Final answer:
Music is a cultural universal that transcends societal boundaries and can induce shared emotional responses across cultures. It has the power to unify people by speaking to common human experiences and expressions, often without the need for verbal communication.
Step-by-step explanation:
Music as a Cultural Universal
Music has long been recognized as a powerful means to transcend various societal differences, including geographic, socio-economic, and political barriers. This is largely because music is a cultural universal that has the ability to evoke deep emotional responses without relying on verbal communication. As Charles Darwin suggested in 1871, music and language were originally intertwined, both being fundamental components of group identity. Researchers, like Thomas Fritz, have corroborated that music can provoke feelings such as happiness, sadness, and fear across different cultures, even in those that have had no previous exposure to Western music.
The capacity of music to express and induce emotions allows it to bind a country together, overcoming divisions like caste, creed, and religion. For instance, hymns from the Choctaw tribes in the early 1800s articulate collective traumatic experiences and help unify the community by sharing a common history through music. Furthermore, music can be used to convey political messages, as seen in various contemporary songs, which can serve to unite or divide opinions within a nation. The notion that music is universally understood and can foster a sense of wholeness is supported by its ability to communicate feelings that resonate with human experiences across different cultures.