Write into Being: The Production of the Self and Circulation of Ritual Knowledge in Afro-Cuban Religious Libretas

Tsang, Martin

doi:10.1080/17432200.2021.1897282

Material Religion

2021

DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2021.1897282

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Write into Being: The Production of the Self and Circulation of Ritual Knowledge in Afro-Cuban Religious Libretas

Martin Tsang

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2021

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“…Recent English-language scholarship along these lines includes Beliso-De Jesús (2013, Bodenheimer (2015), Christopher (2013), Delgado (2009), Dianteill and Swearingen (2003), Frías (2019), Meadows (2021), Ramos (2008), Tsang (2021), and Whitmore (2020), among others.…”

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Writing Orisha Music: Text, Tradition, and Creativity in Afro-Cuban Liturgy

Font-Navarrete

2021

Religions

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This essay examines the flow of music associated with orisha—anthropomorphic deities—across networks defined variously by art, scholarship, folklore, and religion, all of which overlap and nourish each other. Transmitted via oral tradition, written texts, and multimedia technologies, a handful of orisha-themed songs are analyzed as case studies in the subtle nexus of liturgy and cultural authenticity. Taken together, the songs shed light on a broader phenomenon in which creatively-minded, ostensibly-secular iterations of culture play a significant role in the dissemination and ongoing codification of ritual orthodoxy. Orisha music traditions are analyzed as a fertile ground for a multitude of devotional and/or artistic expressions, many of which have a particularly ambiguous relationship to the concept of religion. In this context, the fluid movements of orisha music between ostensibly sacred and secular contexts can be usefully understood as not only common, but as a conspicuous and characteristic aspect of the tradition. The essay’s structure and rhetorical strategies offer distinct layers of cultural and historical commentary, reflecting a multi-vocal tradition of exchanges among orisha music scholars, artists, and ritual experts. The essay’s historical analysis of orisha music further suggests that a host of subtle, seldom-discussed phenomena—multilingualism, liturgical ambiguity, and transmission via multimedia technologies—are not necessarily aberrant or irregular, but rather vital themes which have resonated clearly across the Afro-Atlantic for at least a century. By obligating us to attend to both musical meaning and cultural context, the essay’s case studies of orisha music shed light on the mingling and synthesis of elements from varied historical sources, languages, and cultural idioms, each of which represent distinct notions of tradition, creativity, religiosity, and secularism.

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confidence: 99%

Writing Orisha Music: Text, Tradition, and Creativity in Afro-Cuban Liturgy

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2021

Religions

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Write into Being: The Production of the Self and Circulation of Ritual Knowledge in Afro-Cuban Religious Libretas

Cited by 1 publication

References 10 publications

Writing Orisha Music: Text, Tradition, and Creativity in Afro-Cuban Liturgy

Writing Orisha Music: Text, Tradition, and Creativity in Afro-Cuban Liturgy

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