With the goal of creating devotional music videos and holding space for musical performance or prayerful song, I continue to consider the field of cinematography musicology. This field combines elements from various disciplines to analyze the impact of music on narratives and audience experiences. The field also investigates how source music contributes to the authenticity of a setting and how composers use techniques like leitmotifs to create continuity and thematic depth throughout the visual representation. Upon a film/music analysis, Audissino (2025) explores Gestalt qualities and the audiovisual isomorphism, or “the so-called “parallel/synchronous” audiovisual relationship, one in which music “communicates” the same thing as the visual, because these instances—the majority of interactions between music and film—are generally neglected within the dominant communications model” (2025, 114). While analyzing the structure and themes in devotional music, I plan to draw attention to the intersections of musicalities in my area: mantra of bhakti, lyaric of rastafari, and catholic litany.

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Mantra of Bhakti 

In “The Universe of the Mantra,” Rohini Bakshi (2017) offers an exploration of mantra's significance and reveals its evolution from ancient Vedic poetry to complex rituals, philosophical contemplation, and practical applications across various aspects of life. “Like the term dharma, mantra is a plurivalent word, making it hard to translate as one word into another language. Created from the Sanskrit root √man (to think, contemplate and meditate) and the suffix “tra” which supplies instrumentality, etymologically mantra can be defined as that which facilitates thinking and meditation” (Bakshi 2017). This foundational significance of mantra is implemented into kirtan and devotional music, where musical performance is seen and felt as prayer. 

Mantra is a concept known to have incessantly re-invent itself to remain not just relevant, but central to culture, with its continuity surviving real and imagined discontinuities in Hinduism. “So much so, that the history of religious life in India might be read plausibly as the history of mantras. India is not merely or even principally the land of Vedānta, nor is it merely, though indeed it is, the land of Viṣṇu and Śiva … [India] is the land of mantra” (Bakshi 2017). The Bhakti movement in India involves sharing spaces through devotion and service. In “Translating Bhakti: Rethinking the Bhakti Movement as a Movement of Translation,” Nitya Pawar (2023) “advocates for a more inclusive view of translation that goes beyond language barriers. The Bhakti saints, acting as translators, showcase the dynamic relationship between experience, language, and societal criticism, enhancing the field of translation studies” (Pawar 2023, 45). Overall, a multilingual and multicultural space held by Shaiva and Vaishnava saints who began traveling to spread this idea of intense bhakti, leading a mass movement.

 

Lyaric of Rastafari

Traveling saints in the contemporary world move within multilingual and multicultural spaces, which has connected musicians to multiple movements. For instance, the Rastafari movement is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional, in relation to the individual and the collective. In “Rastafari Dialectism; The Epistemological Individualism and Collectivism of Rastafari,” Michael Barnett (2002) discusses the epistemology of the Rastafari movement in relation to the lyaric of Rastafari, which is heard in Reggae music. The dialectic of the epistemological individualism and epistemological collectivism of Rastafari “centers largely on the I and I concept which affirms that knowledge resides in the soul and is teased out with introspection, in this sense we need not rely on anyone to give us knowledge, as the knowledge lies within us” (2002, 10). In the lyaric of Rastafari, the pronoun “I” is often used to express unity and connection to the divine, as in “I-and-I,” replacing negative terms with positive ones, and reflecting beliefs in peace, love, and the interconnectedness of all beings. 

In The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions, Kenneth Bilby (2013) publishes “Traditional Music (of Rastafari),” which emphasizes the traditional musical forms that met and mingled to form this music. “Count Ossie and others helped to re-Africanized popular songs in Jamaica with the introduction of the Rastafari drum ensemble into the then-emerging ska form” (Bilby 2013, 788). There is an emphasis on Revivalism, while bringing forward a variety of musical traditions, with adaptability in the application of different Jamaican musical styles. “In the urban Rastafari gatherings of this early period, music was characterized by hymns and choral chants, sometimes accompanied by a shaka (rattle), rhumba box, and scraper” (2013, 788). Bilby offers context to the resulting transfusion of this manifested into Hispanophone Caribbean music, particularly influenced by “buru” — a specific dance-drumming tradition and a generic label covering a variety of African-derived styles.

