The composer Sir James MacMillan has called music ‘the most spiritual of the arts’, and for many people, both religious and non-religious alike, this rings true.1 But what do people mean by ‘music’ and ‘spiritual’ in this context, and what is the nature of their perceived relationship? Do certain kinds of music more readily afford spiritual experiences than others? What …
The present volume is a collection of essays aiming to shed new light on different aspects of the role of religion in Bob Dylan’s artistic output. The eight authors are all from Scandinavia, seven from Norway and one from Denmark. Norwegian Dylan-scholars will always remember when Dylan, at a concert in Oslo in 1998, compared Norway to where he grew up in Minnesota: “Well, I…
Christmas is a special time. A Time of rejoicing, of solemn thanksgiving, of gift-giving, of pleasures both modern and traditional, of feasting and of being together with family and friends. And christmas is a time of special music. What better way to celebrate the birthday of Jesus than to join together and raise our voices in the special songs of Christmas - or to tune our musical songs of Ch…
Look at the picture for a while, if you will, even if you cannot read theJavanese writing on it. It is a picture on a calendar for the months of Novemberand December 1978. I remember Judith and I were talking then about the like-ness between the structure of Javanese music, the way plots of shadow plays areput together, and the way cale…