Religion and Sound

By -

     I think the hardest part of this blog was simply the name, because I wasn't sure what to describe this as. The Qur'an recitations described in Rasmussen's book isn't entirely song, but it is something that falls within a lyrical tradition. Likewise, where my thoughts go towards my own personal experiences, the lyrical tradition I am most familiar with would be song. So, sound seemed an appropriate word, if just in my mind and how I felt after spending probably entirely too long trying to think of what I wanted to describe it as.

    The Qur'an recitations are beautiful. The tradition behind it is beautiful. The performances are beautiful. Rasmussen's accounts are beautiful, if just by the descriptions of sound coming from everywhere and the craft that goes into this tradition of recitation. Even though it might, or likely, isn't song, I wanted to try to link it to the very minimal experience with organized, large religion I have, and I realized that the two are very, vastly different.

    I am from the South, which is... very Christian, to say the least. While I did not go to churches often, I was sometimes forced to services, and sometimes song happened. I think the trouble I had with Rasmussen's book, to begin with, was imagining what this trained oral tradition was like (which was very nicely answered by listening to examples in class) because my introduction to an oral religious tradition was crowds badly singing songs about God and Jesus in church, where half the crowd is at one place in the lyrics and the other half in another, and it's this jumbled, confused mess that eventually ends and, I guess, everyone feels satisfied and religiously fulfilled.

    But that might be the point? It's not trained, not like the reciters in Indonesia, nor is it organized or entirely practiced. However, that doesn't make it less of a religious experience or a way to connect to a deity. It just sounds disorganized, and that's fine, really, because life is disorganized and messy and sometimes religion is that way too. 

    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amidst the Pandemic

By -
Image
I think having the opportunity to take Smells and Bells and then experiencing a worldwide pandemic came with good timing. Oftentimes, we’re so rushed to get from one one place to another that we miss out on what happens around us. We’re so accustomed to the lifestyle of being busy that it has become the norm for many of us. However, the pandemic has forced us to slow down. We’re now appreciating everything that we had previously taken for granted and noticing things in our surroundings that we have never noticed before.  Take this quarantining/social distancing as an opportunity to be more aware of what you experience through the senses. I don’t think my senses have necessarily heightened over the past 5 weeks, but I am actively making the choice to pay more attention to what I see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. I like going on nature/mindfulness walks and basking in the sunshine out in my backyard. This morning, I could hear a faint noise from the wind, hear the birds chirping, f
Read more

Food in the Afterlife

By -
Image
In Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking, and the Making of Black Atlantic Traditions , Perez talks of Ashabi and her grandchildren providing food offerings to their ancestors. This immediately reminded me of the practice of food sacrifice in early China. I've taken Chinese language classes for about 7 years now and in one of the lessons, we learned about food as well as the history of food in Chinese culture. Ashabi and her grandchildren would give food offerings to their ancestors every day. This included nine beverages (coffee, liquor, and water mixed with sugar and molasses) and nine square pieces of coconut topped with red palm oil and guinea pepper. The offerings would also include whatever food was dropped on the ground. In their house, food dropping on the floor signified more than it would in common American households. It signified that the ancestors wanted that food and had willingly made it fall to the floor. They also used dishware that had been chipped which was
Read more