According to the science writer Philip Ball, when it was pointed out to musicologist Deryck Cookethat Slavic and much Spanish music use minor keys for happy music, he claimed that their liveswere so hard that they didn’t really know what happiness was anyway.

David Byrne
About This Quote

The idea that the lives of people from other parts of the world are so tough and impoverished that they cannot even comprehend what it means to be happy, is a sad and foolish misconception. It is a stereotype that has been held by many people from different cultures for years. In fact, it is a belief that originated from the ignorance of people from the United States in the 1800s, who believed that other cultures were barbarians who did not possess the same rights enjoyed by others in their own countries.

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