Essay: Songs as a Representation of Social Life in Canadian Society

This essay explores the significance of songs as a representation of social life and dynamics, particularly within Canadian society. It discusses how songs contribute to unity, shared emotions, and a sense of identity. The analysis delves into the various types of songs, their meanings, and their roles in conveying messages, teaching values, and reflecting cultural and social challenges. The essay references Hirji's article on Afro-Asian music in Canada to illustrate how songs represent cultural alliances, political settings, and issues of racism. The chosen theoretical framework, social-psychological, emphasizes the emotional connection and the representation of societal grievances through music. The essay concludes by highlighting the importance of interpreting the thematic concerns of songs to understand their messages and their impact on social life.

Running head: UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL SCIENCE 1
Understanding Social Science
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UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL SCIENCE 2
A song an artform that represents an aspect of social life
A song plays a major role in everyday society with different useful importance. This
paper focuses on the significance of a song in the representation of the cumulative knowledge
and skills regarding social life, dynamics social interaction in Canadian society and other parts of
the world (Beecher & Burt, 2014). The chosen artwork in this assignment is a song. Songs have
major significance not only in Canadian society but also in all parts of the world. A song brings
unity among people and helps them have a common thinking and common emotions. Some
songs are considered significant and a sense of identity in some Canadian society and other parts
of the globe. I found a song as part of the artwork to be more interesting in this case because
through a song, different people share common values and experiences. There are so many types
of songs across the world composed in different languages styles and with different meanings
(Payne & McVay, 2011). A song is like a means of conveying a certain message to the
community and this is the reason I chose this as the artwork to focus on. A song has a different
meaning and directed to a different audience. We have a song directed to be sung only to young
children to teach them some values or moral obligations. Moreover, we have a song that is
dedicated to the adults to teach an important thing regarding the community or society either in
Canada or in other parts of the world.
Sometimes, a song has hidden meaning that needs a keen interpretation to get and
understand the inner or real meaning of a song. A song is all about listening and trying to
understand the main theme presented in that song. It can be on the CD player, within the car,
iPod or even in stereo systems. A song may have a different style of presentation from others.
This means a song can have a different tone, theme style, beat or even the means of presentation.
It is another way of communication of the social aspects in society, for instance, Canada and

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other parts of the world (Mooney, 2014). A song sets the moods of the people and vibes. The
setting of a song can be different. It can be a pub, parties and other social gatherings like
weddings. This means these songs have different meaning and each song is sung corresponding
to its meaning to the social events. A song is part of the entertainment as well as educative
aspects of the social values and morals aspects.
Some of the major significants of a song and reason I chose it is that it brings a sense of
identity to the Canadian community and globally. Every society may have its particular type of
song that belongs to that region. A song is a kind of unifying factor to the community and
society. Songs are so many and dominate most of the societies and therefore I think it would the
best idea to give an analysis of a song as part of the social life artwork. It brings people together
because of sharing personal experiences. The singers of the song bring about the self-images in
the minds of people. It unites the thinking of people that have to enable people in the community
to share common feelings. This is influenced by the message of the song and tone used in
singing the song. A song is important in Canadian society and globally because it provides the
models on how people should behave and live in society. The message conveyed in the song is
well understood depending on how the singer presents himself and therefore the better the artists
present the song the better and fast it is understood by the audience. A song is significant in the
Canadian community and globally because it expresses the judgment and the level of the conflict
within the society.
It also teaches people about lifestyles and how they should live with other people in
society. A song is so significant in Canadian society and globally because it teaches the values
required when interacting with other people. A song teaches more about the importance of
respect to other communities, the importance of appreciating the cultural aspects of other

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL SCIENCE 4
communities and the importance of peace in the community. There are so many aspects covered
by the use of a song in Canadian society and all other parts of the world. The other major sign of
a song and the reason why I selected it in this assignment is that it opens the new way of
understanding things in Canadian society and other parts of the world. They can be used to
express the physical experience of people and represents daily society aspects such as love, unit,
conflict resolutions, and respect.
I have identified a source that has helped me in understanding all concepts in this type of
artwork. The article by Hirji (2015) is an important source that helped me understand the
concept and significance of a song not only to Canadian society but also global wise. The
article by Hirji, (2015) is so significant because it helped me understand the production of Afro-
Asian music in Canada. I have been able to understand that some songs are a sense of identity
in representing aspects of the cultural alliances as well as the political setting of a place by
reading this article by Hirji. I have gone ahead to study the production of Afro-Asian music in
Canada and by use of these types of the Afro-Asia song, the aspect of culture is well illustrated
(Marini, 2013).
The Afro-Asian song in Canada is one of the major artworks that show that culture, class
ranks, parental education, social values, and socialization are well represented. This article has
discussed about the issue of culture and how it can contribute to the external as well as internal
racism status in Canada. The song represented in cultural Afro-Asians reveals some of the
challenges that they face when living in Canada. It is very clear that through well understanding
the Hirji’s theme in this article one would be able to know how cultural challenges, the aspects of
the class ranking in the society are well represented.

