Songs of the South African AIDS Crisis

Using the concept of musical effervescence, a collective state of synchronized and focused intersubjectivity through music, Gavin Robert Walker reveals how and why songs have become such a ubiquitous and formidable force within the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Drawn from a rich and powerful cultural history, music has been used to inspire HIV/AIDS activism and advocacy, facilitate local psychosocial healing, communicate life-saving health information, motivate communities towards healthy behaviors, and promote acceptance of individuals living with HIV. In this book, Walker introduces musical effervescence, a collective state of synchronized and focused intersubjectivity through music, to reveal how and why songs have become such a ubiquitous and formidable force within the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. He situates music at the core of human experience, unpacking how collective singing embodies a shared sense of humanity. This compelling analysis engages deeply with interpersonal musical encounters, asking: what makes these experiences both deeply personal and fundamentally social?, how can music be relevant to such a diverse range of outcomes?, and what can musical effervescence contribute to our understanding of the arts and social, emotional, or physical wellness? Challenging conventional assumptions about the universality of music, Walker explores the relational bonds it cultivates through movement, perception, experience, and perspective to reveal music’s role in shaping the South African AIDS crisis.

Gavin Robert Walker is an Ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor at Minjiang University, China.