The sense of the maintenance of the musical traditions of the past grants a secure feeling of continuity to those who gather at the khawhar in. In responding to the question of this thesis, it can be argued that khawhar zai has remained the repertoire of choice at times of death in part because of its ability to evoke a habitus that mobilises its participants towards an imagined past. The musical reference points discussed in this chapter that are part of this culturally-learned collective imagination resemble what has often been found in spontaneous laments (Wickett) and even songs of longing among diasporic communities (Shelemay). For example, Shelemay has referred to the ability of music to access an XQFRQVFLRXV VKDUHG µEDQN RI PHPRULHV¶ DERXW WKH SDVW ,Q 0L]RUDP WKLV EDQN RI PHPRULHV LQFOXGHV QRW RQO\ WKH µWUDGLWLRQDO FRVPRORJ\¶ KLJKOLJKWHG LQ FKDSWHU two, but also the practice of domestic community singing of familiar tunes with a drum and song-leader on a variety of occasions. The Mizo case certainly affirms the possibility of applying studies of nostalgia in diasporic communities to non-diasporic commuQLWLHV ZKR KDYH EHHQ µGLVSODFHG¶ LQ RWKHU ZD\V VXFK DV WKURXJK WKH introduction of a new religion or knowledge system. Future studies of cases of non-geographical displacement would benefit from approaching such literature. Of the Mizo context, Margaret Zama says:194
So lêngkhâwm zai fulfils an urge, a nostalgia or whatever, a fusion of the past and the SUHVHQW ,W¶V D FRQWLQXDWLRQ DQG \HW RI WKH SUHVHQW EHFDXVH \RXU ZRUOGYLHZ \RXU EHOLHI system has changed, you have now stepped and accepted a new kind of belief system, not too different from the past.
Part three of this thesis will examine how khawhar zai HPEUDFHGWKLVµQHZNLQGRIEHOLHIV\VWHP¶ but these two chapters belonging to part two have established its historical and musical associations with the past. Through its vocal style, melodic and rhythmic composition and zaikhâwm setting, it is highly suited to bringing about a shared nostalgia and retrospective longing for the past. This is further enhanced by the poetic language of the texts as discussed in chapter two and the association of the songs with poets and places that have a shared heritage with the older Mizo songs. This was particularly apparent in the study of the life of Patea, who was personally acquainted with the traditional attitudes and values that formed the basis for hope before Christianity, and who belonged to the geographical region most often associated with the Mizo imagination of the past.
194 26 March 2014.
The poetry gazes back to an imagined utopia and the musical style is compared not with authentic examples of older singing, which have not survived in any documented form, but with their modern renditions E\UHVSHFWHGµFXUDWRUV¶RIWKHFXOWXUHVXFKDV3&7KDQJYXQJD. It is, in fact, worthwhile to acknowledge the limitations of these renditions since they provide an accurate record of the way in which modern practitioners of khawhar zai imagine and recall the older songs. These factors contribute to the efficacy of khawhar zai in promoting an imaginative nostalgia according to %R\P¶V theory (2001) that can inspire hope for the future well-suited to the evangelical hope for heaven that will be the focus of part three. Furthermore, while the exploration of poetic terms of loss and nostalgia in chapter two was reminiscent of the earlier anthropological attempt of Maschio (1994), specific musical features have been identified that are associated with past musical traditions, particularly songs associated with loss and lamentation. Therefore, by analysing both the musical features and the text, the two chapters have contributed to existing anthropological studies about poetics of nostalgia by highlighting possible musical manifestations.
PART 3
GAZING TOWARDS HEAVEN:THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
KHAWHAR ZAI AND EVANGELICALISM
Chanteii and her friends had accompanied me to the khawhar in in their locality, Champhai Vengsang. They were students at the college where my host was a lecturer. This was the first time I had attended a khawhar in, so I was keenly absorbed in listening, watching and softly singing along. Suddenly, I was surprised to hear someone request the song µ1L7OD1JDL/R=LRQ.KDZSXL¶ The drummer proceeded to lead this song, bellowing out the first words and giving the initial beats before everyone else joined in.
Now this was a song I knew! Two years earlier my friend, the gospel singer Michael V.L. Rema, had invited me to play piano in a recording and music video of this song. My mind flashed back to memories of the experience, which had been entirely new to me. I remembered Michael telling me that it was normally a funeral song and that he would dedicate our performance to his sister who had recently passed away. I remembered another gospel singer complimenting me on my piano style, which had RIIHUHGDUHIUHVKLQJFRQWUDVWIURPWKHVRQJ¶VXVual funereal setting. At the time, I had no idea that I had offered any such innovation! However, I also remembered finding out more about the origins of the song and discovering that it had been composed by a Hmar evangelist Lianrûma, who had been excluded from preaching in a village.
