El nopal como fuente biocombustible

The next three chapter will present the model that I have adapted from Nattiez (1990) and explore the poietic, immanent and esthesic components of the sounds in their context. The data has been drawn from participant observation at NWC Church over a three-year period, between 2011 - 2014. During this period, I attended the church on a regular basis, participating as a worshipper in Sunday services and attending weekly cell groups. I also attended annual conventions, conferences and was invited to participate in an advisory group to assist the leadership with ideas for growth and development. This long-term commitment and involvement in this community enabled a thorough understanding of the belief and practice not only of the music but I was also able to determine how the music related to other signs in the stratosphere of signs. The experience of engaging with the context, the exposure to the emotion and building social relationships helped me to understand how meaning was communicated through the music, and to discover whether these meanings had implications beyond the theological, social and political concerns of the immediate environment. An assessment of the musical materials, the styles, the provenance of the songs and the story of the music in the church helped me to identify the silences and gaps to assess any significant and contradictory elements.

Ethnographic vignettes were used to describe my participation in the field. I begin by describing the positioning of the church in the landscape, together with a description of the external, internal architectural and visual features. As argued previously, it is

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important to understand the sounds in their context, because we hear in context. This exploration affords an understanding of the sounds in situ which I go on to assess. In the second half of the chapter I explore the esthesic elements, that is the form as it appears to the receivers.

In this chapter, I present the analysis from a single service. The 11.00 am service on a Sunday in 2012 allowed a thorough investigation of the ‘music itself’. This was an ordinary service, insofar as, it was not a special celebration, holiday or convention meeting. It was important to gain a snapshot of what normally takes place. However, it was also necessary to place this in-depth analysis within the context of the whole, and over a six-month period, I taped and documented each Sunday service. Prior to this I had catalogued the songs over a four-week period between May and June 2011. This allowed me to assess whether the findings from the single service were consistent with normal practice.

Secondly, the church’s semiotic internal and external signs provide additional modes for analysis when combined with the musical discourse. It is my contention that an analysis of the sights and sounds of Pentecostalism provide a unique insight into this diverse and distinct mode of belief.

Vignette 1 – West African Pentecostalism in

Woolwich

It is 10.50am on a Sunday morning and Woolwich town centre is bustling with shoppers. I see all types of people hurrying through the thoroughfare. Black, White, Asian, young, old, abled, disabled, male, female - this is pluralistic London showing off the richness of

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its diversities.54 _{As I walk leisurely through the shopping centre, I simultaneously view}

signs of inner city decline, juxtaposed with signs of regeneration. Boarded-up buildings displaying ‘To Let’ signs, as well as signs for ‘new retail opportunities’. I pass a deserted Travelodge Hotel sat nestled amongst the African and Caribbean food shops with their colourful array of green bananas, plantains, oranges and apples on proud display. Poundland, filled with shoppers appears to be competing vigorously with the 99p Store opposite. I pass several Black hairdressers filled with young girls plaiting hair furiously alongside nail bars with East Asian workers; these businesses appear to be thriving amidst the economic gloom. As I walk pass the TK Maxx and the Caribbean take-away, moving away from the hive of intense activity my senses are enlivened by the smells of jerk chicken and the pulsating reggae music. As the shoppers disappear and I approach the end of the thoroughfare, I see a large edifice (Figure 1) emerging in the distance. The cream building contrasts with a brown brick structure (Figure 3) on the other side of the road, but from my vantage point the two buildings appear to be adjacent. The word CATHEDRAL55 _{in white capital letters, flanks the corner of the building, vertically. This}

church, directly opposite NWC, called Christ Faith Tabernacle (CFT) is another large African church, boasting a similarly impressive former Granada cinema on the other side of the road. The two buildings on opposite sides of the Woolwich Ferry roundabout vie for dominance in this inner London landscape, further evidence of the capital assets of

54 _{According to the 2011 census 90 different languages are spoken in Greenwich. Black and Black British} form 19.1% of the population and Asian and Asian British are 11.7%

(http://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/info/200088/statistics_and_census_information/114/population_data/2) 55_{The use of the word ‘cathedral’ for an independent Black church may be viewed as pompous when used} by a group outside of the ecclesiastical mainstream appropriating the semantic trappings of the religious establishment to accrue dominance. However, Theodore Komisarjevsky, who designed the building in the 1930s in style of a cathedral using features of Italian gothic theatre often used for churches, stated that ‘Houses of worship were not intended to be like cold dismal drill halls or mortuaries. They were not meant to depress people. Churches were designed for 'religious shows' which has the same origin as the shows of Secular theatre. The aim of ecclesiastical architecture was to attract people, to offer them not only rows of pews in which to say their prayers but romantic relaxation and artistic pleasure amid surrounds of hope, colourful beauty and harmony’ (http://www.greenwich.co.uk/magazine/10496-woolwich-granada-theatre- powis-street/). CFT, therefore have endeavoured to maintain the building in the spirit of the original intention of the designer, emphasizing the role that Black churches can play in maintaining English Heritage.

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African Christianity in the UK.56 _{African Christianity is alive and thriving in the Royal}

London Borough of Greenwich.