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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Vast musical database reveals common threads in songs around the world

Human tunes from every culture fall into four categories with well-defined features.
A traditional group from the city of Kalaat M'Gouna.

Musicians and dancers perform in M'Hamid El Ghizlane, Morocco. Dance music from around the globe tends to be faster than some other types of songs, such as lullabies. Credit: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty

From Samoans and East Africa’s Maasai to Bahia Brazilians and Highland Scots — peoples around the world have different languages, traditions and histories. But their songs share universal patterns.

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Nature 575, 568 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03567-4

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