Shamil: Concept, practice and reception of a Nigun in Habad Hasidism

The article discusses the conception, performance and reception of nigun Shamil as a representative case of the social, literary and technological mechanisms that characterize music in Habad, past and present. The author argues for the centrality of non-accompanied, mostly wordless vocal tunes performed by the Hasidic masters such as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as a main vehicle for the articulation of both the heightening of mystical experience and the teaching of Hasidism.