Selina Thielemann
Showing all 6 books
This volume presents a selection of lectures and essays on the theme of music in the Hindu tradition, with special emphasis on song as a mode of worship in Vaisnava bhakti. Beginning with two general expositions to introduce the reader into the topic of music in the Indian religious matrix, the thematic focus then turns towards the practice of devotional music in Vraja, one of India's foremost pilgrimage centers. Aspects considered in this context include musical ...
Music is generally known and perceived as a phenomenon of sound, as a well-arranged construction of organized sounds created so as to appeal to the aesthetic consciousness of man. The sounding artefact, however, is but the outer body of the musical reality. And this outer cover would be utterly useless and dead if it were not indwelled by a living soul, by the driving energetic force which enlivens the sounding structure and fills it with sweetness – with the ...
The region of Vraja, centered on the temple towns of Vrindaban and Mathura in Northwestern Uttar Pradesh, is one of India’s foremost pilgrimage centers. As the location of the legendary spots associated with the childhood games and pastimes of Lord Krsna, Vraja developed into a stronghold of Vaisnava bhakti which is naturally rich of musical traditions. The bhakti religion emphasizes the emotional relationship between man and God, which is achieved and ...
The Bauls of Bengal, widely known for their music which constitutes an important tool on the path of self-realization, can be regarded as the representatives of the religion of man—of the religion of humanity whose highest divinity is the human being. Baul philosophy embraces the positive streams of numerous faiths and philosophies, recognizing the ultimate unity of the Supreme Being whose eternal abode rests within man, at the core of the human heart. The ...
Art is the immediate manifestation of the human creative quest which, on its part, constitutes the aesthetic expression of spiritual thinking-the response of the beautiful to man’s intrinsic affinity towards the all-pervading energy of bliss whose subtle rays illuminate the universe in its every corner. It is more than a mere chance that the arts, at all times and in all parts of the world, emerged in close association with their surrounding streams of faith. ...
This is the second and more complete book published inEnglish about dhrupad, the oldest genre of North Indian classicalvocal music, and the first comprehensive account ofdhrupad in the DarbhangÈ tradition, which has been preservedup to this day by the family of Pt. Vidur Mallik. Contains researchpapers, interviews, music diagrams and tables, transcriptionsof traditional and modern dhrupad compositions,glossary, bibliography, discography and colour photographs.An ...