A strange question that occurred to me the other day - Are there any known cultures (modern or ancient) that do not have any form of singing or music? It seems to be such a widespread thing, is it universal?
While waiting for a real anthropologist to show up …
I don’t recall any reports of such a culture through an entire major’s worth of anthro. OTOH, there is an entire sub-field of anthropology known as ethnomusicology.
There’s certainly more than a ‘sub-field’ called ethnomusicology!!!
Although I’m as interested as anyone as to whether there’s an answer to the OP.
In Dr. Oliver Sacks’ book “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat” (or maybe it was “An Anthropologist On Mars”) he tells the story of a man who had a brain tumor and lost the ability to make new memories. The man was a Grateful Dead fan, and when Dr. Sacks bought him the new GD CDs, he was able to learn the new songs. One might suggest that it’s simply a matter of repetition burning it into the brain, but I prefer to believe that there is a separate channel into the brain for music.
I’ve read other studies that suggest that music is inherently a part of our brains, but I can’t find any cites right now.