Marija Kuburić-Borović
Belgrade

ATTITUDES TOWARD SPIRITUAL MUSIC IN SERBIA

Summary

Starting point in defining basic terms of this research was the word spiritual music. Spiritual music as somewhat broader phenomena, in distinction to church music, refers to more liberal forms of expression in music creativity. It is not exclusively attached to an institution or religion. Being an indicator of religiosity, listening to spiritual music belongs to an emotional lawyer of religious attitudes and represents one of deeper indicators that remains not on formal aspect of religiosity. This research refers to attitudes of global population toward spiritual music in Serbia. It responds to the question of spiritual music distribution in the context of other genres. In empirical part of this work we display a survey of 456 individuals. They were questioned about the kind of music they listen and their attitudes toward diverse issues of music/religion relations. The results of this analysis of responses give us insight into the significance that music plays in religions, but also into differences regarding freedom of expression and attachment to societal surrounding. The relations between sacred and secular are clearly distinct both in church and spiritual music. It shows the power that music has when it comes to integrative process of both individuals and communities into spiritual values. As far as sociological aspect is concerned, this research is a significant indicator of religiosity.

Key words: music, spiritual music, religiosity.