Book Discussion | Sebanti Chatterjee on her Book “Choral Voices Stories of Music and Belonging from Goa and Shillong”

About the Book 

A panel of scholars and musicians will engage in a discussion with author Sebanti Chatterjee on her recent book, Choral Voices: Ethnographic Imaginations of Sound and Sacrality (published by Bloomsbury Academic, February 2023). The book uses the lens of sound and musical practices to tell the stories of two Christian communities in Goa and Meghalaya and introduces voice and genre as social objects. Given the imperial pasts of both regions, the book inquires how indigenous and cosmopolitan forces shape the sacred music repositories and their manifestations. The book takes us on a fascinating sojourn through seminaries, Bollywood Broadway, festivals, recitals, and belonging. Through the rituals of performativity and everyday interpretations of devotion, choral voices illuminate the interior and public lives of the sacred.

About the Speakers 

Sebanti Chatterjee, Senior Academic Fellow, NLSIU Bangalore, is a cultural anthropologist, who is currently a Senior Academic Fellow at the National Law School of India University Bangalore. She holds a doctorate in Sociology. Her monograph, Choral Voices: Ethnographic Imaginations of Sound and Sacrality, was published by Bloomsbury Academic in Feb 2023. Sebanti's research interests span sound studies, gender studies, and religious studies. She has previously held regular and ad-hoc teaching positions at Sharda University, Greater Noida; Christ University, Bangalore; University of Delhi; and IIT Jodhpur. She has presented her work both nationally and internationally. Her research has been published in the journals of South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies and Society and Culture in South Asia. Sebanti also writes for children and occasionally wears the hat of a storyteller.

Karl Lutchmayer, Pianist, is equally renowned as a concert pianist and a lecturer. A Steinway Artist, Karl performs across the globe, and has worked with conductors including Lorin Maazel and Sir Andrew Davis, and performed at all the major London concert halls. He has broadcast on BBC Television and Radio, All India Radio and Classic FM, and is a regular chamber performer. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Karl has also given over 90 world premieres and had many works written especially for him.

Sarbani Sharma, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bangalore. Her work focuses on itineraries of political aspirations for freedom and everyday life in Kashmir. She has previously taught Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Tübingen, Germany, and at the University of Delhi. Her research has been published in the Journal of Human Rights, Contributions to Indian Sociology, Society and Culture in South Asia, Allegra Labs, and Political and Legal Anthropological Review.

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