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL SCIENCE 5
In consideration of the main theme of the cultural and social challenges in Canada, a song
can be used to bring the breakthrough to some of the challenges faced by society. Through
analysis of the above-mentioned article, it is clear to suggest that songs can be used to convey the
message regarding what is happening in the community and what needs to be done. A song is
just like a message conveyed through artistic form. One needs to understand the inner meaning
of a song for better conclusions to be made. It has been understood that a song plays a major
role in bringing the hybrid identity and the challenges that affect certain groups in society just
like Afro-Asians in Canada and other communities in other parts of the globe. Through analysis
of a song, one can understand the cultural value of the community.
Level by which a certain community culture is respected can be well represented by the
song. Parental education can be passed from one generation to another through the song in
Canada and other parts of the world. A song is entitled to carry the important message regarding
the community especially in teaching the moral values to the children (O'donnell, 2015). The
parents can take this as an opportunity to teach some life values and principles through the use of
the songs. The resource has some basic information regarding social values. Through a song,
some of the social values such as respect, obedience, integrity, and cooperation can be taught to
the young generation (Ruebsaat, 2015). It all requires a better understanding of the song and
focus on the thematic concern of the song. Theme of the article has also enabled me to
understand the different parts of social values. The Afro-Asian song discussed well in the
resource has helped me understand the value of respect to other cultural groups of people within
our country regardless of their countries of origin. According to Hirji (2015), one will understand
the important of the unity in Canada and other parts of the world by evaluating the themes in

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some of songs. The song advocate for the unit and togetherness and therefore the Afro-Asians
communities should be respected and their needs considered.
The theoretical framework that would be chosen to frame this artistic is analysis is social-
psychological. This is because a song as an artwork involves understanding people’s thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors (Barbeau, 2011). It is clear that these aspects of human beings are
influenced by the actualism, implications and imagined aspect of a song. In this theoretical
framework, it is clear that songs involve an understanding of the social feelings, emotions of
people either psychologically or physically. In this physical consideration, it is important to
understand how a song brings an aspect to understand and respect other communities.
In this social-psychological framework chosen to be applied in this analysis, a song is
considered as the emotional connection among people. This is well attested when all people
have emotional feelings and experience about some social aspects either in Canada or globally.
Through the use of a song, the grievances and demands of the society are well illustrated and
demonstrated. It should be understood that a song presents some of the social factors that affect
a Canadian society or just any other society cross the world (Cook, 2019). It is important to
understand the meaning of each aspect in life-based on is it represented in a song. This means
one needs to interpret well the inner meaning of the song reflecting much on the singer's tone and
thematic concern. In any song, there should be a proper interpretation of the thematic concern
for a better understanding of the message conveyed. In connection with the social life, I would
like to choose the experience-based part of the song to teach the community on some of the
aspects affecting their daily life. Sharing of emotions is another aspect that should be put into
consideration as the theoretical framework of the song. In this case, the needs and demands of
Canadian society and global societies will be well represented and analyzed theoretically.

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References
Barbeau, M. (2011). Canadian Folk Songs. Journal of the International Folk Music Council, 13,
28-31.
Beecher, M. D., & Burt, J. M. (2014). The role of social interaction in song learning. Current
Directions in Psychological Science, 13(6), 224-228.
Cook, T. (2019). The singing war: Canadian soldiers' songs of the Great War. American Review
of Canadian Studies, 39(3), 224-241.
Hirji, F. (2015). Jamming in the third space: South Asian fusion music in Canada. Popular Music
and Society, 38(3), 318-336.
Marini, S. A. (2013). Sacred song in America: Religion, music, and public culture (Vol. 12).
University of Illinois Press.
Mooney, H. F. (2014). Songs, Singers and Society, 1890-1954. American Quarterly, 6(3), 221-
232.
O'donnell, J. C. (2015). Industrial songs as part of a culture. International Journal of Music
Education, (1), 7-11.
Payne, R. S., & McVay, S. (2011). Songs of humpback whales. Science, 173(3997), 585-597.
Ruebsaat, R. (2015). Music Makers: Canadian Songs for Canadian Children. Canadian Music
Educator, 47(2), 47-48.