Uses and gratification of spiritual and religious music in Egypt : a descriptive analysis

Abstract EN

Media is one important constituent of the culture in a society.

Its importance is reflected in the contents it presents especially in religion and music.

The way both religion and music are blended and used as a medium to gratify certain needs is the interest of this study.

In this context, the relationship between religions and music is examined, how music was perceived historically by religious figures, what disputes the music provoked, and how spiritual music is used as an intrapersonal, interpersonal, or a mass communication tool to influence the audience cognitively, behaviorally, and attitudinally.

Accordingly, a descriptive survey was conducted on a purposive sample in six academic institutions in Egypt: the American University in Cairo, the British University in Egypt, the German University in Cairo, Cairo University, Ain Shams University, and Al-Azhar University.

The Uses and Gratifications and Social Identity theories helped to interpret the data that were collected from 383 respondents.

Based on the results, 66.8% of 337 participants use spiritual and religious music for the purposes of emotional therapy.

However, using the medium as emotional therapy did not encourage cultural activities such as attending concerts, buying or selling related products, or reading books