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Full-Text Articles in Ethnomusicology
Ecojustice, Religious Folklife And A Sound Ecology, Jeff Todd Titon
Ecojustice, Religious Folklife And A Sound Ecology, Jeff Todd Titon
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
Folk, traditional, and indigenous ecological knowledges have a significant role to play in ecojustice. A case study in the traditional ecological knowledge among one of the religious communities with whom I have spent several decades illustrates how they embody the main principle and three fields of an ecological rationality: the community of inter-related beings; the ways the beings participate in that community or place; and the relations of nature and the nonhuman world to humans and human nature. Ecological rationality stands in contrast to economic rationality, a branch of instrumental reason exemplified by what economists call rational choice theory. An …
Relational Power, Music, And Identity: The Emotional Efficacy Of Congregational Song, Nathan Myrick
Relational Power, Music, And Identity: The Emotional Efficacy Of Congregational Song, Nathan Myrick
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
Relational Power, Music, and Identity: The Emotional Efficacy of Congregational Song
The power of congregational song to unify (or divide) people along various lines is well documented. Yet, how this process of uniting or dividing is accomplished has proven necessarily difficult to document. This paper examines the complex and polyvalent factors that contribute to the meaningfulness of congregational music making, seeking to offer a synthetic, conceptual framework with which to engage this often murky milieu.
Employing interdisciplinary research techniques drawn from sociology, ritual studies, and ethnomusicology, I construct a conceptual framework with which to understand the profoundly formative power of …
War Of The Worlds: Music And Cosmological Battles In The Balinese Cremation Procession, Michael B. Bakan
War Of The Worlds: Music And Cosmological Battles In The Balinese Cremation Procession, Michael B. Bakan
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
Abstract
This article explores processional action as a form of cosmological intervention in Hindu-Balinese cremation processions, focusing on the multiple and intersecting functions of a particular type of Balinese instrumental music ensemble: the gamelan beleganjur. It explores the alternately “enlivening and protective aspects” (DeVale 1990, 62) that underlie the use of beleganjur music in the ngaben, or cremation ritual, showing how beleganjur’s sonic power and rhythmic drive serve to combat malevolent spirit beings, strengthen and inspire processional participants in their efforts to meet challenging ritual obligations, and grant courage to the souls of deceased individuals embarking on their …