8. Text, Orality, and Performance in Newar Devotional Music1

Providing a fitting end to the chapter, Widdess emphasizes the role of performance in textual meaning. He presents a largely anthropological study about groups in a middle-caste Nepali farming community who perform songs from written books in language they generally do not much understand. The meaning of the songs for them is determined by the few words that do come through into their own language and the circumstances in which the songs are sung.