Taoist ritual music of the Yu-lan Pen-hui (Feeding the Hungry Ghost Festival) in a Hong Kong Taoist temple: A repertoire study

A study of religious Taoism, with particular interest in the music employed during its ritual activities. The focus is on the repertoire performed during the seven-day Yu-lan Pen-hui (Feeding the Hungry Ghost Festival), with specific attention to performances held during the 1987 celebrations at the Yuen Yuen temple of the Quan-zhen (Perfect Realization) sect, in Hong Kong. Its music repertoire is collected and organized into a classificatory framework that sheds light on how music is manipulated under ritual circumstances. Music in ritual is, however, only one element of the total performance. In ritual, music bridges the separation between the two realms of interior prayer and exterior performance.