Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations Between Music and PossessionRitual trance has always been closely associated with music—but why, and how? Gilbert Rouget offers and extended analysis of music and trance, concluding that no universal law can explain the relations between music and trance; they vary greatly and depend on the system of meaning of their cultural context. Rouget rigorously examines a worldwide corpus of data from ethnographic literature, but he also draws on the Bible, his own fieldwork in West Africa, and the writings of Plato, Ghazzali, and Rousseau. To organize this immense store of information, he develops a typology of trance based on symbolism and external manifestations. He outlines the fundamental distinctions between trance and ecstasy, shamanism and spirit possession, and communal and emotional trance. Music is analyzed in terms of performers, practices, instruments, and associations with dance. Each kind of trance draws strength from music in different ways at different points in a ritual, Rouget concludes. In possession trance, music induces the adept to identify himself with his deity and allows him to express this identification through dance. Forcefully rejecting pseudo-science and reductionism, Rouget demystifies the so-called theory of the neurophysiological effects of drumming on trance. He concludes that music's physiological and emotional effects are inseparable from patterns of collective representations and behavior, and that music and trance are linked in as many ways as there are cultural structures. |
Common terms and phrases
accompanied adepts Arabs aspect aulos Bastide behavior Benin bori Bushmen candomblé ceremony chants chapter Claude Le Jeune context contrary Corybantes Cossard crisis Dahomey dance dancers dealing described dhikr Dionysus divinity Dorian drum ecstasy emotional entry into trance example exorcism fact frenzy Ghazzali go into trance gods Greeks ibid important inducing trance initiation initiatory interpretation involved Jeanmaire later Leiris lyre madness mania manifest means melody Mevlevi mottoes movement music and trance musicians ndöp novices observed orisha particular Phrygian mode Plato played Pontus de Tyard posses possessed person possession cults possession music possession trance practice priest reference relations between music religious rhythm rhythmic ritual role Sakpata samā séance seen shaman singing sion sometimes songs soul sound speak spirit Sufi Sufism sung tarab tarantism tarantula telestic term theory tion translation triggering trance tune Tungus Verger vodun vodun cult wajd Wolof words writes Zempléni