ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the kinds of connections between people and their environments that might be reflected in music through exploring how such connections appear in Kam big song singing from southwestern China. Besides investigation of the various connections that are evident within big song lyrics, the discussion also examines forms of sonic connections between music and the natural environment, interrelations between big song and the humanly constructed environment, and how big song links to Kam perceptions of the environment. The significant and pervasive connections between the environment, Kam cosmology, and Kam musical aesthetics are also considered.
