I found this article to be very informative and helpful in understanding the connections between old ritualistic practices of using music or chant in healing, with the more modern applications of using music in healing ritual services by the Catholic Charismatic Church in Kenya.
In my own experience, having been a minister of music in a protestant evangelical church for 14 years, I was involved in many worship/healing services where music was used in a very influencial way for the worshippers in attendance. As was similarly described in this article, there was usually a leveled flow, or chain of occurrences which happened in a patterned order. I usually selected music, either by prior planning, or on-the-spot, which would correlate with and/or enhance the mood or feeling present in the general worshippers. That music would change according to the way the elements of the service would change. For instance, during the praise and thanksgiving portion of the service, I would select music that was slower, and had softer dynamics and softer tones. However, in preparation for the message time, the music would usually be faster in tempo, and more generally upbeat. When it came time again for prayer, and congregational response, I selected music that was soft, flowing, soothing, and helped the worshipper to emotionally and spiritually entrain themselves with the spirit of God, that they were feeling. For people experiencing this occurrence for the first time, they might liken the emotional effect of the music to that which causes an altered state. We know that music does have a very powerful effect of our emotions, mood states, and furthermore, on our physiological responses as well.
I feel that in reviewing the literature on the emotional and physiological effects of music on people, notable comparisons can be made between old African tribal rituals of healing/music with the more "modern" applications of music in religious healing services. There is healing power and benefit of music, as has been indicated in the old and new practices of application. Additional comparisons between ritualistic tribal practices and more religious services might lead to questions of what causes the greatest effect for healing, the music itself, the faith of the individual in the entire healing process, or in the actual application of the music. Others might also question the important factor of the unknown realm of spirituality, the influence of a power greater than music, mankind, and the universe; a God power unseen by the human eye.
For all of these questions and similarities found between the old and new rituals, one thing can be more certain; music has the power to heal.