Music and Emotions: A Field Study among Transylvanian Roma and a Few Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Abstract

In the first part of this article, I analyze the emotional life of a Roma community of Transylvania by describing several performances in which participants cry along with music. This analysis results in a model showing how the relations between musical actions and emotional behaviors change according to the performance context. In the second part, I propose some theoretical questions on musical emotion by comparing my field data with those coming from other parts of the world. These revolve around notions such as “living quality of the music,” “personal tunes,” “sonic agents,” and “musical empathy.”