 

Devotion of La Negrita 

The Catholic Church has a rich tradition of veneration and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which has led to the formation of various Marian movements. In The Virgin Mary across Cultures: Devotion among Costa Rican Catholic and Finnish Orthodox Women, Elina Vuola (2019) offers a comparative analysis based on her ethnographic fieldwork. “I had become curious about this local personification of the Virgin Mary, whom Costa Ricans affectionately call La Negrita, the Little Black One. I decided to go to the basilica and learn more about the devotion” (Vuola 2019, 1). The story of La Negrita dates back to August 2, 1635. “ People from all parts of the country walk on their knees, on foot and some even crawl as they make their way to the Basilica in honor of La Negrita. A mass is conducted by a reggaeton-singing priest and swarmed by millions of devotees worldwide to join in both the jolly and solemn celebration” (Fenelon 2018). Millions of tokens below the church shrine have been left as well as awards to show their gratitude to the little sacred stone. 

La Negrita, or the Black Madonna, is known as the Patron Saint of Costa Rica. “In 1635, a young Tico, or native, girl looking for firewood in the forest saw a peculiar black rock in the shape of a doll that was sitting on top of a large boulder. A mysterious image of a woman and child was engraved on it. The image appeared to be that of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding Baby Jesus. Thinking that it was a wonderful toy, the girl took the rock home with her and placed it among her belongings. The next day, [while] she was gathering firewood, she discovered the “doll” sitting on the rock where she had originally found it” (2011). This tradition, born in 1635, reflects Costa Rica’s colonial Spanish influence and its enduring spiritual identity. Overall, tradition continues to signify Mary in the plan of salvation and her role within devotion.

 

Service Evaluation I

With open doors throughout the worship, this service was gradually alleviating and did not withhold liberation. The church is Jesuit-based with its own energetics and technological practice. I was gratified by the two large speakers that seemed to have accumulated in the space since my last attendance. Entering the church always seems to be met with a layer of reluctance internally, yet I feel a gradual lift in the atmosphere and begin to feel more welcomed by other members in the church, though I am not wearing a mantilla like most women in the room. There is a knowing that sensitivity is encouraged in the room, as people embrace calm and together, sensing that there are shared intrinsic values and felt qualities. The music is contemporary, with two separate uses of the church speakers throughout the service. Overall, the music played through the speakers at the end of the service could hold you in the space forever. 

 

Latin Land
Although I was born in the United States, I have more readily come to embrace Chrisitan tradition while having visited multiple congregations across Costa Rica. During my time in and studies regarding the Republic of Costa Rica, I have come to find that the Christianity that is practiced in daily life and interpersonal interaction does not generally inherit or reinterpret a specific relationship to a secular sphere (possibly unlike the United States of America). I could potentially argue that it is the mediatization of religion in the United States that seemed to have aggregated my perception of traditions that are being embodied by main citizens daily. In “Skinny Jeans in the Sanctuary: The Hipster Christian Subculture,” Caroline Barnett (2021) explores the ideology of hipsters and evangelical Christians, with both manifesting from a tension between religion and secular spaces in their treatment of young people. Overall, though being caught in this tension of the religion and secular earlier in my life, this tension seems to have eased during my time outside of the United States and inside Costa Rica.

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Most of my time has been spent in and around Chirripo mountain, I have visited many congregations across the country, including areas near Jaco and Nosara. Through the years, I have witnessed the formation of places of worship from Dharma traditions based on the notion of a retreat, while most of the established places of worship in Costa Rica represent Roman Catholic tradition. Within such a land, where I do not notice a secular tension, I have been finding myself more willingly stepping into public places of worship, such as churches and spaces of congregations. Through this experience, I have found that each place of worship has its own architecture that emphasizes the style of music played; the larger cathedrals tend to have a pipe organ and a wire harp, while smaller churches seem to have more contemporary influences. 

 

Worship Service

The first time I visited this Jesuit church, it was an evening when the doors were open on a Thursday. This experience was my first time experiencing an exorcism in a public space, while the entire experience happened in the Spanish language. It was after my first week in the mountain, and it has since been two years since I had stepped foot in this space church in the forest. Observing a worship service in the morning offered a contrasting way to experience the place of worship, while noticing how the church carries over the same themes of family roles and holding space for the whole person. I wish to further reflect on my first evening experience at this church, while it was intriguing to enter a service with the idea of a service evaluation at hand. Overall, choosing to observe a worship service and documenting the experience encourages ethnographic fieldwork and reflection, while inspired by the growing knowledge base in anthropology and religious studies.