With all these memories filling my mind, I was finally able to sing confidently as part of the gathered community. Chanteii stopped, and asked me with surprise whether I already knew this song? I mumbled that I did, and explained why. As we sang on, I gained a better understanding of this song that I thought I already knew. The yearning melody, consisting of repeated falling thirds that had once seemed repetitive, now expressed our deepest longing for heaven. The awkwardness of some of the lines, which had additional beats, did not seem to faze the gathered singers, who navigated the melody in unison where I had once become frustrated at the piano. The piano style for which I had been praised now seemed all the more incongruous, and I began to learn where this song of evangelical hope really belonged: in the house of bereavement, sung to the accompaniment of the drum.
µ1Ltla ngai lo, Zion khawpui¶ (K11) is a song that is well-suited to a discussion of the evangelical origins of khawhar zai and the influence that the missionaries had upon the repertoire by bringing Christianity and a new understanding of hope to the Mizo people. It will therefore form the primary case study of this section, although it will also draw from other songs in which the hope of evangelicalism is perhaps more prominent than the nostalgic hope of past Mizo generations that was examined in the previous section.
This part, comprising two chapters, will examine how khawhar zai looks forward to heaven, expressing an evangelical hope suited to its emergence from the encounter with missionaries and a series of revivals. Through this musical study, it will be shown that khawhar zai can enrich an understanding of evangelicalism as a whole, particularly the evangelicalism that characterised British non-conformist Christianity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It will especially highlight how the use of music by evangelical Christians of this time could effectively express doubts and uncertainty that other studies of evangelicalism rarely acknowledge. As such, this part aims to offer a re-evaluation of evangelical hope, often associated with exuberant optimism as manifested in millennialism, by finding greater nuance in the hope expressed through song.
It is first important to consider what is meant by evangelicalism when referring to British missions of the early twentieth century. The extensive work of David Bebbington on the subject of Victorian evangelical religion offers an unparalleled scope, represented primarily in Evangelicalism in Modern Britain (2003 [1989]) but also in smaller introductory works such as The Nonconformist Conscience (1982), Victorian Nonconformity (1992) and Holiness in Nineteenth-Century England (2000). Despite the many variations in theology and biblical interpretation that have been aligned to evangelicalism, he provides four areas of common ground for all evangelicals. Briefly, these are conversionism, activism, biblicism and crucicentrism (1993: 3). This four-part definition of evangelicalism has continued to inform subsequent studies on the subject and will form some of the structural basis of the following chapter. These are the terms and vocabularies of evangelical Christianity that will also be useful in expressing the intellectual aspect of its hope, as understood within MacquaUULH¶VIUDPHZRUNVLQWURGXFHG in chapter two.
Conversionism is defined as justification by faith received by God and not achieved through human effort. Whereas followers of Wesley (now generally known as Methodists) believed that assurance of
WKLVVSLULWXDOFRQGLWLRQZDVDWWDLQDEOHLQRQH¶VOLIHWLPHRQO\WKURXJKVRPHHIIRUW%DSWLVWVWHQGHGWR expect conversion to involve a moment of crisis rather than a gradual process. Whatever its specific interpretation, they shared a positive confidence in the emotional reality of their hope for justification. Activism is the compulsion to see others converted, resulting in prioritising zealous work over private devotion (Ibid: 7KHµPLVVLRQDU\]HDO¶RIWhe era drew Baptists such as Lorrain and Savidge away from the routes of theological study and ordained ministry, and directly into the foreign mission field. This epitomises the volitional aspect of an attitude of hope that the world could be converted. Biblicism HPSKDVLVHVWKHµ:RUG¶ VSHFLILFDOO\WKH%LEOHDVWKHRQO\WUXHVRXUFHRI*RG¶VUHYHODWLRQWRKXPDQLW\ as opposed to other forms of institutional or sacramental revelation (Ibid: 13). It provided the only trusted source of intellectual and cognitive wisdom on which to base their hope. The belief in the LQIDOOLELOLW\RI*RG¶VZRUGUHPDLQHGRSHQWRGLIIHUHQWLQWHUSUHWDWLRQV WKH%DSWLVWchurch in particular emphasised the importance of individuals drawing their own conclusions from personal study of the Bible, rather than teaching doctrinal catechisms of approved belief. Finally, crucicentrism, related to WKH VRWHULRORJLFDO GRFWULQH RIDWRQHPHQW EDVHGDOO&KULVWLDQEHOLHIRQWKH IDFWRI-HVXV¶ FUXFLIL[LRQ :HVOH\ZURWHWKDWLWZDVµWKHGLVWLQJXLVKLQg point EHWZHHQGHLVPDQG&KULVWLDQLW\¶195 since it could not be found to be the intellectual basis of any other religion.
