Gustavo H. P. Moura - World Kirtan: Music and Spirituality in a Transcultural Whirlpool

World Kirtan: Music and Spirituality in a Transcultural Whirlpool Gustavo
Gustavo H. P. Moura - Wilfrid Laurier University
Kirtan (Sanskrit: कीत$न; IAST: Kīrtana) is a broad term referring to the practice of singing mantras, scriptural passages, and devotional songs as commonly done in South Asia. It is a core practice in the Hindu and Sikh traditions that is becoming increasingly popular around the world among people of all ethnicities. Beyond its expected propagation within Hindu and Sikh diasporas, kirtan is also spreading among members of new religious movements such as ISKCON and the 3HO/Sikh Dharma, who engage with mantras daily. Even more broadly, kirtan has been gaining popularity in the Yoga and New Age communities, with several kirtan artists nominated for the Grammy awards over the years. Moreover, in the wake of the mindfulness and yoga movements, there is an emerging engagement of kirtan singers with public healthcare and correctional institutions. Thus, we can say that kirtan is developing as a transnational and transcultural phenomenon. Indeed, the broader cultural implications and deepening social penetration that this practice has achieved over the past five decades suggests that it is attaining permanent status in the world’s religious soundscape. This research explores the practice of kirtan as it has been re-created outside of India through multisided interactions that generate new cultural patterns in an ongoing process of crosspollination. Approaching mantras as a type of ‘technology of the self’, this project addresses the questions of how kirtan is adopted and adapted by contemporary practitioners and how this practice has been shaping identities, communities, and traditions. There seems to be a convergence of various groups around the performance of kirtan, despite their differences in terms of doctrine and authority. The popularization of the practice makes it accessible to many, but also presents risks of trivialization and alienation from its traditional roots. Above all, the centrality of kirtan for multiple religious communities now present around the globe invites scholars of religion to investigate its relevance as spiritual practice and its role in community formation.
Keywords: mantra, kirtan, yoga, bhakti, music, new religious movements, transculturation.