Sacralising the city: Sound, space and performance in Hindu ritual practices in London

Abstract

Focussing on performative displays at Tamil Hindu annual festivals in London, UK, this article examines the use of sound and ritual movement, in territorialising and organising space and in celebrating Tamil identity. Notions of ‘dwelling and crossing’, taken from Tweed's work (2006) on the analysis of religion, as well as theoretical material from spatial and human geography shed light on the tensions between such diasporic groups' migratory movement and their emplacement in city life. An analysis of the soundscape of such moving processions reveals how sonic elements can be a powerful force in marking out processional space, in ritualising and assisting in the sacralising of the space through sonorous, loud and auspicious music that speaks directly to the deities.