gatherings are often spiced up with music and sometimes to call forth spirits, music is of great essence.

Music has this ability to modify individuals’ behavior in such a way that could help express their beliefs, background and values to everyone around them. Music connects everyone together. Sometimes, music goes beyond culture in a case where people of different cultural backgrounds gather to celebrate and then different kinds of music are used to make the event lively.

As a Christian I am, meeting someone who's listening to a gospel song will automatically be a starting point of our connectivity. In this case, we can talk about the power and influence of music on identity as music has brought us together. Music is so unique in the sense that most special events have songs unique to them. Think of the Christmas celebration and the rest, those have their special songs and where Christmas songs are played, it will always catch the attention of anyone who also celebrates Christmas. This could also be linked to the power of music on identity.

To conclude, I would love to share my culture and how it's been influenced by music. In my hometown, from experience and what I've witnessed when I lived with my parents, we often celebrate the New Yam Festival and the New Cultural Calendar Year. This two celebrations are often fun-filled and masquerades often come out for exhibitions. In my hometown, masquerades are the best dancers and often believed to have been possessed by the spirits to perform awesome dance moves and other acrobatics.

Music is makes the celebration spicy as no noise other than beats and sweet voices jamming up the atmosphere. The music is often meant to appease the spirits in the masquerades and if the musicians don't perform very great to keep the spirits calm, the event can turn out to be a violent one. So music is of great essence and in this case, we can say that music has influenced our culture.

To make the celebration more formal and great, a new maid for the palace is often chosen in every celebration. Indigents of my hometown who wish to serve in the palace must be good dancers and have to dance on that celebration day to be selected by any of the royal individuals (king, queen, princess or prince).
Serving in the palace is a job every young educated and non-formally educated individuals would want to do as there are so many benefits attached.
In this case, we can say that music has identified those who would serve in the palace and brought them together.

Thanks friends for stopping by. I hope someone's smiling reading my post.
This remains my entry for the #afro- inleo initiative #24.
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Images generated by AI.

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