For me personally I wouldn't say that music plays a significant role in my everyday life, it is more something I use as background noise when studying, driving, showering, etc. I mostly listen to country music, old and new, and I suppose that genre carries a specific aspect of defining those who like that kind of music. Whether its true for all fans or not country music mostly has a stigma of being particularly pro-American, small town U.S.A., and often right-winged. For me it reminds me of home, it's what all my friends and family listen to and what I grew up around especially during summers at the lake.
I see music mostly used for communication through song lyrics. Songs can help unit people behind a cause or help give them a strengthened voice to speak out against some type of injustice. When people are in a bad situation its sometimes hard to find the right words to communicate how you feel you're being wronged, in that case its usually easy to find a song that will say it for you. Often people will use some sort of a song as a rallying cry like "We Shall Overcome" was used during the civil rights movement. During that time there was a whole group of "protest singers" like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, who performed at Civil Right marches. Their songs gave people inspiration and showed in a non-violent way how people could rise up and tell their government and oppressors what they were doing was unjust. I think that music also is used by many people as an outlet. When feeling angry about something it can be used as a way of escape and I think this is one possible way people in conflict areas might use music as well as for protest.
I relate to the music I listen to very similar to you. The majority of time that I am listening to music, I am studying and driving. Other than that, I do not really think any deeper into it.
ReplyDeleteSong lyrics can tell an important story, but I think it is important in the case of rap for negative stigmas and assumption to hopefully not hinder and cause a loss of credibility to the lyrics.
While I think music is a great way to bring people together, especially in Israel, I am skeptical about rap due to this negative stigma and I think that other genres of music would be better suited.