Choral Voices: Ethnographic Imaginations of Sound and Sacrality is about sacred and secular choirs in Goa and Shillong across churches, seminaries, schools, auditoriums, classrooms, reality TV shows, and festivals. Voice and genre emerge as social objects annotated by tradition, nostalgia, and innovation. Piety literally and metaphorically shapes the Christian lifeworld, predominantly those belonging to the Presbyterian and Catholic denominations. Indigeneity structures the political and cultural motifs in the making of the Christian musical traditions. Located at the intersection of Sociology, Anthropology, and Ethnomusicology, the choral voices emplace 'affect' and the visual-aural dispatch. Thus, sonic spectrum holds space for indigenous and global musicality.This ethnographic work will be useful for scholars researching music and sound studies, religious studies, cultural anthropology, and sociology of India.

ListofIllustrationsPrologue: Warming Up1 Introduction: Choral beginnings: Inside the chapel and a home studio1.1 A biography of community- delineating the Sacred and the Heritage1.2 Establishing a musical cadence1.3 Framing choral music within Christian landscapes1.4 Aural Intentions: Summary of chapters2 Making of the Indigenous2.1 Interrogating the Indigenous2.2 Emplacing the Indigenous2.3 Understanding Indigeneity, Inculturality and Decoloniality2.4 Music and Decoloniality2.5 Exploring the relationship between Indigeneity and Sacrality2.6 Indigenous Possibilities in curricula and performance: Field narratives2.7 Towards Sonic Interculturality3 From Loft to the Recording Studio: Shillong Diaries3.1 What brings you to Shillong? Introduction3.2 Cusp of Sacrality, new Technologies and Creative Processes3.3 Choral Voices as ethnographic objects3.4 Short Historical Snippets about Christianity and Musicality in Khasi and Lushai Hills3.5 Discussing Genre, Intertextuality and Territorialisation3.6 Shillong Chamber Choir3.7 Repertoire- Medleys/Crossovers3.8 Beyond performance3.9 Aroha Choir3.10 Conclusion4 The Language of Music: Notes from a Goan Seminary4.1 Inhabiting the Seminary4.2 Outlining Goan Sacred Music4.3 A brief history of music and language in Goa4.4 Entering the field site4.5 Rachol Seminary4.6 Introducing the seminarians4.7 Syncretic musical experimentations in Goan Sacred music4.8 Goan Sacred music- Motets4.9 Conclusion5 Mapping Choral Voices: Role of People and Places5.1 Introduction5.2 Hierarchization of voices5.3 Indigeneity and Christian Music Tradition5.4 Music Performance5.5 Conclusion6 Tutti: Concluding Section6.1 The Musical Clef Notating Certainty- Uncertainty6.2 Positing the Vocal PhrasingAcknowledgmentsBibliographyGlossaryAppendixDocumentary - Da CapoIndex