Culture as Local Practice Embedded in Sound

This study explores the inherent tensions in the emergence of culture as local practice embedded in sound in some hitherto under-researched traditions of southeastern Europe.

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Culture as local practice embedded in sound emerges through inherent tensions between historical legacies and contemporary change, and between individual and community. These affect the construction, presentation and representation of culture, renewing the sense of belonging through each performance.
Members of Albanian communities in Montenegro are Catholic and Muslim, inhabiting mountainous and coastal areas, and both rural and urban environments. These specific circumstances affect the emergence of culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capacities acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor) in different ways. They are primarily explored in this study through the impact exercised by musical practices, which are also immanent in the creation of cultural commons, upon which common attitudes and behaviours are shaped. Interaction and tensions between individual and community consequently become a condition of belonging, enabling deeper insights when tracing culture as local practice embedded in sound.