{"product_id":"performing-religion-9789042008274","title":"Performing Religion","description":"\u003ci\u003ePerforming Religion \u003c\/i\u003econsiders issues related to Tanzanian \u003ci\u003ekwayas\u003c\/i\u003e [KiSwahili, “choirs”], musical communities most often affiliated with Christian churches, and the music they make, known as\u003ci\u003e nyimbo za kwaya \u003c\/i\u003e[choir songs] or \u003ci\u003emuziki wa kwaya \u003c\/i\u003e[choir music]. The analytical approach adopted in this text focusing on the communities of \u003ci\u003ekwaya \u003c\/i\u003eis one frequently used in the fields of ethnomusicology, religious studies, culture studies, and philosophy for understanding diversified social processes-consciousness. By invoking consciousness an attempt is made to represent the ways seemingly disparate traditions coexist, thrive, and continue within contemporary \u003ci\u003ekwaya \u003c\/i\u003eperformance.\u003cbr\u003e\nAn East African \u003ci\u003ekwaya\u003c\/i\u003e is a community that gathers several times each week to define its spirituality musically. Members of \u003ci\u003ekwayas\u003c\/i\u003e come together to sing, to pray, to support individual members in times of need, and to both learn and pass along new and inherited faith traditions. \u003ci\u003eKwayas\u003c\/i\u003e negotiate between multiple musical traditions or just as often they reject an inherited musical system while others may continue to engage musical repertoires from both Europe and Africa. Contemporary \u003ci\u003ekwayas \u003c\/i\u003ecomfortably coexist in the urban musical soundscape of coastal Dar es Salaam along with jazz dance bands, \u003ci\u003etaarab \u003c\/i\u003eensembles, ngoma performance groups, Hindi film music, rap, reggae, and the constant influx of recorded American and European popular musics.\u003cbr\u003e\nThis ethnography calls into question terms frequently used to draw tight boundaries around the study of the arts in African expressive religious cultures. Such divisions of the arts present well-defended boundaries and borders that are not sufficient for understanding the change, adaptation, preservation, and integration that occur within a Tanzanian \u003ci\u003ekwaya\u003c\/i\u003e. Boundaries break down within the everyday performance of East African \u003ci\u003ekwayas\u003c\/i\u003e, such as \u003ci\u003eKwaya ya Upendo\u003c\/i\u003e [“The Love Choir”] in Dar es Salaam, as repertoires, traditions, histories, and cultures interact within a performance of social identity.","brand":"Gregory F. Barz","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48270213579003,"sku":"9789042008274","price":149.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/3917\/9771\/files\/CoreSourceHub_555e964f-6dcb-49e7-8abd-8d06f401a07a.jpg?v=1774732102","url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.com\/products\/performing-religion-9789042008274","provider":"IndiePubs","version":"1.0","type":"link"}