📖 Giving Voice to Asian Christians. An Appraisal of the Pioneering Work of I-To Loh in the Area of Congregational Song.

Daniel Thambyrajah Niles (1908-1970) and I-to Loh (1936-present) stand out as pioneers in the 20th Century in the emerging field of Asian congregational song. This book examines the groundbreaking contribution of I-to Loh; highlighting his formulation of a paradigm for the contextualization of Asian church music that guided his pioneering efforts. At the same time, it assesses the viability of this paradigm, taking into account the broader expression of Asian church music within Asia. Drawing on the scholarship in the fields of liturgical studies, contextual theologies and ethnomusicology, the author critiques the paradigm and suggests modifications and enlargements to enable it to guide the development of Asian church music in the 21st century. Appendices in this book make some of his non-English writings available in English for the first time. This book will prove to be a valuable resource for scholars of contextual liturgics and can serve as the base for future dialogue and research.