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 Observing a worship service offered an initial inquiry into the space as to whether I had the right to observe. Nonetheless, this very internal feedback of a contemplation ran in parallel and coalesced with the words written on the two screens at the wall of the stage. “El proceso es la ruta hacia el propósito.” In English, this means, “The process is the path toward the purpose.” These words were offered to the space through digital means, replicated on two flat screen televisions mounted on the wall. I had been also wondering whether these televisions were present two years prior, while above the same platform of worship where the mother and a group of female relatives of the exorcized had faced to kneel in weeping. The minister, this sun-filled morning, was standing below the platform, on the same wooden floor panels as those sitting in the seats, just as the minister and exorcist of the evening service. 

 

Music As Substructure

The church holds space for a service with wide open doors and windows, all around the single roomed infrastructure, which seems to invite in those in the area with sounds rippling out of the building. The loud audio playing out the speakers during the evening service was the cause of my awareness of and attraction to the church, while I realized the speakers had a similar affect of inviting me into the morning service. There are two speakers, with one off left side laying on its side and one right in the center of the stage that propped higher up on a tripod. The speakers enhance the voice of the minister, while amplifying the soundscape of the church, while always playing a layer of music. Throughout the sermon, there was an electronic piano track playing in the background during the sermon, a track which sounded of a down tempo, with two keys moving to three keys to offset. The track seemed to be playing on replay, while the minister shared his longevity through the main microphone. Overall, I noticed the music as carpet or an underlayer in the environment that gently guided and carried the space in cohesion.

The youth band that performed live at the end of the worship service was really inspiring, as I was realizing more of an unraveling embracing of culture as well as a gradual immersion of a wide range of instruments by young people in the area. Along with the minister being younger than the previous minister, the presence of youth also emphasized how there is religious awareness and participation in this area. Further ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative research seems necessary to consider whether these youth and young people. It is interesting to consider whether the embrace of technology and imbibing a fresh feeling that someone like Caroline Barnett may consider “hip,” in relation to hipster subculture, and whether there is a secular relation. Overall, the music did not seem to form an overarching narrative with the sermon and the rest of the service, but the music does reveal a changing of times with these technologies and further contemplation in the direction of change seems necessary.

 

Service Evaluation II

The cinematography of a hybrid worship service really matters, in which case taking time to plan the art of the craft is essential for ministry. I am finding the presence and offering of kirtan online, which seems to also be developing a network for devotees and devotional musicians. For this hybrid worship service (in-person and online), the camera is placed at the center of the room amongst those present in the room. The camera person stays in one place, which seems to be directly in the center of the room, while the musicians are more aligned with the back wall. The video recording is of a long take and a single shot, with one camera angle. The benefit of having the camera stationary (with some moments of zooming in and panning across), is an immersive offering for the viewer to station their own senses and gradually sense a meditative stillness and ongoing focus on the prayer and devotion. The service was carried through with a handful of bhakti and prayer with multiple areas of devotion, while the first mantra and song recorded was Om Ganesha with Sam Garrett and Mollie Mendoza.

 

Om Ganesha

This mantra is a prominent invocation within the commencement of a kirtan. Devotion for Ganesha, the child of Shiva and Pavarti, is common across Hindu branches, though it seems to be most popular in Bombay and southern and western India. Ganesha is known as the creator and remover of obstacles, bestower of happiness, and eliminator of sorrow. Hindus pray and make offerings to him before beginning a journey, buying a house, starting a performance, or launching a business venture. He is also known as Ganapati, the Lord of the Ganas, and is often depicted with a huge pot belly, slightly dwarfish, sitting like a Buddha or riding on a five-headed cobra or a rat. In the iconography presented, Ganesha is sitting on a lotus, which often represents the balance between spiritual enlightenment and worldly prosperity. No matter the branch of Hinduism today, this mantra is typically a part of the common kirtan repertoire, and generally to commence any process.

