Abstract
Music ritual, the act of combining music and ritual, can bind people to beliefs and behaviors. Acting as a resonant force, whether in sacred or profane cultural spaces, music ritual creates, enables, and coalesces social identity. The nature of this binding is reflected in the affinities we have to various levels of cultural expression. Each cultural level – artifacts, performance practices, aesthetics, and spiritual significances – is both an affinity, and a potential location or cultural space of resonance. An examination of Diaspora communities through this interpretive model reveals that music rituals are significant in preserving community, particularly in its effect on healing amidst the challenge of social injustices. African Diaspora religious music rituals provide an important “field of action” in interpreting and discerning healing resonances manifest, in part, due to the resistance, endurance, creativity, and compassion cultivated in response to social injustices and global dispersion. Historically, the image of the wayfarer has been depicted as a lone traveler. African Diaspora musicking strongly suggests an advocacy based upon a collective spiritual journey.
Presenters
Mtafiti ImaraProfessor of Music - School of Arts, College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences/ Music, California State University San Marcos, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2024 Special Focus—Spaces, Movement, Time: Religions at Rest and in Movement
KEYWORDS
Music Ritual, Affinities, Cultural Levels, Resonance, Diaspora, Spiritual Journey
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