The concept of collective identity and cultural uniqueness has been core to musical style. In “People’s music comparatively: Style and stereotype, class and hegemony,” Keil (1985) argues that the existence of style signifies a stable society that has taken form over time. He defines style as a statement of submission to the emotion so effective that every self-assured inventor must confine his message to this emerging spectrum and nothing else. The unique relationship between style and identity can also be revealed by musical sound’s physical and textural aspects. Musical sound is similar to contact in that it enters and produces a sensory, tangible practice of affiliation. It is impressive, for example, that nationalities who do not share a common language have identical thoughts and emotions when listening to songs in the same foreign language. Therefore, communities should never forget that having their style and unique elements in music make that culture solid and expressive.
Keil is not the only scholar who advocates for the close relationship between musical style and cultural identity. In “Paul Simon’s Graceland, South Africa, and the mediation of musical meaning,” Meintjes (1990) argues that “Graceland,” Paul Simon’s collaboration album with a multitude of American and South African performers, signifies the notion of collaboration. Across a sequence of interpretations on the audience’s side, the musical collaboration emerges to denote social collaboration. The collaborative approach comes in two parts in this regard. It is initially formed in audio, specifically in the manner styles are interlaced and in the content, development, and branding procedures. Due to the ambivalence of its political leaning, the collaboration can be interpreted in various ways. In other words, such ambiguity might complicate the meeting of cultures that tailors a variety of political interpretations.
References
Keil, C. (1985). People’s music comparatively: Style and stereotype, class and hegemony. Dialectical Anthropology, 10(1-2), 119-130.
Meintjes, L. (1990). Paul Simon’s Graceland, South Africa, and the mediation of musical meaning. Ethnomusicology, 34(1), 37-73.