Yogic Traditions and Sacred Sound Practices in the United States

Yogic Traditions and Sacred Sound Practices in the United States: 

A Symposium of Scholarly Presentations and an Evening Concert of Indian Music and Kirtan

Friday, April 6, 2018

Detail from Vasant Ragini folio from a Ragamala Series (Garland of Musical Modes).
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Co-sponsored by the Boston University Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology and the BU Center for the Study of Asia, with key support from the BU Center for the Humanities and the BU Arts Initiative.

The all-day symposium will take place at
BU Photonics Center (8 St. Mary’s St., Boston) 9th floor 8:30 am to 5:30 pm

and the evening performances of Indian vocal music on yogic themes
and a range of kirtan chants will take place in
Marsh Chapel (735 Commonwealth Ave., Boston) at Boston University, 8-10 pm

“Yogic Traditions and Sacred Sound Practices in the United States” 

Organized by Dr. Brita Renée Heimarck (BU Dept. of Musicology and Ethnomusicology)

From Sanskrit treatises to yogic investigations of sound, ethnographic studies and experimental composers, this symposium will investigate a broad range of yogic philosophies of sound and sacred sound practices that represent various traditions across the United States. Several presentations will also trace the historical roots of these practices in Indian philosophical and Sanskrit literature.

The afternoon will include a Nada yoga workshop by Igor Iwanek, and a keynote lecture by renowned scholar Guy Beck, author of Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound (1993), Sonic Liturgy: Ritual and Music in Hindu Tradition (2012), and author in and editor of Sacred Sound: Experiencing Music in World Religions (2006).

The all-day symposium will take place on the 9th floor of the Photonics Center at Boston University (8 St. Mary’s St., Boston), on April 6, 2018, from 8:30 am-5:30 pm, and the evening concert of Indian vocal music on yogic themes and a range of kirtan chants will take place in Marsh Chapel (735 Commonwealth Ave., Boston) at Boston University, 8-10 pm, April 6, 2018. These events are free and open to the public. Guest artists include Guy Beck on vocals, Igor Iwanek on harmonium, Jerry Leake on tabla, and Jake Slesnick on mridangam.

Organized by Dr. Brita Heimarck with co-sponsorship by the BU Center for the Study of Asia (Catherine Yeh, Robert Murowchick, and Wen-Hao Tien), and the BU Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology (Dr. Victor Coelho, Chair).

Symposium Themes
The symposium will explore sacred sound practices in the ancient and contemporary liminal space between music and religion, spiritual practices and beliefs, and theologies of sound. An interdisciplinary group of scholars representing disciplines from ethnomusicology and anthropology to religious studies, Sanskrit, and theology, will give research presentations on the sacred sound or music practices of Vedic chanting, the history and philosophy of yoga as well as musical theologies of the Tantras, and diverse yoga traditions currently practiced in the U.S.

The symposium will cover several main topics. The presentations will begin with the historical and literary lineages of Indian yogic traditions currently practiced in the U.S., including a substantial section on Indian sound concepts, early music treatises, and the history and philosophy of yoga. The remainder of the presentations will delineate diverse ethnographic traditions practiced in the U.S. that draw upon Indian yogic thought and sacred music practices. These presentations may touch upon the sacred sound practices of Siddha yoga, Nada yoga, Hatha yoga, American musical experimentalism, and adaptations of kirtan or sacred chanting in many different forms. Several of these presentations will draw upon the ethnomusicological and anthropological methodology of in-depth interviews to investigate peoples’ experiences of diverse sound practices and the meanings individuals and culture groups ascribe to these practices.

Symposium Schedule (BU Photonics Center, 9th Floor)

8-8:30 am: Morning Coffee and Pastries

Panel 1: History of Yogic Thought, Mantra, and South Asian Theologies of Sacred Sound

8:30-9 am: Dr. Finnian M. M. Gerety (Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University; Ph.D. in South Asian Studies, Harvard University), “In Search of ‘Union’: Vedic OM and the Roots of Mantra Meditation in Yogic Traditions.”

9-9:30 am: Dr. Ben Williams (Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Yoga Studies, Naropa University; Ph.D. in South Asia Studies, Harvard University; M.T.S. in Hindu Studies, Harvard Divinity School), “Nāda in Early Saiva Tantras and Treatises on Music.”

