ABSTRACT
This chapter considers sound in various forms, particularly how sound can take one through a portal to the ‘other side’. It deals with the emotionally evocative songs and other sonant components that enable contemporary Pentecostals to encounter the healing power of Jesus, and focuses on to sound vibrations, rhythms that ‘follow the heartbeat’, and the efficacy of drumming. A ‘successful’ Pentecostal service, where members feel they have encountered the presence of Jesus, would not be possible without the highly charged emotions that are instigated by the music. The sounds and vibrations of both voices and drums reverberated in bodies and in acoustical spaces occupied by performers and listeners, linking ordinary humans with extraordinary spirits. Spirits communicate with the living through bird calls; hence, as well as being ‘indicators of the avifauna’, bird sounds are also the ‘talk’ of the dead. Pulsing, reverberating, vibrating and throbbing are all linked to the somatic effects of sound, particularly through percussion instruments.
