In moving from the quiet courtyards of Tanjore to the concert halls of Madras, the social context of music and performance underwent a striking transformation. Traditional music was also used in the freedom movement as an emblem of India's uniqueness and independent identity. Departing from conventional scholarship on the subject, Lakshmi Subramanian presents a distinctive account of the making of a modern classical tradition.

Subramanian traces the changes in traditional music in South India as it adapted to the necessities of colonial and postcolonial social realities. Her engaging narrative of the production of knowledge about music and the related institution building proves raises larger questions of identity and imagination. She also discusses the influence of nationalism in the creation of an auditory habit.

The author shows how performance and patronage influenced the self-development of the consuming elite. Anticipating the dilemmas of the emerging modern Indian middle class, she also explores the ambivalence and ambiguities that informed musical practices in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The book will be important for students and scholars of history, music, sociology, ethnomusicology, cultural studies, and South India. It will also interest tourists and informed general readers.

About the Author

Lakshmi Subramanian is Senior Fellow in History, Centre for studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta.