MUSIC HAS THE POWER TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER
From parties to protests to prayer, music is a powerful
catalyst for celebration, for change, and for a sense of
community. Through making music together, we become
bigger than ourselves. Whether singing with our families
and friends or with thousands of strangers in an arena,
music transforms lives, engages individuals, and connects
local and global communities. The Social Power of Music
chronicles the vivid, impassioned, and myriad ways in which
music binds, incites, memorializes, and moves groups of
people. This richly illustrated 124-page book, with 80+
tracks on 4 CDs, invites listeners into musical practices,
episodes, and movements throughout the U.S. and beyond.
These songs of struggle, devotion, celebration, and migration
remind us that music has the potential to change our world.
The Social Power of Music looks at this music through
four di erent perspectives.
Disc 1: Songs of Struggle
channels the visceral power of the fight for civil rights,
Disc 2: Sacred Sounds, presents music from many
religions and spiritual practices
Disc 3: Social Songs and Gatherings
shows how we use music to come together,
often in celebration
Disc 4: Global Movements looks to the use of roots music
in key political movements around the world, tapping into anti-fascist verses, odes to the working
class, and polemics against governmental corruption and violence.