The Development of Community and Resistance Through Traditional Music Culture
“Perhaps the most relevant to Lorde’s ideas of the erotic and joy, Ehrenreich states, “The joy of the rhythmic activity would have helped overcome the fear of confronting predators and other threats” (Ehrenreich, 26). This is critical to understanding the importance of music and dance in protest. Synchronised singing, dancing, and stomping, galvanises the people, keeps the fear at bay while also intimidating the oppressor in a raucous show of force from a crowd. The act of singing and dancing is a human behaviour so instinctual it has lasted from the primitive human to today, utilizing what Lorde would describe as the erotic, to build and defend a community.”
