Related Papers
Polynesian Hymns in Papua: The Synthesis of a Christian Educational Tool and Local Creative Expression
Don Niles
At the end of the last century, many missionaries from overseas arrived in Papua New Guinea seeking to convert the population to Christianity. Missionary opposition to local music and dance was often intense. Nevertheless, singing was seen as an essentail ingredient of successful Christianization. In the southern part of the country, Polynesian missionaries introduced a type of singing from their home islands which presented Bible teachings. Today, this symbol of the United Church of Papua New Guinea enjoys great popularity and provides both an educational message and a creative outlet. The Christianisation of Papua New Guinea, begun during the last half of the nineteenth century, has frequently required serious decisions to be made by both local inhabitants and foreign missionaries regarding the continued performance of traditional music. As much traditional music is intimately entwined with traditional religious beliefs, could this be compatible or, at least, co-exist with the new...
Kulele: Occasional Papers on Pacific Music and Dance 4:174–177
Review of 'Songs from the Second Float: A Musical Ethnography of Takū Atoll, Papua New Guinea' by Richard Moyle
2010 •
Neil R Coulter
Book Reviews Review Essay: Recent Scholarship on the Music of the Southwestern Pacific. Sung Tales from the Papua New Guinea Highlands: Studies in Form, Mean-ing, and Sociocultural Context; Steep Slopes: Music and Change in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea; Nga Moteatea
Gabriel Solis
ABJournals
The Bible and Music in African Christianity
2024 •
Emmanuel Foster Asamoah
This bibliographic study explores the interplay between the Bible and music within the context of African Christianity. Underpinned by the theory of syncretism, the paper employs a contextual thematic analysis to unravel the nexus between African indigenous music and Christian worship and draws implications for both scholarship and practice. Findings indicate that early European missionaries incited a satanic impression against the use of African indigenous music among Christian worshippers. It was contrarily revealed that Bibleinformed use of African music in Christian worship is imperative for evangelisation, deeper spirituality, and faster church growth in Africa. In conclusion, the paper emphasises that the Bible and (indigenous) music are inseparable. It also maintains that music has the transformative power of fostering community cohesion, religious identity, and spiritual devotion among African Christians. Finally, the paper recommends greater collaboration among scholars, theologians, music educators, and gospel music practitioners in the African context in accomplishing the goal of the gospel.
Christian music in contemporary Africa: a re-examination of its essentials
Femi Adedeji
Christian music in contemporary Africa: a re-examination of its essentials Christian music all over Africa (be it liturgical church music or gospel), in contemporary times has become so popular and well grown howbeit in divergent dimensions. As a result, there have been questions, debates and confusions both by insiders and outsiders of the Christian faith on what exactly constitutes Christian music. There then arises the need to theorise the fundamentals of Christian music, exhuming the Biblical, musical and socio-cultural basis for its performance practices. This article examines various principles that should guide contem-porary Christian musicianship, especially as contained in the Scriptures; arguing that the practice of Christian music cannot be divorced from Bible even when the principles of musical sound organisation and the socio-cultural needs of the society have to be observed. The tension created by the superim-position of the three is also resolved. This article is ther...
Anthropological Forum
Sung tales from the Papua New Guinea Highlands: Studies in form, meaning, and sociocultural context
2014 •
Don Niles
Ethnomusicology, 48/4
Ritual music and christianization in the Toraja highlands, Sulawesi (2004)
Dana Rappoport
The religion and music culture of the Toraja of southern Sulawesi (Indonesia) have undergone dramatic changes in the last century. Most of these involve the way that a formalized traditional belief system and an accompanying set of ritual musics were challenged by the advent of Christianity and pressures from the Indonesian government. In the Torajan ancestral religion, traditional music was strictly organized: balance of musical repertoires participated in the building of ritual morphology. Since the early twentieth century, several interrelated factors have contributed to changes in musical performances. As some rituals were prohibited, some of the old songs have been forbidden, others have been absorbed in Christian rituals and new songs have been introduced. The decontextualization of rising sun ritual songs has lead to artistic changes. External musical features were brought inside the traditional culture and also, native musical features were thrown inside the Christian ritual (inculturation). These two movements give birth to a new musical identity in the context of monotheistic Indonesia.
The Contemporary Pacific
Music in Pacific Island Cultures: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture by Brian Diettrich, Jane Freeman Moulin, Michael Webb
2013 •
Anna Stirr
Analytical Approaches to World Musics Journal
Hong Kong Christian Songwriters' Dilemma: Juggling Sacred Music, Tonal Language, and Christian Faith
2023 •
Joshua Ching Yuet Kan
Hong Kong composers face a unique challenge when composing songs in Cantonese, as every syllable comes with a set pitch inflection — a “word tone.” Imposing tunes to texts without considering “word tones” either renders the words unrecognizable or changes their meanings entirely. In the 1970s, the pursuit of coherent verbal expression for reverent worship compelled Cantonese-speaking Christians to compose congregational ngaamjam songs (啱音歌). Literally translating to “tone-matching songs,” these pieces feature matching melodic pitch and linguistic tone contours that enable their performers to sing every word without distorting its meaning and pronunciation. However, the nine “word tones” of Cantonese cannot cover all twelve steps of the chromatic scale. When transliterated into Cantonese, common polysyllabic Christian terms like “Jehovah” gain inherent “word tone” sequences that songwriters must follow. Some local Christian songwriters sacrifice mainstream Western musical aesthetics to preserve literary excellence and theological accuracy. Others strive to compose songs with conventional tunes at the expense of poetry and grammar. These complications result in the divide between ngaamjam songs written text-first and ngaamjam songs composed tune-first. My study compares a song written text-first with one written tune-first. Musical and literary analyses identify unique formal, rhythmic, and syntaxial characteristics in each category. A new method of graphic representation helps illustrate different strategies used to reconcile linguistic tones with song melodies. Research on local church history and ethnographic interviews with composers reveal historical, aesthetical, theological, and social concerns that produced such diverging trends in Cantonese Christian worship songs.
Journal of Christian Musicology, Ajilaoorun Pub. Ltd. Ile Ife
CHURCH MUSIC AND MINISTRY: A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
2020 •
Olusola I . Eniolawun
Church music plays significant roles in social, religious, and social gatherings in Africa. God gave people the gift of music and commanded its usage for the edification of man. The term “Church music” covers three major aspects of ministry within the context of a local church, namely; Congregational music, choral music, and instrumental music. A piece of music with appropriate biblical text can serve as a response of prayer, praise, a testimony of God’s faithfulness, or a response to an initial revelation of God during worship, or any Christian convergence. Although there may be a lot of confusion on what may be termed as church music, this study seeks to identify the term and discuss the ideals of church music in worship and other Christian convergence from physical and non-physical (spiritual) perspectives of Church music and ministry addressing the problem of lack of structure in the organization of church music ministry. Church music ministry allows Christians to be stewards of their gifts and is a valid medium of propagating the gospel. The study adopts literary and theological approaches and notes that music gives room for the edification of Christians, contributing its quota in building a network of musicians as they unite with other church leaders in raising offerings of praise and thanksgiving to God. It notes that church music should carry a message, express heartfelt praise to God, and/or a divinely inspired message of God to parishioners. It argues that Church music, of necessity, should be from disciplined Christian minds, to prepare true worshippers, reconciling them back to God.
