Smells and Bells

Festivals are held worldwide for many purposes. Most festivals have religious origins if not still a religious purpose. Anne K. Rasmussen's book Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia , as the name implies, discusses Islamic music in Indonesia. The chapter on festivals was of particular interest to me. Rasmussen wrote, "religious festivals at which competition is the focus exist to reward excellence; however they also serve the function of introducing, teaching, and reinforcing an Islamic praxis on global, national, and regional levels. Festivals and competitive events that feature Islamic arts - from fashion to calligraphy and from recitation to pageantry - are part of a culture of competition that thoroughly saturates the performing arts" (Rasmussen, 2010). These festivals function to reinforce religious tradition and contain many elements of culture as well. This can be seen in other religions and cultures as well. While I was studying abroa...

Music is an extremely pliable, significant aspect of modern life. Though people have different tastes in music, there are some songs that are known widely, globally, even. The ABC's song, happy birthday song and even Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star are three that I grew up surrounded by. Songs like these seem to be good middle grounds, neither likable or detestable (at least from my perspective). As I've grown, I've come to love and hate many songs, all due to having positive or negative memories reinforcing my perception of them. A song that I hate could be a song that someone else loves. And honestly, I don't find myself "hating" many songs, just some that are unbearable to listen to. Baby Shark, a song I cannot stand despite its insane catchiness Though Anne Rasmussen talks more about noise rather than song in Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia , the range of loved to hated noises still applies, since both songs and noise ar...

I love reading about variability in the world and learning about the differences between different cultures. Anne Rasmussen spoke of the nuances of Indonesian Islamic Music and this emphasized aurality's value in Islam. The Qur'an is respected as "the last great revelation from a purely oral culture, and is best apprehended through aural criteria," (52). What I though was interesting was the fact that there are competitions for Qur'an recitation and how these competitions are judged. The competitors are judged to their breath control, diction, melodic construction, ornamentation, and performance demeanor which is similar to a singing competition. It's interesting that terms and tools that are tied to {music is used to interpret indigenization of music in this region," (21). The vastness of any religion combined with the vastness of music creates a creative setting that is uniquely beautiful. Music is so great. The individualization of the sens...

Orchestra Sounds fill our world to an almost deafening degree. Sound is layered in the perception of the world. In a single moment, there can be some many different sounds bombarding our ears. Music is a great example of the layers of sound. A song can have a melody, counter melody and bass line with multiple instruments in each group. The separate rhythms come together to create the song. Harmonies exist from instruments intertwining their notes together to create more than the notes alone. While music does show how sound can be beautiful and harmonize, everyday life is not filled with such wonderous melodies. Noise-cancelling Headphones Most background noise is considered annoying. A peaceful summer afternoon does not involve the sounds of cars rushing by or people screaming in the background. A quiet night is not made better by the honking and beeping of construction vehicles outside your room. In Women, theRecited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia , Rasmussen n...

Anne Rasmussen's book Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia successfully demonstrates how the role of women in Islamic practices extends far beyond stereotypes and challenges western perceptions. Despite how much social progress we have made, there are still many issues and gaps in knowledge and understanding of other cultures and religious practices that are often perpetuated by a lack of education in this country. I grew up in a very diverse community and yet still, I knew about the stereotypes given to those dedicated to Islam. I remember thinking that it was a religion that sometimes stifled women and did not give them "rights" before I actually learned about it, This reading shows the truth and shares how valuable women are to the practice and points out how Westerners often project their own standards onto people from different parts of the world - which is very problematic; “...progress as construed by Western feminism is not always cons...

Sound is so important for so many different faiths and religions because sound is how so many people communicate with each other as well as pray to their god(s) or deities. The one thing we can expect to find when attending a place of worship of any faith is song, prayer and talking. Sounds such as specking and singing are such a large part of cultures and we can clearly see this in the videos of showing people practicing parts of the Islamic faith.  Another large part of religion and faith when it comes to sound is music. One can find different types of instruments such as drums, guitars, pianos and many others being used while praying and worshiping god(s) and deities. There so are many ways to show that one is dedicated to their faith or religion and using music is key role way of showing dedication in many groups. Every religion has different approaches to how they wanted to use it, sometimes it depends on gender, age, location, position of power, language and inten...