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Sacred Sound and the Transcultural Practice of Kirtan

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Ancient ideas on sacred sound find a very tangible and lively expression in the practice of kirtan, which is a broad term referring to various forms of devotional singing commonly done in South Asian traditions. Kirtan is a core practice in the Hindu and Sikh faiths that is becoming increasingly popular around the world among people of all ethnicities, thus developing as a transnational and transcultural phenomenon. Indeed, the broader cultural implications and deepening social penetration that this practice has achieved over the past five decades suggest that it is attaining permanent status in the world's religious soundscape. Sacred Sound and the Transcultural Practice of Kirtan explores the practice of kirtan as it has been re-created in the United States, Canada, and Brazil through multi-sided interactions that generate new cultural patterns in an ongoing process of cross-pollination. Approaching kirtan as a type of 'technology of the self', Gustavo Moura combines textual, historical, and ethnographic sources to address the questions of how this practice is adopted and adapted in the Americas and how it has been shaping identities, communities, and traditions.
Gustavo Moura is a scholar of religion with academic training and lived experience in South Asian traditions.
List of Tables and Figures Introduction Chapter 1: Indian Theories of Sacred Sound Chapter 2: Kirtan Comes to America Chapter 3: The Transculturation of Kirtan Chapter 4: Tradition, Adaptation, and Authenticity Chapter 5: The Soft Institutionalization of Kirtan Conclusion Epilogue: The Post-Pandemic Renewal of Kirtan Appendix 1: Spotify Data for the Kirtan Artists Cited Bibliography About the Author
Over the past few decades, the Indian devotional singing tradition known as Kirtan has become a global phenomenon, encompassing many new forms and styles and utilizing a variety of musical instruments. As both a scholar and practitioner, Gustavo Moura, in Sacred Sound and the Transcultural Practice of Kirtan, has provided a descriptive map of the types of Kirtan across several continents, as well as a 'sound' theological and historical foundation for understanding what more and more appears to be a major transformational sacred practice around the world. -- Guy Beck, Tulane University
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