Tradução do texto Towards an Anthropology of the Body, de John Blacking, publicado em The anthropology of the body (London: Academic Press, 1977), feita por Érica Giesbrecht, Laís Salgueiro e Ferran Tamarit Rebollo.

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There is good evidence that for over ninety-nine per cent of human history, and for ninety-seven per cent of the time since the emergence of our own species (homo sapiens sapiens) approximately 70,000 years ago, all music was popular, in so far as it was shared and enjoyed by all members of a society. If there were distinctions of style within a society's music, they were accepted as sings of functional or social differentiation rather than as barriers to mutual communication. Distinctions between sacred and secular music, between music for young and old or men and women, were generally drawn within the style of each music culture, and, at least in principle, a member of one group could perform and appreciate the music of another group in the same society.

The main purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the need for a comprehensive theory of music and music-making, and for studies that seek to distinguish musical change analytically from other kinds of change, and radical change from variation and innovation within a flexible system.