9:30-10 am: Seth Powell (Ph.D. Candidate, South Asian Religions, Harvard University) “Yogic Concentration on the Inner Sounds: Nadanusandhana in Hathayoga Literature.”

10-10:15 am: Break

Panel 2: Technologies and Archaeologies of the Sacred and the Sacred Sound Practices of Devotional Communities in the U.S.

10:15-10:45 am: Dr. Angela Rudert (Lecturer in Religious Studies, Dept. of Philosophy and Religion, Ithaca College; Ph.D., Religion and South Asian Studies, Syracuse University), “Sacred Sound in Gurumaa’s Devotional Circle.”

10:45-11:15 am: Dr. Brita Heimarck (Associate Professor, Boston University; Ph.D. in Music/ Ethnomusicology, Cornell University), “Sacred Archaeologies of Sound.”

11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Lunch Break (on your own)

Panel 3: American Experiments with Tantric Breathing, Bhakti Yoga, and Self-Research

12:30-1:00 pm: Dr. Kerry O’Brien (Lecturer, Yale University; Ph.D., Indiana University), “Shyam Bhatnagar, Musical Experimentalism, and the Self-Research Institute.”

1:00-1:30 pm: Dr. Eben Graves (Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer in Music, Dept. of Music, Columbia University; Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, UT Austin), “Yukta Vairagya or Yogic Renunciation in New York Krishna-Core.”

1:30-2:00 pm: Christopher Miller (MA in Comparative Theology, Loyola Marymount University, and Ph.D. candidate in Religious Studies, UC Davis), “Paramahansa Yogananda and the Hinduization of Protestant Devotional Singing.”

2:00-2:15: Break

Kirtan Roundtable: American Adaptations of Kirtan and the Question of Race

2:15-2:30 pm: Karen Hefford (MA Theology student, Regent College, Vancouver B.C.), “American Individualism and Post-Secular Strategies Evident in Kirtan Practices of the Pacific Northwest.”

2:30-2:45 pm: Megan Murph (Ph.D. Candidate in Musicology/Ethnomusicology, University of Kentucky), “Sonic Explorations in the Yoga Studios of Lexington, Kentucky.”

2:45-3:00 pm: Dr. Meghan Hynson (Visiting Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology, Duquesne University; Ph.D. UCLA), “Modern Musical Expressions of Bhakti: The Kirtan Rabbi and the Changing Kirtan Culture of Los Angeles.”

3:00-3:15 pm: Margaret Rowley (Ph.D. student in Ethnomusicology, Boston University), “There’s Only One God, and We’re It: Kirtan and the Racial Imaginary.”

3:15-3:25 pm: Dr. André de Quadros (Professor of Music, Boston University), Chair and Discussant

3:25-3:45 pm: Open discussion

3:45-4:00 pm: Break

4:00-4:30 pm: Nada Yoga Workshop  Dr. Igor Iwanek (D.M.A. in Composition and Theory, Boston University), “Nada Yoga (Yoga of Sound): the Practice of Sacred Sound and Vibration, its Philosophy and its Modern Application.”

4:30-5:30 pm: Keynote Speaker: Dr. Guy Beck (Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellow in India 2010 and 2016; Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies 2001; Lecturer in Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Asian Studies, Tulane University; M.A. Musicology, Ph.D., Religion, South Asia, Syracuse University) “Understanding Indian Sacred Sound Concepts and Liturgical, Musical, or Ritual Practices in the American Context.”

5:30-8:00 pm: Dinner break (on your own)

8:00-10:00 pm: “Practitioner Pandits” Performances and “Kirtan Extravaganza”
 in Marsh Chapel, 735 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston University

Shuchita Rao, Sanskrit Invocation and Hindi Prayer; Guy Beck, Indian Vocal Music on Yoga Themes; Igor Iwanek (ragas on harmonium), André de Quadros (Sufi songs), Brita Heimarck and Paul Coggins (namasankirtana), with Guest Artists: Shyam Nepali on sarangi (bowed lute of Nepal), Shiva Ramakrishnan on bansuri (Indian flute), Vikaasa Ramdas on Indian mandolin, Jerry Leake on tabla, Jake Slesnick on mridangam, and many wonderful singers contributing to this event.