Sensational Rhythms of the Ineffable: Ethical Affects in Sikh Sabad Kīrtan

At the intersection of music, philosophy, and religion, Sensational Rhythms of the Ineffable explores intimate collaborations between rhythm and body, showing how they engender deep devotional experiences and ethical sensations. The focus of ethnomusicologist Inderjit N. Kaur's study is Sabad Kīrtan--the congregational singing of Sikh scriptural verses--integral to Sikh worship and everyday life in South Asia and its diaspora. Building on her lifelong practice of Sabad Kīrtan as a singer, composer, and listener, Kaur implements a decolonial approach to research, theorizing, and writing, and the translation of Sikh sacred song-texts. Drawing on the Sikh metaphysics of Anhad Nād--the common vibration of all existence--Kaur uncovers the intertwining of scriptural philosophy, musical practice, and everyday living--what she names a "Sikh theory of lived rhythm." Engaging the ethnographic method of participant-sensation and an interdisciplinary phenomenological approach, her investigations elucidate musical rhythm as a process that amplifies the ineffable vibrations of the inherently rhythmic vital body, interweaving the rhythmicities of sound and lived life.

The first book on Sikh devotional experience to combine new insights from scriptural songs with in-depth analyses of all three major styles of Sabad Kīrtan, Sensational Rhythms of the Ineffable argues that diverse musical styles of Sabad Kīrtan are but various means of intensifying the sensation of ethical interconnectedness. Offering unique perspectives on both Sikh Kīrtan and Sikh philosophy, Kaur's study illuminates how Sikh musical worship is a practice of the embodiment of a relational oneness--a foundational ethical principle in Sikh philosophy and beyond.