What I hear in these songs is survival. Survival not just of their culture, but of humanity itself. Singing has been part of every traditional culture that I know of, although there perhaps are some where it has not, and I worry for them. I give pause to the thought of what would happen if there were a community of people who were tone deaf, like myself. Would the singing end? Ironically, I love to sing. I can be heard attempting to sing along on one of the videos. Argh. What a tragedy. Fortunately we can edit that. But, if I’d been raised singing perhaps I never would have been tone deaf. I doubt I would have been the cantor, but I could have been part of the minyan. Of course traditional Jewish culture is full of song and no traditional Passover dinner (seder) is complete without hours of singing. Without doubt, music is the most universal form of communication, and I believe cultures which sing will survive. Taking it a step further, I also have to wonder if singing, and in fact, having a ear for tone, is a trait that has been genetically selected for. Given it’s predominance around the world, I assume so, and it must be quite ancient. Thus, in these village songs, I sense an umbilical cord to the mother of humanity, and a lifeline to our progeny.
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