A song or a piece of instrumental music can magnificently express feelings and emotions on both personal and group levels.
It’s no surprise, therefore, that music plays such an important role in funerals.
Sometimes people choose their funeral music before they pass; at other times the music is chosen by those who knew them best.
Regardless, the selected music has the very important task of summing up both the life of the departed and also their attitude towards that life.
Today Ian Chapman highlights some of the most popular funeral songs and discovers that, far from being mournful and sad, they are predominantly positive, celebratory, triumphant and even funny.
Ian Chapman is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Music at the University of Otago.
Photo: 123rf
