Tamil folk music as Dalit liberation theology
By: Zoe C. Sherinian
Series: Ethnomusicology multimedia
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Bloomington; Indianapolis
Language: eng
Number of pages: 344
ISBN-13: 9780253002334; 9780253005854
Subjects: Dalits; Religious life; Music; Folk music; History and criticism; Church music; Christianity
Description: Zoe C. Sherinian shows how Christian Dalits (once known as untouchables or outcastes) in southern India have employed music to protest social oppression and as a vehicle of liberation. Her focus is on the life and theology of a charismatic composer and leader, Reverend J. Theophilus Appavoo, who drew on Tamil folk music to create a distinctive form of indigenized Christian music. Appavoo composed songs and liturgy infused with messages linking Christian theology with critiques of social inequality. Sherinian traces the history of Christian music in India and introduces us to a community of Tamil Dalit Christian villagers, seminary students, activists, and theologians who have been inspired by Appavoo's music to work for social justice. Multimedia components available online include video and audio recordings of musical performances, religious services, and community rituals [Publisher description]
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : context and concepts : singing the Lord's prayer as freedom in a Tamil land; title: How can the subaltern speak? Musical style, value, and the historical process of; title: (Re)indigenization of Tamil Christian music; title: Sharing the meal : a Dalit family's dialogue with the history of Tamil Christian music, 1850-1994; title: Paraṭṭai's theology : greeting God in the cēri; title: Ethnography as transformative musical dialogue; title: Reception and transformation from seminary to village; title: Performing global Dalit consciousness.