Abstract
Exploring “play” and “transcendence” as complementary modalities, this chapter uncovers how music—as sound, behavior, and concept—brings the connections between these two multivalent concepts into focus. It aims to interrogate how Black music-making transcends ritual frames and accrues various meanings for audiences and “players”—especially in the face of social marginalization. Drawing on his fieldwork within African diasporic religious communities, and his professional work as a performer in sacred and secular contexts, the author reflects on the following questions: How might ethnomusicological research on Black music-making stimulate fresh thinking about what it means to flourish in ritual contexts? What can music tell us about the human capacity to experience transcendence through play, and vice versa? Under what conditions does transcendence become playful phenomenon? To what extent might scholarly work in this area constitute a form of playful transcendence?