Songs for the Spirits : Music and Mediums in Modern Vietnam

Songs for the Spirits examines the Vietnamese practice of communing with spirits through music and performance. During rituals dedicated to a pantheon of indigenous spirits, musicians perform an elaborate sequence of songs—a "songscape"—for possessed mediums who carry out ritual actions, distribute blessed gifts to disciples, and dance to the music's infectious rhythms. Condemned by French authorities in the colonial period and prohibited by the Vietnamese Communist Party in the late 1950s, mediumship practices have undergone a strong resurgence since the early 1990s, and they are now being drawn upon to promote national identity and cultural heritage through folklorized performances of rituals on the national and international stage. By tracing the historical trajectory of traditional music and religion since the early twentieth century, this groundbreaking study offers an intriguing account of the political transformation and modernization of cultural practices over a period of dramatic and often turbulent transition. An accompanying DVD contains numerous video and music extracts that illustrate the fascinating ways in which music evokes the embodied presence of spirits and their gender and ethnic identities. | Contents Acknowledgments Note on Vietnamese Language DVD Contents Introduction: Encountering Mediumship 1. Mediumship, Modernity, and Cultural Identity 2. Experiencing Spirit Possession 3. Songs for the Spirits 4. The Musical Construction of the Spirits 5. Musical Creativity and Change 6. Engendering Mediumship 7. Ritual and Folklorization in Late Socialist Vietnam Epilogue: Thanking the Spirits Appendix Notes Bibliography Index | "There is no better study that looks at Vietnamese mediumship music in a thorough, multidisciplinary manner."— Music & Letters "An exciting document of a locally diverse and unique ritual practice of the Viet people and their music. . . . A Vital work."— Asian Ethnology "Essential reading for scholars of Vietnamese religion, women's religion and culture, and spirit possession."— Religious Studies Review | Barley Norton is a senior lecturer in ethnomusicology in the music department at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His research on Vietnamese music and culture was the subject the documentary film A Westerner Loves Our Music ( Nguoi Tay Me Nhac Ta ). He is also a performer of the Vietnamese dan nguyet and dan day lutes. "Songs for the Spirits is the first in-depth study of the Vietnamese practice of communing with spirits through music and performance. During rituals dedicated to a large pantheon of indigenous spirits, a band of musicians performs an elaborate sequence of songs - a "songscape"--For possessed mediums who carry out ritual actions, distribute blessed gifts to disciples, and dance to the music's infectious rhythms. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and his experience of learning to perform ritual music, Barley Norton explores the transformative power of song and the multifaceted relationship between musical and ritual performance, emphasizing the importance of musical interaction, creativity, and change." "An accompanying DVD contains numerous video and music extracts that illustrate the fascinating ways in which music evokes the embodied presence of spirits and their gender and ethnic identities."--Jacket.