Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Ethiopian and Eritrean Evangelical Diaspora of Montreal

The Ethiopian and Eritrean Evangelical Diaspora of Montreal The Ammanuel Montreal Evangelical Church ( AMEC ) is composed of over 150 members of Ethiopian and Eritrean origin. Through the examination of their musical practices, this article analyzes how music is involved in the construction and expression of religious identities in the context of migration. It appears that in borrowing worship music widespread in Ethiopia and in its diaspora, the faithful highlight the “Ethiopianness” of the group, at the expense of the minority Eritrean identity. The author then reveals that each musical parameter conveys different identity facets. If the universality of the Gospel message is expressed through dance and lyrics, the repertoire and its instrumentarium convey the “Ethiopianness” of the congregation, while the rhythms refer to a multi-ethnic Ethiopian imaginary. As for the local identity (Montreal) of the congregation, it is represented by the combination of several hymns borrowed from the stars of Ethiopian Gospel music. Finally, the paper highlights some musical ambivalences of the faithful who, in the context of migration, feel torn between several cultures. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png African Diaspora Brill

The Ethiopian and Eritrean Evangelical Diaspora of Montreal

Ferran, Hugo
African Diaspora , Volume 8 (1): 76 – Jan 1, 2015
Download PDF
22 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/the-ethiopian-and-eritrean-evangelical-diaspora-of-montreal-elnllL0qMt

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
ISSN
1872-5457
eISSN
1872-5465
DOI
10.1163/18725465-00801004
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The Ammanuel Montreal Evangelical Church ( AMEC ) is composed of over 150 members of Ethiopian and Eritrean origin. Through the examination of their musical practices, this article analyzes how music is involved in the construction and expression of religious identities in the context of migration. It appears that in borrowing worship music widespread in Ethiopia and in its diaspora, the faithful highlight the “Ethiopianness” of the group, at the expense of the minority Eritrean identity. The author then reveals that each musical parameter conveys different identity facets. If the universality of the Gospel message is expressed through dance and lyrics, the repertoire and its instrumentarium convey the “Ethiopianness” of the congregation, while the rhythms refer to a multi-ethnic Ethiopian imaginary. As for the local identity (Montreal) of the congregation, it is represented by the combination of several hymns borrowed from the stars of Ethiopian Gospel music. Finally, the paper highlights some musical ambivalences of the faithful who, in the context of migration, feel torn between several cultures.

Journal

African Diaspora – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2015

Keywords: gospel music; Ethio-Eritrean diaspora; Montreal; identity; ambivalence

There are no references for this article.