Musical heritage

I had the opportunity to see ContraCantos in Ed lab on Friday, and that experience stuck with me throughout the weekend. It was obvious, even from the short performance that I saw, that every single member of this group has music ingrained as a part of their everyday life. Not just in Brazilian culture, but in many other cultures throughout the world, music is not just used aesthetically, or as background noise, or just for "fun". It is a part of their life from the day they are born until the day that they die. They inherit a musical heritage from their families and communities. All weekend, I thought about my own musical heritage, and its importance in my life. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had no real connection to my heritage through music. In the case of my own heritage, I have no connection to Maltese music. I don't even know if it sounds any different than any other kind of European music. I have no connection to Italian music, outside of art song. This made me wonder, do you think it is ever going to be possible for Americans to have this kind of musical connection to their heritage? Or is our country too diverse to try? In the spectre of education, are we really helping students understand their own cultural heritage by playing "cultural" music, or are we desparately grasping onto a way to "honor their world" by doing so? I'd love to hear your thoughts.