Resonance: Musical Heritage of La Francophonie Previous   Next



MUSIC IS LIFE



When people of traditional societies make common objects used in everyday life or exceptional objects for ceremonial purposes, they display more than skill: the form and decoration of the objects are an expression of their culture.

— Denise Gluck and Georges-Henri Rivière,
Arts populaires des pays de France,
vol. 1 (Paris: Joël Cuénot, 1976), p. 6, translation



     


Musical instruments play an important sociocultural role in all societies, often being associated with religion, magic or the exercise of power.

  Photo: Carmelle Bégin

A medium through which a particular repertoire of melodies and rhythms is expressed, musical instruments are also a means of communication among members of a community. In all religious rituals, they serve as intermediaries between the human world and the spiritual world. They play a symbolic role because they represent the temporal or spiritual power of a person or a group.

All societies have music. In this exhibition, we will discover various forms, uses and sounds of musical instruments from around the world, as well as materials used to make instruments.

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