FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–When the written word is not the best way to communicate or even nonexistent in a culture, ethnomusicologists are using “heart music” to tear down walls of misunderstanding and reach people for Christ.
“The heart music of a people is usually the traditional music of that group. It is the music which they have heard and participated in as children and young people,” said Tom Avery, adjunct professor of ethnomusicology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.
“Ethnomusicology can be defined as tapping into the heart music of a people to reach them most effectively with the message of God’s Word in song,” said Avery, who is also international coordinator for ethnomusicology at the Wycliffe Bible Translators Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Singing five times a day during the ceremonial season, the Canela people of northeast Brazil use music extensively to pass down the meaning of being a good Canela from one generation to the next. Avery found tremendous responsiveness when he composed new hymns in the local musical style.
Jack Popjes, a translator for the Canela people, told Avery that one Canela said with tears in his eyes, “You gave us the book in which God speaks to us, but your friend Tom gave us the songs in which we speak to (God).”
Ethnomusicology classes have been offered at Southwestern since 1996, but the study of ethnic music has been around for 100 years, often referred to as comparative musicology.
“The application for missions has been much more recent,” Avery said.
Southwestern offers classes ranging from basic overviews of ethnomusicology issues to composition of non-Western music.
Often serving as catalysts for indigenous creativity, ethnomusicologists teach missionaries about understanding cultural music, conduct hymn writing workshops for local people and, if the songs are ready, record the composers singing their new works. The Wycliffe organization believes that utilizing local poets helps avoid the inherent problems of hymn translation and, as a result, new songs have greater artistic merit and spiritual insight.
An ethnomusicologist will many times create new songs in the tradition of the people with Christian texts that have been provided by a missionary who knows the language. Taking the time to learn about a people group’s culture and music and to compose new melodies for Christian songs in local styles has a great personal impact, creating bonds of friendship with the local people.
“For some reason, expressing ‘I like your music’ is often interpreted as ’I like you,'” Avery explained.
When the Satere, a tribe found in north Brazil, sang foreign hymns that had been translated into their language, they looked at the ground and shuffled their feet.
“When they began singing hymns in Satere style, they sang with such enthusiasm that the jugular veins on their necks stood out,” said Avery.
Using Western music in cross-cultural ministry can cause Christianity to be labeled as a foreign faith. Using a people’s local style to create new songs about the gospel helps these people identify with the message of the song on a personal level.
In cross-cultural ministry, metaphors can lead to misinterpretations. In West Africa, the word “fortress” meant a holding place for slaves before they were sent to Colonial America. The word evokes images of oppression and cruelty. “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” would produce a negative image for most West Africans. In cases like this, ethnomusicologists must find another way to communicate the same truth.
“Ethnomusicologists have long known that, contrary to popular belief, music is not a universal language,” Avery said. “No matter how much a hymn, gospel song or praise song means to me, it will not mean the same thing to a person raised in another culture.”
Literacy can be another problem. Printed Bibles are not an option for people in many cultures because they do not have a written form of their language. Songs are sometimes the best way to teach the people about God.
“For non-literate societies, we are using a medium of communication that is already familiar to them and is not dependent on the people knowing how to read in order to understand and appreciate it,” Avery said.
Link is a newswriter at Southwestern Seminary.
