Karnatic Music and Christianity

An Ethnomusicological Approach Paul

Authors

  • Paul Poovathingal Chetana Music College

Keywords:

Christianity, Church music, Ethnomusicology, Inculturation, Karnatic music, Musical identity, Raga, Tāļās

Abstract

Ethnomusicological approach towards Christian music in India has revealed that Christian music in India had a strong interaction with the traditional classical music of South India, i.e., Karnatic music. Protestant Churches in India had tried to adapt native music tradition into their music even before Second Vatican Council whereas Catholic Church in India made serious attempts for inculturation only after the Council. The present paper focuses on the ethnomusicological perspective of the Christian music in India and the multicultural, multireligious interaction of Karnatic music with respect to its adaptability and universality. It also deals with the structural and melodic analysis of the compositions of the leading Christian Karnatic composers of the past and the present, and the analysis of Karnatic musical forms and musical genres available in the Christian musical subcultures of South India.

Author Biography

Paul Poovathingal, Chetana Music College

Dr Paul Poovathingal CMI, popularly known as singing priest of India, is the first Christian priest in the world to have a PhD in Karnatic music. He is a disciple of Padmabhushan Dr K. J. Yesudas and has performed music concert for the President of India at President’s House, New Delhi. He is the recipient of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy ‘Kalasree award’ for Karnatic music and also Senior Fellowship award for Karnatic music from the ministry of culture, Govt. of India. Being the first Vocologist in India, he is currently the Principal of Chetana Music College, Thrissur, Kerala, India.

References

Julian Saldanha, Inculturation, Bombay: St. Pauls, 1996, 13.

Bruno Nettl, Theory and Method in Ethnomusicology, New York: Schirmer Books, 1985.4.

P. Paul, “The Influence of South Indian Art Music on the Church Music of Kerala,” MPhil Dissertation, Madras University, 1997, 3

Personal interview with Dr Michael Amaladoss, at Chennai, 1-122000.

Personal interview with Prof. R. Venkataraman, at Madurai, 15-62001. Nettl, Theory and Method in Ethnomusicology, 225.

A.M. Mundadan, Indian Christians Search for Identity & Struggle for Autonomy, Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 1984, 194.

White, Appreciating India’s Music, 66.

Zoe Carey Sherinian, “The Indigenization of Tamil Christian Music,” Doctoral Dissertation, Wesleyan University, 1998, 263.

Emmons E. White, Appreciating India’s Music, Madras: The Christian Literature, 1970, 23.

Sabina Rafi, Cavittunātakam, Kottayam: Sāhitya Pravartaka Cooperative Society, 1964, 17.

Chummar Chundal, Christian Folklore, Thrissur: Kerala Folklore Academy, 1988, 73.

Jacob Velliyan, and S. Kurian Vembeni, Mārgamkaļipāttu, Kottayam: Hadusa, 1995, 25.

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Published

2015-03-30

How to Cite

Poovathingal, P. (2015). Karnatic Music and Christianity: An Ethnomusicological Approach Paul . Journal of Dharma, 40(1), 77–94. Retrieved from https://dvkjournals.in/index.php/jd/article/view/107

Issue

Vol. 40 No. 1 (2015): Journal of Dharma

Section

Articles