Gaga in the Dominican Republic: Intro

Much could be said about the globalization of religious traditions, especially in the context of colonialism and imperialism that produced subsidiary institutions like slavery and caste systems. Many times religious conversion was used as a tool to aide these processes. If so afforded, these diverse forms of divine adoration take on distinct variations across the globe.
So is true of Gaga, a variation of Haitian Rara yet practiced in the Dominican Republic: While they are similar in music, dance and function, Gaga was borne out of a different set of historical and social circumstances that have given it a distinct flavor. The salient features that make Gaga unique are quite similar to Rara—for sake of redundancy, I won’t repeat them here. However, in the course of my project I will examine those qualities that make Gaga effective, sonically and theologically. In a quasi ethno-musicological fashion, I propose to present Gaga as a sonic practice that highlights the most important elements of the tradition. By doing so, I hope to explain Gaga in terms of a theological convention supported by sacred sounds.

Using the sounds of Gaga as a basis for comparison, I plan to juxtapose Catholicism with them in order to substantiate the claim Aidan Kavanagh makes on theologia prima, or primary theology versus theologia secunda, or secondary theology.[1] According to Kavanagh, primary theology is the dynamic response “suffered” in liturgical events while secondary theology is the didactic, systematic approach to thinking about liturgical events. I contend that Gaga could be considered a “dynamic response” to the umbrella catechism proliferated throughout the Caribbean. What’s more, this eccentric responsiveness that Gaga practitioners have to these sounds help to legitimize its authenticity and effectiveness. In accordance with her book Deep Listeners, Judith Becker might agree with this delineation.[2] I argue that Gaga practitioners are naturally acting out physically and aurally to the sounds, while at the same giving credit to the Catholic and African religions that give said rituals context. It all returns to the cyclical process of sacred sounds’ efficacy we talked about in class and that I touched on in my statement paper: “it works because it’s sacred; it’s sacred because it works.”