The book can be viewed as representing the birth of evolutionary biomusicology. What biological and cognitive forces have shaped humankind's musical behavior and the rich global repertoire of musical structures? What is music for, and why does every human culture have it? What are the universal features of music and musical behavior across cultures? In this groundbreaking book, musicologists, biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, ethologists, and linguists come together for the first time to examine these and related issues. The book can be viewed as representing the birth of evolutionary biomusicology—the study of which will contribute greatly to our understanding of the evolutionary precursors of human music, the evolution of the hominid vocal tract, localization of brain function, the structure of acoustic-communication signals, symbolic gesture, emotional manipulation through sound, self-expression, creativity, the human affinity for the spiritual, and the human attachment to music itself. Contributors Simha Arom, Derek Bickerton, Steven Brown, Ellen Dissanayake, Dean Falk, David W. Frayer, Walter Freeman, Thomas Geissmann, Marc D. Hauser, Michel Imberty, Harry Jerison, Drago Kunej, François-Bernard Mâche, Peter Marler, Björn Merker, Geoffrey Miller, Jean Molino, Bruno Nettl, Chris Nicolay, Katharine Payne, Bruce Richman, Peter J.B. Slater, Peter Todd, Sandra Trehub, Ivan Turk, Maria Ujhelyi, Nils L. Wallin, Carol Whaling

本書は「進化バイオミュージック学」という知の地平を切り拓いた、記念碑的な名著です。音楽を単なる文化の産物ではなく、人類の生存戦略や脳の進化に不可欠な生物学的必然として捉え直す視座は、あまりにも衝撃的です。多様な知性が交錯し、人類の根源に迫るその語り口には、知的好奇心を激しく揺さぶる情熱が溢れています。 私たちはなぜ歌い、なぜ音に魂を震わせるのか。歌声の起源から感情の操作、そして創造性の源泉までを多角的に解き明かす過程は、まさに人類史の深層を巡る壮大なミステリーといえるでしょう。音楽という普遍的な言語に秘められた神聖な輝きに触れるとき、読者の世界観は根底から覆され、日常に流れる音が全く異なる色彩を帯びて響き始めるはずです。