Tribal People Won't Get Hooked on Earworms
...deep in the Bolivian part of the Amazon rainforest, where the Tsimane people live. A place you can only reach after several days of canoe travel, where there is no electricity. Their music culture has been virtually untouched by Western influence. Additionally, the tribal people have not had a tradition of singing or playing together but have only been accustomed to listening to one singer or one musical instrument at a time.
Researchers from MIT and other institutions have published an article in Nature describing how we learn to 'enjoy' the difference between dissonance and consonance – something that is particularly used in popular music.
"It's a very interesting study. Ever since the Middle Ages, music theorists have debated whether the ability to decode consonance and dissonance is innate, or whether you need to be exposed to Western music before developing that ability. The American experiment suggests that the latter is the case."
This means that if you played a monster hit like 'Needed Me' by Rihanna, 'One Dance' by Drake, or 'Send My Love' by Adele to the tribal people, they would probably not be able to sense the tensions and resolutions that the songs contain and that many in the rest of the world appreciate.
"The music that we experience as waves and valleys in terms of tension, the isolated tribal people will experience as flat and quite likely uninteresting. So they probably won't be swept away as we are when we listen to pop music or other Western music genres."
Pygmies Aren't Scared by the 'Psycho' Theme
A similar study conducted in Congo by anthropologists from McGill University and University of Montreal in January 2015, titled "Why Pygmies Aren't Scared By The 'Psycho' Theme", showed results that confirm the hypothesis that our enthusiasm for Western music is learned.
Want to Dive Deeper into Music Theory?
Read more about jungle and breakbeats' fascinating history [see the article], or find out which DAW is right for you [see our guide]. And if you want to get started DJing, we have a complete guide to DJ equipment [see what you need].
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Ras 'Kata' Kjærbo
Ras Kjærbo is an Ableton Certified Trainer and one of the driving forces behind Rumkraft. He teaches Ableton Live and music production, and is passionate about sharing his knowledge on everything from sound design to live performance techniques.