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Lorenzo Chiarofonte

1 paper in the library · publishing 2025

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Being Inspired, Being Possessed: Performative Techniques for the Embodiment of the Spirits in Burmese Urban Ceremonies

European Journal of Musicology March 17, 2025 Lorenzo Chiarofonte

Dance is regarded as the expression of spirit possession in Burma. In nat kana pwe (private urban ceremonies), the nat kadaw (spirit medium) dances, embodying consecutively the Thirty-Seven nats, a defined pantheon of spirits whom devotees propitiate in order to gainhealth and wealth. In embodying these as well as other spirits, the medium moves fluidly between human and animal, masculine and...