These four aspects provide a strong foundation on which to base any study of an evangelical tradition, yet when applied to a musical context it is important to inquire whether there are aspects of the evangelical experience that are not adequately contained within these frameworks. They are valuable in describing and analyzing the doctrine as imparted through the body of evangelical sermons and scholarly literature that has survived and is still encountered today, but they can also seem remote from the experiences of evangelical Christians. On one hand, there is the inevitable doubt and uncertainty that accompanies faith that has led many to describe UHOLJLRQ DV SDUW RI WKH µSXUVXLW RI FHUWDLQW\¶ characteristic of all human life. On the other hand, the absolutist certainty or exuberant optimism most clearly manifest in millennialist movements represents the other extreme of evangelical experience. Neither of these are well accounted for LQ%HEELQJWRQ¶VIUDPHZRUNVDQGKLVZRUNDOVRODFNVGHWDLOHG attention to the importance of evangelical worship practices, including music, in either reinforcing or interrogating the four-point evangelical structure which he has delineated.
The following two chapters will therefore VHHNWRDGGUHVVWKHVHDSSDUHQWJDSVLQ%HEELQJWRQ¶VVWUXFWXUH by offering the emergence of khawhar zai in Mizoram as a suitable case study. In turn, it will also be able to illuminate the way in which khawhar zai has been able to encourage its participants to gaze towards the heaven of Christianity in conjunction with the retrospective gaze highlighted in the previous part. Indeed, although the title of this part suggests an evangHOLFDOµJD]HWRZDUGVKHDYHQ¶ the chapters also emphasise that evangelical hope contains an important retrospective aspect that complements the findings of the previous part.
One of the key contributors to the study of evangelical music is Stephen Marini. Perhaps his best-known book is Sacred Song in America (2003), which has a vast scope in accounting for the vocal music of multiple religious and ethnic groups throughout the history of North America. He offers a definition of sacred song that fuses Augustinian theology with anthropological terms, as songs that FRQWDLQµVDFUHG LQWHQWLRQDOLW\¶UHJDUGLQJUHOLJLRXVEHOLHIDQGSDUWLFLSDWHLQµULWXDODFWLRQ¶ ,QWKHRQHFKDSWHU that the book contains about evangelical hymnody, he makes the case that will be made here that the LQTXLULQJQDWXUHRIK\PQVµDFFRXQWIRUWKHLUFRQWURYHUVLDOQDWXUHDVZHOODVWKHLUSHUHQQLDOSRSXODULW\¶ since they represent the living belief of the church members (Ibid: 184). He gives greater attention to this subject in the arWLFOHµ(DUO\(YDQJHOLFDO+\PQVDQGWKH5HFRYHU\RI$PHULFDQ3RSXODU5HOLJLRQ¶ (2002). Here he is among the first to challenge the assumption that evangelical music represents a direct reflection of evangelical belief or doctrine in song.
Music and theology (a field increasingly referred to as music theology) have begun to form a powerful voice in the context of western Christian music, with a focus on classical and liturgical styles, but have rarely ventured into either evangelical or non-western Christian contexts. However, one leader in the field, Don Saliers, offers in Music and Theology (2007) arguments that have wider applications. Writing in general terms, he says, µWhe musical idiom conveys a great deal about the way the community conceives of God. AFRXVWLFLPDJHVUHIOHFWWKHRORJLFDOLPDJLQDWLRQDWZRUN¶ Ibid: 28). His position highlights the role music can have in voicing the theological imagination and discourse of the µFRPPXQLW\¶UDWKHUWKDQWKHWUDGLWLRQWRZKLFKWKH\EHORQJHe has even put his theoretical perspective into practice through his book A Song to Sing, A Life to Live (2005) in which he collaborates with his daughter in exploring the way in which their musical experiences have shaped their faith over the course
of their life. To him, mXVLFKDVWKHSRWHQWLDOIRUDUWLFXODWLQJDµOD\¶WKHRORJ\WKDWFDQRIWHQEULQJWROLJKW some of the difficulties that exist in the institutionalised doctrinal frameworks.
