From the very beginning of time, the Planet Earth was not a silent place. And, as it was increasingly populated by living beings, these quickly learnt that sounds constitute an excellent means of communication.
In the dense, dark interior of the rain forests of South America, sight is not much use. Except for the rivers, the rest of the landscape is an impenetrable tangle of leaves and branches.
Here we find one of the animals that has most adapted its body to serve its voice – the howler monkey.
The howler monkeys live in groups of between 10 and 30 individuals, who virtually never go down to the ground.
They maintain absolutely peace within their groups, do not fight for the right to copulate or to dominate the others, but they do feel the overriding need to defend their territory from incursions by other groups of howler monkeys. As the jungle is a three-dimensional space, marking with smell is very complicated, and they therefore demarcate their territory by means of cries.
At the presence of an enemy, they will also raise the alarm, filling the jungle with a chorus of their raucous voices.
Another means by which sounds contribute to dissipating tensions is frequently practiced in human societies.
I am talking about shows, spectacles. Entertaining and amusing means making people forget their problems for a while. It is known that since human beings have existed, there have always been comics, people whose mission is to amuse and divert others.
In the complexity of the human brain, these entertainments are of vital importance. It has been proven that, in extreme conditions such as prisons or wars, a simple spectacle completely changes people’s attitude to life
As with almost everything, human beings have once again transcended the biological meaning of sounds to incorporate them into a higher dimension, which we call “music”.
Music is one of the greatest achievements of humanity, a true universal language capable of transmitting and inspiring profound emotions.