Folklore, Religion and the Songs of a Bengali Madman

A Journey Between Performance and the Politics of Cultural Representation
Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-90-04-32470-1
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 22, 334 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 612 g

Reihe: Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture

This book explores historical and cultural aspects of modern and contemporary Bengal through the performance-centred study of a particular repertoire: the songs of the saint-composer Bhaba Pagla (1902-1984), who is particularly revered among Baul and Fakir singers. The author shows how songs, if examined as 'sacred scriptures', represent multi-dimensional texts for the study of South Asian religions. Revealing how previous studies about Bauls mirror the history of folkloristics in Bengal, this book presents sacred songs as a precious symbolic capital for a marginalized community of dislocated and unorthodox Hindus, who consider the practice of singing in itself an integral part of the path towards self-realization.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lorea, Carola

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie des Brauchtums und der Traditionen
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikwissenschaft Allgemein Partituren, Autographen, Libretti, Liederbücher
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Sonstige Religionen: Spiritualität, Mystik
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Hinduismus

Über Autor(innen)

Carola Erika Lorea, PhD (2015), University of Rome, is a researcher in Bengali oral traditions. She has published books on Bengali language and literature, translations of contemporary Bengali authors and several articles on the folklore and sacred songs of the Bauls of West Bengal.