-HUHP\%HJELHKDVDOVRKLJKOLJKWHGWKHXVHRIWKHDUWVE\µOD\¶&KULVWLDQVDVDQHIIHctive medium for articulating their theology. In his introduction to the volume Sounding the Depths (2002), he defines WKHRORJ\ DV µ&KULVWLDQ IDLWK VHHNLQJ GHHSHU ZLVGRP¶ ,ELG ). He UHFRJQLVHV WKDW IRU µOD\¶ SHRSOH (though he hesitates to use the term), WKHDUWVRIIHUµYHKLFOHVRIGLVFRYHU\¶LQWKHSXUVXLWRIWKDWGHHSHU wisdom which in this thesis is associated with the wider concept of the pursuit of knowledge. To Begbie, it is the creativity involved in the arts that can represent a theological activity. Such activity is often UHIHUUHGWRDVµSUD[LV¶ the act of µGRLQJ¶WKHRORJ\+RZHYHUWKLVLQYROYHV more than just a Lutheran communication of theology through music that could be equally achieved verbally. Music not only proclaims but also offers humans an opportunity to explore theological possibilities and uncertainties creatively.
This is true not only of music but of other creative forms of discourse such as poetry. The influential Baptist theologian Paul Fiddes has approached this subject in the book The Promised End, exploring the theological implications of a sample of popular literary works. Writing in a non-musical setting, )LGGHVKLJKOLJKWVWKHµFORVXUH¶RIGRFWULQDOPHWDSKRUZKLFKDLPVDWFODULW\DQGFHUWDLQW\ +H goes on to contrast this with the poetic and literary metaphor, which contains an inherent openness. Even when expressing Christian hope, it aims not at certainty but at a multiplicity of meaning, an acknowledgement of doubt and the reality of personal experience (Ibid.). In the light of his study, the IROORZLQJFKDSWHUZLOOGUDZDWWHQWLRQWRWKHµRSHQQHVV¶RISRHWLFPHWDSKRUIRXQGHYHQLQWKHHYDQJHOLFDO aspects of khawhar zai.
Among ethnomusicologists, Gregory Barz offers a rare and exemplary book-length study (2003) of how Tanzanian choirs (kwaya DUH HQJDJHG LQ WKH µQHJRWLDWLRQ¶ RI SDVW DQG SUHVHQW LQ WKHLU PXVLFDO performances. He touches upon familiar themes of the interaction between different musical traditions during the colonial and missionary period, but recognises that this also has deeper religious implications. He deliberately distances his study from a syncretic model and instead turns to the necessary agency of the Tanzanian practitioners in experimenting, µPL[LQJDQGWZLVWLQJ¶ to make the music their own (Ibid: 32) +RZHYHU KH XOWLPDWHO\ LQWURGXFHV WKH WKHPH RI µFRQVFLRXVQHVV¶ DV WKH fundamental driving force in such processes. Through the musical changes that have taken and continue
to take place, Barz views the musicians as engaging in the activity of continually searching for and articulating their consciousness as Christian Tanzanians both as individuals and as a community. The early experiences of the western encounter that Barz narrates resonate strongly with the Mizo context, although the contemporary situation is rather different. His theoretical models of agency and consciousness will therefore be appropriate in the ensuing exploration of how Mizo composers and singers responded to the evangelical musical tradition that they encountered. Despite the bRRN¶V SXEOLFDWLRQ ZLWKLQ D VHULHV HQWLWOHG µ&KXUFK DQG 7KHRORJ\ LQ &RQWH[W¶ Barz does not explore the theological aspects of the encounter in any great depth, and it is in this one weakness that the present study will seek to contribute a framework that can influence future studies of similar missionary contexts.
0LFKDHO0F1DOO\¶VH[WHQVLYHUHVHDUFKDPRQJWKHnative American Ojibwe people offers a comparable situation. In one of his articles, he describes the similar practice of singing Christian hymns in their funeral context (2000a: 842):
The hymn repertory became associated with certain occasions, especially funeral wakes and evening prayer meetings, held nearly every night in reservation villages. Hymns were sung slowly, like laments, more the chanting of syllables really than the conveying of the discursive meanings of the texts themselves... Ojibwe hymn-singing took on new VLJQLILFDQFH ZKLOH EHFRPLQJ LQFUHDVLQJO\ µWUDGLWLRQDO¶ DV D mourning practice, even for those who did not identify as Christian.
The resonances with the Mizo context are striking, yet like Barz, the study lacks consideration of the theological perspective of the missionaries and early Christians, while its historical focus obscures the specific musical characteristics.
Zoe Sherinian has studied similar musical processes among Tamil Christians, though her work targets the caste context in South India which is not present in Mizoram. Taking up the theoretical model of