The Roots of Telugu Christian Kirtanas

Overview

THE ROOTS OF TELUGU CHRISTIAN KIRTANĀS Bhakti music of India has impacted every religious music genre and made an invasion into every religious tradition including Christianity in India. It is no surprise that the invasion of bhakti music into Christian portals started not less than two centuries ago in the Telugu regions as well as the other regions of South India. The only undisputed argument that bears testimony to the truth is the way rāgās, tālās and bhakti literature were engaged in early Christian music. The early Christian kīrtana composers, who hailed mostly from the bhakti convention, had imported the bhakti genre of singing into Christian worship. As a result, the Carnatic music genre prevails in the liturgical or Church music even to this day. What is praiseworthy is the quality of the early Christian kirtana composers who made their compositions stand equivalent to the compositions of some acclaimed poet-saints of India. This is the crux of the content of this book. The book presents the evolution of Christian kīrtanās from a historical perspective.