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Song as Infrastructure
Analyzes song as a regulatory and mnemonic system sustaining collective identity
How Music Functions as a World-Maintaining System
Research Focus
We proposes a shift in ethnomusicology by framing music as infrastructure rather than a mere form of cultural expression. Drawing on Anangu ontologies of Tjukurrpa, the author argues that sound and song function as a world-maintaining system that actively sustains the coherence of land, law, and kinship. Through the examination of songlines, ceremony, and instruments, we demonstrate how vibration operates as a primary condition for reality and intergenerational continuity. This perspective challenges cognitive and aesthetic reductions of music, suggesting that contemporary social and ecological crises may stem from the fragmentation of these sonic systems. Ultimately, we position musical practice as a foundational technology of survival and relational order.
