Multitracking the Spirit: Musicality, Prayer Chants and Pentecostal Spirituality in Nigeria
Publication information:
Abstract
This presentation explores the nexus between arts and spirituality by discussing innovative sonic and artistic paradigms in Pentecostal spirituality. By focusing on the growing practice of prayer chants in Nigeria, I examine how prayer chants interact with or transform people’s perceptions and foster alternative spiritual practices of people beyond Pentecostal spiritual traditions. Through interviews with practitioners and musical and content analysis of prayer chant practices, I aim to argue that prayer chants present new modes of hearing and knowing how people including Pentecostals ‘multitrack’ themselves and the Sacred to facilitate an unconventional spiritual paradigm in Nigeria and Africa.
Presenter Biography
Toyin Samuel Ajose is a Senior Lecturer and former head of the Department of Music at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His research explores the intersections of music, religion/Pentecostalism, popular culture and transnational migration. He is an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the University of Wurzburg, Germany.