Smells and Bells

   Owned by Guy Cocker https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/hyperx-cloudx-stinger-core-wireless  The last time I wrote about sound, I put a pretty heavy emphasis on how music culture you grow up with can have some effect on your taste for what makes a good song. Although what I wrote about back then is no where similar to what Anne Rasmussen's "Women, the recited Qur'an, islamic music in Indonesia" brings up, I can't help but take some perspective from all the different themes, festivals, and ideas she put forward.  What Specifically caught my attention was the chapter that focused on Aurality,  the "taking to heart" or experiencing of sounds in a multi sensory or kinesthetic way. This experience can range anywhere between music, laughter, rain falling, whatever comes to mind. To me that's just fascinating because I think we've all had that feeling before but never really knew which word to use in order to describe it properly to other people. ...

One of my main memories from Church when I was younger was singing the song “Lamb of God.” In Church, this song is always sung at the time where we give the sign of peace by shaking hands, hugging, or even giving a sign of peace to a person who maybe a couple of rows away. This song was a huge part of my life, and for the longest time, I used to run around my house and sing that song while giving peace to each of my stuffed animals. Whenever I hear this song being played it gives me comfort and brings up the memories of me swinging in my backyard singing it, and going to church with my family. This song fills my heart and I feel loved. Though Anne Rasmussen talks about noises in Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia, and about the ranges of loved to hated noises, which can be applied to songs and noises all around you that are picked up by our ears. She talks about how sound pollution affects America much like regular pollution, and how there are measures being ...

It seems to me that one of the most "visible" aspects of a religion is that faith's music. The popular views, regardless of their correctness, held by the larger Western public imagination informs many people's knowledge of different religions, and may constitute the limit of somebody's knowledge of a faith, depending on exposure. Much of Anne Rasmussen's book deals with how Muslim men and women interact with devotional music and one another in the context of music. One of the most visible and stereotyped Islamic musical practices comes in the form of the Sufi whirling dance, performed by both men and women in the Sema ceremony. The dance involves spinning around for extended periods of time. Practitioners whirl and listen to sacred music in order to lose their ego or sense of self. While Sufis constitute a relatively small proportion of the Islamic ummah , their dramatic dance and distinctive clothing captured the Western imagination. This whirling ritual h...

All my life, I've been the worst at discerning the lyrics of songs.  For whatever reason, the second someone starts singing, my ability to process what it is that they're saying drops. I don't know why, but I think it has shaped the type of music that I listen to. I mostly go for music that I think has an interesting texture to the sound, and less music where the lyrics are emotionally resonant. I also don't really sing along to songs ever, largely because I just don't know the words (and to spare the ears of those around me). I think that this habit of mine has led to some interesting music, but I also worry about what music I'm missing out on just because the lyrics don't click the first time I hear them. I think about the Qur'an recitation in Indonesia, and how the recitation brings about a direct connection with the divinity involved in the text, and I'm a little jealous of the auditory experience that both the reciters and listeners must be havi...