Smells and Bells

The Discipline of Devotion  By Calliope Mills  From Wiki Media Commons       When we think about religious devotion, we often picture moments of quiet reflection, prayer, or spiritual insight. But reading Women, the Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia by Anne Rasmussen showed me that devotion also looks like repetition, muscle memory, and hours of disciplined practice; sometimes with sound being the cornerstone of it all. Figure 20 from Rasmussen's book        The women Rasmussen writes about aren’t just participating in their faith—they're embodying it through sound. From the precise articulation of Arabic letters to the melodic flow of Qur’anic recitation, every vocal detail matters. Pitch, tone, rhythm, breath—these elements are fine-tuned with the same care as a classical musician rehearsing a complex piece. And just like music, these sounds carry meaning far beyond the words themselves. They express reverence, emotion, an...

 The Power of a Pause Dr. Maria Ulfah & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. By Ava Barry When I first heard Dr. Maria Ulfah I was spell bound. Sitting in my dorm room, listening to a video that was posted as homework for one of my classes. I was planning on only watching a mere one to two minutes of this 28 minute video, yet I found myself sitting there in awe as the minutes quickly flowed by. This video was of a Quran recitation. The audience in the video was full, yet we [the viewers] didn't hear a sound other than her voice echoing through us.  "Indonesian audiences are not known for silence, even in the context of formal events. In this case, however, although the women enjoyed the snacks provided and some of them whispered to one another, there was relative silence for the duration of the presentation and recitation. At this event and the many others I attended where she was a featured (and paid) reciter, Maria Ulfah commanded an attentive audience." (Rasmussen, 205) For ...

           Anne Rasmussen's examination of the Qu'ran and music and how it both interacts with this sort of feminism through women being the leaders of performances and teaching songs to their community and how Islamic music has evolved made me want to talk about the evolution of worship music, from hymns to Christian music festivals. I remember being surprised when I attended a service at LifeChurch, a non-denominational (I believe- they may be more Evangelical but the one I went to said they were non-denominational) church at how modern it was. It didn't even take place in a stereotypical chapel or church, it was actually in a retirement home. My bewilderment at this setting was even a subject of discussion because the pastor then went on to say that church is "us." It's not a physical location, it's the community. Anyways, I digress.      Aside from the lack of pews and stained glass, I was even more pleasantly surprised when it went to wo...

The women reciters in Rasmussen’s The Recited Qur’an have an undeniable degree of power. They can become leaders and politicians on the strength of their recitations alone – through their literal voice. It must be noted, however, that many of them reject traditional femininity (or at least the Western concept of femininity) in their recitations – “it is men who indulge in the freedom to display virtuosic showmanship and creative emotionality. During the moment of performance women opt for modest confidence over dramatic showmanship, which is the territory of their male counterparts” – where men are allowed to be emotional, women tend to be more withdrawn. They are given the chance to intellectualize their recitations, to display their knowledge. I can’t say that I understand this perfectly, but I do know that the moments in my life when I have felt the most power have been the times when I’ve embodied a more authoritative character on stage. Typically a man.  My older sister introd...

  Anne Rasmussen's Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia Courtesy: University of California Press      Through reading Anne Rasmussen's Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia I was really fascinated by the differences in Qur’an recitation cross-culturally. Learning about the significance of Indigenous Indonesian styles of music and Arabic poetry traditions was certainly eye-opening. The way that the Qur’an is used and honored by Muslim people are vast, complex, intimate yet public.       A very damaging misconception about Islam is that women are not allowed to participate in activities or express themselves in any way. While it is unfortunately true that many Muslim women are subject to abuse and control, this absolutely does not automatically apply to all Islamic communities. The Indonesian Islamic songs sung by women that we listened to in class, particularly Al-Quran, were inspiring, emotive and empoweri...

I will admit that the concept of musical theory does not excite me. I've never truly had the patience to try to understand how songs and recitations are structured and formatted. However, I will admit that I somewhat enjoyed learning more about Quran recitations. To begin with, the concept of 'music' does not differentiate the concepts between "songs, instrumental music, or musical function" (Rasmussen 26). What that means to me is that anything capable of making a sound could be considered 'music'. However, what particularly caught my eye was the explanations of aurality and orality. Aurality being defined as awareness of the way sound is experienced. Take for example, a heavy metal fan banging their head up and down in rhythm with the song. The aggressive sound making the listener respond to it in a somewhat aggressive manner. Image courtesy of www.ultimateclassicrock.com Orality on the other hand is the activation of the text into a measured and m...

Hearing is one of the most important sense for many organisms all throughout the world. Some purely rely on hearing more than anything else. A perfect example of this would be bats. They are pretty much blind and hearing allows the survive in a multitude of ways. Throughout Women, The Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia , written by Anne Rasmussen, she explains religious musical praxis in Indonesia and how important music is to that culture. This goes hand in hand with Christianity.  Within Christianity it is very important to to sing to the lord. In the bible it even says “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them” (Isaiah 42:10). Singing to the lord plays a key role in Christianity and other religions as well. Which makes the sensation of hearing that much more important for those who engage in it.