Choral Voices: Ethnographic Imaginations of Sound and Sacrality - Paperback

by Sebanti Chatterjee (Author)

Choral Voices: Ethnographic Imaginations of Sound and Sacrality is about sacred and secular choirs in Goa and Shillong across churches, seminaries, schools, auditoriums, classrooms, reality TV shows, and festivals. Voice and genre emerge as social objects annotated by tradition, nostalgia, and innovation. Piety literally and metaphorically shapes the Christian lifeworld, predominantly those belonging to the Presbyterian and Catholic denominations. Indigeneity structures the political and cultural motifs in the making of the Christian musical traditions. Located at the intersection of Sociology, Anthropology, and Ethnomusicology, the choral voices emplace 'affect' and the visual-aural dispatch. Thus, sonic spectrum holds space for indigenous and global musicality.

This ethnographic work will be useful for scholars researching music and sound studies, religious studies, cultural anthropology, and sociology of India.

Author Biography

Sebanti Chaterjee is a sound anthropologist and a senior academic fellow at National Law School India University, Bengaluru. She is a recipient of India Foundation of Arts Research Grant, the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SRA FY 2016), the Indian Council of Social Science Research fellowship, and former editorial member of Serenade Magazine.