As described within the powerpoint that was uploaded, the Sema ceremony symbolizes soul’s journey to god” and by listening it through, it invites listeners to get “excited” with the integral part of the song, the instruments, which include flutes, drums, cymbals, and different types of string instruments that make up the melody of the song. As the dancing that goes along with it is “a slow dance made up of graceful and ecstatic turning” it goes to show how close they feel with god, spiritually, as they perform.

Amazing Grace is a piece of Gospel music that also tends to be religiously significant(for example during church prayer) as a well known hymn. A like minded characteristic between the two pieces (Amazing Grace and the Sema Ceremony) is that they’re both characterized as religious, as they pertain to the worship of God, and belief in him. In the chapter Music and Spirituality, the origin of the hymn stems from a man by the name of John Newton”after surviving a violent storm at sea, converted to evangelical Christianity.”

From my experience, Amazing Grace is usually a piece in which singers are unaccompanied by instruments/instrumental, and each singer holds a different place within the song, holding different notes. This is because of the way it is performed, usually within a church (Christians/Catholics), in a choir, as it was originally a piece written in gratitude towards god, so it is only fitting it is sung in a church. Just as Amazing Grace and the music from the Sema Ceremony are similar, they are also opposites, with the music from the ceremony being purely instrumental, no lyrics to sing.