Music these days is seen as highly personal, focused on the individual: my iPod, my selection, my taste, my choice in my time.

Yet, at it’s best, music is a communal experience - the live show, sharing favourite songs, artist and fan getting closer together.

In my view, there is a clear return to the communal experience of music.

From iCulture to communalCulture.

A friend of citizensound, Steve Lawson, aka solobasssteve, plays gigs around the UK in people’s living rooms. With the extortionate prices demanded to see the big names at cavernous venues, people who wish to enjoy the intimacy of the live music experience are finding an increased number of alternatives.

This isn’t unique to the UK. Music around the world plays a role in communalCulture, be it a punjabi wedding, a Maasai Eunoto ceremony or singlong in a local pub in County Wexford, Ireland.

And it is definitely not anything new. Folk singers in smoky bars in the 1950s. My son’s great-great-grandfather travelled the Auvergne region with his sons entertaining the villages with banjo, mandolin and violin. Minstrels entertained the European courts in the middle-ages.

Thanks to my wife’s inspired idea, we enjoyed the vocal talents of Rebecca Rudge, accompanied by excellent pianist Charles Economou. Along with 23 guests, we enjoyed an operatic evening in our living room. People entered into the whole spirit of the evening and came wonderfully dressed. Rebecca and Charles chatted with everyone after and also explained the story behind each piece.

A number of people at our little evening had not experienced Opera live. This is not unusual. Opera is stunning storytelling. Yet, all too often, Opera is promoted by those who wish to keep it elitist and accessible for only a few. Rebecca and Charles play at concert halls and old people homes, ensuring that Opera reaches everyone. Just like Steve Lawson, they should be congratulated and championed as standard bearers for communalCulture