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A devotional song is a hymn that accompanies religious observances and rituals. Traditionally devotional music has been a part of Hindu music, Jewish music, Buddhist music, Islamic music and Christian music.
Each major religion has its own tradition with devotional hymns. In Christianity, the devotional has been a part of the liturgy in Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, and others, since their earliest days. A devotional is a part of the prayer service proper and is not, in these contexts, ornamentation. Within the Reformed tradition, church music in general was hotly debated; some Puritans objected to all ornament and sought to abolish choirs, hymns, and, inasmuch as liturgy itself was rejected, devotionals.
In Eastern and Near-Eastern religions, devotionals can function as communion prayer and meditation. These are sung in particular rhythms which are sustained over a prolonged period to give practitioners a mystical experience. In Hindu music, the genre arising out of the Bhakti movement (devotion), it takes forms like Bhajan, Kirtan and Aarti.[1][2]
- ^ Saurabh Goswami; Selina Thielemann (2005). Music and Fine Arts in the Devotional Traditions of India: Worship Through Beauty. APH Publishing. pp. 2–10. ISBN 978-81-7648-811-2.
- ^ Emmie te Nijenhuis (2011). Kīrtana: Traditional South Indian Devotional Songs: Compositions of Tyāgarāja, Muttusvāmi Dīkṣitar and Śyāma Śāstri. Brill Academic Pub. ISBN 978-90-04-20933-6.