In West India, Ganesha Bajans are meant to support in what Ganesha is revered for, as a remover of obstacles and the bringer of good luck. “Broadly, to bhaj is to sing, dance and remain invested in the name of God so much as that you feel a oneness with him; either alone or within a group. The word “bhakti” is translated to mean devotion, but if the understanding that devotion is very personal thing, one might want to look at the meaning of bhakti in a new light that is in the domain of public” (Pawar 2023, 49). Bhakti or devotion through mantra for Ganesha represents an overall graciousness for tradition and power of divine love. His association with rats comes from the ability of rats to gnaw through anything and remove obstacles. Ganesha is also known as Ganapati, the Lord of the Ganas, and is often pictured next to his mount, the rat, symbolizing the ability to get in anywhere. Presented here is Ganesha at the center while in symbiosis with his environment and next to his mount.

 

Hybrid Worship Service (in-person + online)

With the camera pointed directly at the altar, where the musicians surround themselves with their instruments for kirtan, this worship service felt focused and stationed at the center. The kirtan that was recorded with a single-take by a steady cinematographer and is now available for devotees on YouTube. The worship service is titled “Om Ganesha.” I was gratified by finding that the camera was being handheld, and though the cameraperson occasionally zoomed into and panned across the musicians, the cameraperson seemed to remain stationary which offered a stilling and grounded feeling as a viewer. This sensation also seemed to lend a deeper access into the space as a virtual viewer, almost feeling as though one is present in the space and one with the audience in the room. The music involves a chanting of mantra interwoven with a singing amongst the group, with each playing their own individual instrument. Overall, the musicians were playing in front of a set of microphones, which seemed to improve the sound quality for those in the room as well as for those online.

The worship service consisted of musicians Sam Garrett on vocals and guitar, Mollie Mendoza on harmonium and vocals, Regina Rhythm on percussion (calabash) and harmonies, and Leon Marley Itzler on bass. Mollie Mendoza introduces: “Namaste, welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us in this song. And today we will be Chanting to the deity Ganesha. This is an invocation to that which removes obstacles. Helps us remove anything that is standing in our way that we no longer need to be holding. And so as we invoke the energy of Ganesha, we invite just as with every exhale, we release, we let go, we take a moment to pause, to dive inside and to allow all that has been held to dissolve. Jah Ganesha.” Upon commencing the song, everybody closes their eyes and begins playing their instruments, while those in the room join in on the chanting, Om Gan Ganapataye Namah ॐ गं गणपतये नम:
 

Sustainable Ways to Construct Service

For those viewing online, broadcasters of the worship service may encourage people to visit their altar at home, or otherwise create an altar nearby the computer for the service. Devotees may already have representations of the deity on their altar, along with mentors and teachers for guiding the service. With this in mind, sustainable ways to construct service include encouraging the viewers to participate in worship at home in their own way. After the recording has been posted online, a broadcaster can set the tone of the conversation by writing a piece in the description box to invoke contemplation and encourage conversation in the comments. Another sustainable process is encouraging reciprocity, and having a direct way for participants to send footage of the service. The key is for a two way street, to form a network that can create media productions together for the long run. The cinematography of a hybrid worship service really matters, in which case taking time to plan the art of the craft is essential for ministry. 

Perhaps construct a film crew before constructing a hybrid worship, also for team building and space holding in grace. With this in mind, we must think in terms of three layers of filmmaking: pre-production, production, and post production. The crew can plan ahead of time for sound design and camera angles. Some options for the camera include immersive, yet stationary or spherical, and with motion of camera and with other camera shots synced up in post production. If the service is to be shared online after the initial recording, there could be more attention put toward post production. With the footage and material sent from those at the original worship, post production can really get a feel for the music when editing the footage and assimilate the documented performance when adding in more materials to the production. Succeeding with audiography and cinematography can improve the overall production, benefiting the streaming and potentially increasing a network for devotional musicians.

 

Conclusion

Musicologists examine how music influences audience perception and emotional responses in film, focusing on the components of scoring, source music, and the use of leitmotifs within cinematic narratives. With a focus on cinematography, there can be improved hybrid services as well as more music videos for devotional musicians. Personally, I contemplate how I can hold space for musicians in my area (such as with La Negrita in mind and heart), while participating in motion pictures. The key is considering specific parts of a tradition and the intricacies of a song, while focusing on the skills-building necessary to create quality cinema in worship spaces, as well as in cinema in relation to faith. Considering the multi-cultural and multi-lingual spaces that are increasingly a part of worship today, it is an honor to witness and consider the contemporary intersections. Finding purposeful action in art and music is already appealing on the spiritual journey, while focusing on the notions of virtue across many faiths becomes an integral part of spirituality, worship, creation, and all.