Sapiens, et la musique fut

An interesting and illuminating documentary, "Sapiens" digs deep into history in order to examine Mankind's immemorial liking for music. It turns out that Humanity has been making music and creating musical instruments for a long, long, long time. And one doesn't even need actual instruments ; one can walk through a forest and find leaves, nuts, strips of bark... with which to produce striking and unusual sounds. However, much of this earliest evidence has gone with the wind, meaning that our current understanding of prehistoric times is flawed and one-sided. We gaze in awe at the magnificent cave paintings left by our ancestors ; we do not hear the accompanying prayers, chants, whistles.

"Sapiens" is a serious documentary which looks at the question from various angles : historical, anthropological, musical, psychological, medical and so on. Quite a lot of the findings are deeply relevant, such as the discovery that Mankind's talent for language seems to be closely linked to Mankind's talent for music, to the point where one could not have advanced without the other. Anyway, both of these qualities use identical or closely related areas within the brain.

Having watched the documentary I felt an urgent desire to replicate some of the tests and experiments involved : I saw myself skipping gaily through a cavern, shouting "Boo !" and tapping stalactites and stalagmites with a little hammer. Many other viewers with an enquiring mind will feel equally inspired. Alas, this our sadly prim and constrained world tends to frown upon innovative scientific research. ("Caught myself a nice one, sarge - was walking through the wood screaming and whipping his own belly with twigs, told me he wanted to replicate the aural universe of Homo Erectus." "Book him !")