This article discusses the post-Independence trajectory of north India’s oldest extant classical ... more This article discusses the post-Independence trajectory of north India’s oldest extant classical music festival. Processes of modernisation and nationalisation transformed the Harballabh festival into a professionally organised concert, with little resemblance to the fair or 'Rāg Melā' it used to be. I demonstrate the tension between the 'modernisation' begun by Ashwini Kumar post-1948 and a subtle though unmistakable 'Hinduisation' championed by other middle-class organisers. Kumar's attempts during the 1950s and '60s to shape a new, disciplined audience, schooled in practices of rapt listening, were also in direct contrast to conceptions about 'restive' and rustic Punjabi audiences. The article raises larger questions about the cultural politics of music performance in postcolonial India by focussing on the shifting character of middle-class cultural patronage, the tussle between traditional and modern formats of music festival organisation and the complicated division of public space along secular/sacred axes.
Music is often invoked as the 'glue' that unites people, acting as a perennial symbol of a histor... more Music is often invoked as the 'glue' that unites people, acting as a perennial symbol of a historically composite culture disrupted by the rupture of Partition. This view posits a kind of pluralistic and decentered South Asian 'musical citizenship' that counters the narrow, antagonistic and populist definition of citizenship tied exclusively to either India or Pakistan. We cannot easily transpose such views of cultural citizenship back into time as it leads to a gravely presentist reading of our musical pasts, and rides roughshod over the complex trajectories musicians' lives took post-1947. Google Books Link: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hdFBDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Essay published in Sahapedia: An Open Online Resource on the Arts, Cultures and Heritage of India... more Essay published in Sahapedia: An Open Online Resource on the Arts, Cultures and Heritage of India (Published online at www.sahapedia.org on 15 February, 2017).
An account of a journey to the Indo-Pak border on the Rajasthan side to celebrate the inauguratio... more An account of a journey to the Indo-Pak border on the Rajasthan side to celebrate the inauguration of the Thar Express rail service between the two countries, at the Peace Fair organised by the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, in 2006.
‘Peerless Playback Singer’ in Biblio: A Review of Books, Vol. XXI, No. 8, 31-2.
A review of two b... more ‘Peerless Playback Singer’ in Biblio: A Review of Books, Vol. XXI, No. 8, 31-2. A review of two biographies of Muhammad Rafi.
This article discusses the post-Independence trajectory of north India’s oldest extant classical ... more This article discusses the post-Independence trajectory of north India’s oldest extant classical music festival. Processes of modernisation and nationalisation transformed the Harballabh festival into a professionally organised concert, with little resemblance to the fair or 'Rāg Melā' it used to be. I demonstrate the tension between the 'modernisation' begun by Ashwini Kumar post-1948 and a subtle though unmistakable 'Hinduisation' championed by other middle-class organisers. Kumar's attempts during the 1950s and '60s to shape a new, disciplined audience, schooled in practices of rapt listening, were also in direct contrast to conceptions about 'restive' and rustic Punjabi audiences. The article raises larger questions about the cultural politics of music performance in postcolonial India by focussing on the shifting character of middle-class cultural patronage, the tussle between traditional and modern formats of music festival organisation and the complicated division of public space along secular/sacred axes.
Music is often invoked as the 'glue' that unites people, acting as a perennial symbol of a histor... more Music is often invoked as the 'glue' that unites people, acting as a perennial symbol of a historically composite culture disrupted by the rupture of Partition. This view posits a kind of pluralistic and decentered South Asian 'musical citizenship' that counters the narrow, antagonistic and populist definition of citizenship tied exclusively to either India or Pakistan. We cannot easily transpose such views of cultural citizenship back into time as it leads to a gravely presentist reading of our musical pasts, and rides roughshod over the complex trajectories musicians' lives took post-1947. Google Books Link: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hdFBDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Essay published in Sahapedia: An Open Online Resource on the Arts, Cultures and Heritage of India... more Essay published in Sahapedia: An Open Online Resource on the Arts, Cultures and Heritage of India (Published online at www.sahapedia.org on 15 February, 2017).
An account of a journey to the Indo-Pak border on the Rajasthan side to celebrate the inauguratio... more An account of a journey to the Indo-Pak border on the Rajasthan side to celebrate the inauguration of the Thar Express rail service between the two countries, at the Peace Fair organised by the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, in 2006.
‘Peerless Playback Singer’ in Biblio: A Review of Books, Vol. XXI, No. 8, 31-2.
A review of two b... more ‘Peerless Playback Singer’ in Biblio: A Review of Books, Vol. XXI, No. 8, 31-2. A review of two biographies of Muhammad Rafi.
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Papers by Radha Kapuria
Google Books Link: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hdFBDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
(Published online at www.sahapedia.org on 15 February, 2017).
Book Reviews by Radha Kapuria
A review of two biographies of Muhammad Rafi.
Google Books Link: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hdFBDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
(Published online at www.sahapedia.org on 15 February, 2017).
A review of two biographies of Muhammad Rafi.