Full Description
At the intersection of music, philosophy, and religion, Sensational Rhythms of the Ineffable explores intimate collaborations between rhythm and body, showing how they engender deep devotional experiences and ethical sensations. The focus of ethnomusicologist Inderjit N. Kaur's study is Sabad Kīrtan--the congregational singing of Sikh scriptural verses--integral to Sikh worship and everyday life in South Asia and its diaspora. Building on her lifelong practice of Sabad Kīrtan as a singer, composer, and listener, Kaur implements a decolonial approach to research, theorizing, and writing, and the translation of Sikh sacred song-texts. Drawing on the Sikh metaphysics of Anhad Nād--the common vibration of all existence--Kaur uncovers the intertwining of scriptural philosophy, musical practice, and everyday living--what she names a "Sikh theory of lived rhythm." Engaging the ethnographic method of participant-sensation and an interdisciplinary phenomenological approach, her investigations elucidate musical rhythm as a process that amplifies the ineffable vibrations of the inherently rhythmic vital body, interweaving the rhythmicities of sound and lived life.
The first book on Sikh devotional experience to combine new insights from scriptural songs with in-depth analyses of all three major styles of Sabad Kīrtan, Sensational Rhythms of the Ineffable argues that diverse musical styles of Sabad Kīrtan are but various means of intensifying the sensation of ethical interconnectedness. Offering unique perspectives on both Sikh Kīrtan and Sikh philosophy, Kaur's study illuminates how Sikh musical worship is a practice of the embodiment of a relational oneness--a foundational ethical principle in Sikh philosophy and beyond.
Contents
Acknowledgments Note on citation of the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib Notes on orthography, capitalization, and pluralization Introduction: Decolonial Framing, Participant Sensation, and Translation Part I: Sikh Wisdom, Lived Rhythm, and Sabad K=irtan Chapter 1. Sabad K=irtan and its Intersensorial Ecology of Rhythms Chapter 2. Gurmat: The Philosophical Foundation of Embodied Interrelationality in Sabad K=irtan Chapter 3. Theory in Song: Anhad N=ad and a Tripartite Sikh Model of Lived Rhythm Part II: Musical Rhythms and Ethical Affects in Diverse Styles of Sabad K=irtan Chapter 4. Flowing Flexible Rhythms: Time Vistas of Awe in "Light-Style" Sabad K=irtan Chapter 5. Cyclical Granular Rhythms: Shapely Timbres, Shapely Affects, in "AKJ-Style" (Akhand K=irtani Jattha) Sabad K=irtan Chapter 6. Recurring Gravitational Rhythms: Embodiment in the Time of Aura in "Classical-Style" Sabad K=irtan Part III: Concluding Thoughts: In the Realm of Unboundedness Chapter 7. The Work of Rhythm in Music and Beyond: Sensationalizing Ineffabilities and the Ethics of Interconnectedness Appendix A. The Place of R=ag in Sikh Scripture and K=irtan Practice Appendix B. Interpreting "Ghar" in Scriptural Song Titles References Glossary of Sikh and Punjabi Terms Index
