The festival of world sacred music : recontextualizing religious ritual on the secular stage

Justice, Deborah

Item

The festival of world sacred music : recontextualizing religious ritual on the secular stage

Justice, Deborah

Abstract

"The recontextualization of sacred material in a secular venue raises a number of questions on the nature of physical and conceptual sacred space. Existing outside of religious ritual, the festival transforms the traditional roles of the patrons, performers, and audience. Many of the traditional prostelytizing functions of sacred music are tempered by the tolerant pluralism of cross-confessional festivals. This study is based upon my own fieldwork at the international 2001 Fes Festival of World Sacred Music and the regional 2001 Tidewater Gospel Festival, an event which provides an excellent case study of the recontextualization of sacred music in the modern festival setting"--Author abstract.