Abstract
Adopting the narrative research paradigm, I attempt to theorize the soul-searching experience of Christar Ensemble, a Judeo-Christian faith-based classical guitar ensemble in Hong Kong in this paper. A general overview of music acquisition and music appreciation in the context of Hong Kong will first be provided. In the second part, addressing axiological concerns underlying the research, I draw on the (auto)ethnographic observations and interactions with the conductor-cum-composer-cum-arranger and members of Christar Ensemble. Following Mota (2012), I use a musical metaphor in sonata form (viz. exposition, development and recapitulation) to construct the trajectory of Christar Ensemble. In the third part, I analyze these (auto)ethnographic findings in relation to Bourdieu’s notion of “consecration culturelle [cultural consecration]” to argue that Christar Ensemble has attained its aesthetic and cultural legitimacy through its embodied non-capitalist/non-elitist driven modes of practices grounded in faith as its telos. In coda, I draw on the biblical allusion of the Latin phrase quo vadis to discuss how Christar Ensemble has found itself a niche space to resist subsuming itself to a particular denomination or affiliation but to serve and sustain a life of charity.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Music, Classical Guitar, Ensemble, Cultural Consecration, Aesthetics, Faith, Hong Kong
