1 Digital Video Disc (DVD) ; English / 34 minutes
Available in PAL and NTSC formats.

Christian Musicological Society of India (CMSI)

In collaboration with

• The Dept. of Education and Mass Media,
• Sacred Heart Province of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), India
• and the Dept. of Tourism, Government of Kerala

The six million Christians in Kerala, on the southwest coast of India, follow a variety of liturgical and musical traditions some of which date back to the early Christian era. This film explores the historical embeddedness of these traditions that came about as a result of the region's commercial, cultural, and religious interactions with the Middle East, Europe, and America.

The narrative follows the events that led to the introduction of the Chaldean, Antiochene, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other liturgies along with the musical styles associated with them. Over the centuries, these styles have become an integral part of the musical mosaic of Kerala. A renewed attempt in the recent past to interpret Christianity in Indian terms has contributed to adaptations of semi-classical and bhajan styles of music into Christian worship. The film documents excerpts from the current practice of chants in East Syriac, West Syriac, Latin, Sanskrit, English, and Malayalam. The film also showcases a unique performance context in which Hindu instrumental ensembles share space in a church festival, indicating the extent of religious harmony that exists in the region; the festival includes several ritual elements that the Portuguese missionaries introduced in the sixteenth century.

Drawing attention to the lesser known aspects of the religious, musical, and linguistic complexity of the region, the film presents Kerala as a potential field for inquiries in an emerging area of scholarship on Christian music in India.

1. Oct 30, 2010 - Pope John Paul II Cultural Centre, Washington D. C., USA.
2. Mar 16, 2010: - Pontifico Instituto Orientale, Piazza S. Maria Maggiore, Rome, Italy.
3. Mar 14, 2010- Chiesa di Villa Benedetta (Suore di Giovanni Battista), Via Circonvalazione Cornelia 65, Rome, Italy.
4. Mar 13, 2010:- Chiesa di S. Caterina della Rosa, (Syro-Malabar), Via Michelangelo Caetani 8/9, Rome, Italy.
5. Nov 14, 2009- 7th at Queens film festival, Bennett Hall, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Astoria, New York, USA. [Nominated for the best international documentary film award ] IMDb Archive link (updated on 16-10-2018)
6. Oct 29, 2009- `Musical Heritage: Movement and Contacts conference', Faculté de musique, Université de Montréal, Canada.
7. Aug 9, 2009- Nuremberg, Germany.
8. Aug 3, 2009: Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
9. Apr 16, 2009: St. Mary's Church, Sacramento, California, USA.
10. Nov 20, 2008: `India and the World', Amsterdam University, Netherlands.
11. Nov 1, 2008: `South Asian Imaginaries: A Symposium on Art, Film and Music', Teachers College, Columbia University, USA. Poster. Postcard.
12. Oct 25, 2008. Society for Ethnomusicology 53rd Annual Meeting, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, USA.