Research by the Durham University Music and Science Lab has suggested that “the emotional perception of music may be influenced by the listeners’ cultural background“. From there, they also wanted to examine whether this was a universal concept.
The team travelled to the Kalash valleys of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region in Pakistan to help their hypothesis:
For the Kalash, music is not a pastime; it is a cultural identifier. It is an inseparable aspect of both ritual and non-ritual practice, of birth and of life. When someone dies, they are sent off to the sounds of music and dancing, as their life story and deeds are retold.
More on music, Pakistan, and academia: Caked Alaska, a thesis on Tyler, The Creator, and Madison Moore’s lectures on “How to be Beyoncé”.