Music

The most authoritative, comprehensive, and up-to-date reference on the subject, this encyclopaedia covers the story of music in India spread over almost 2000 years and includes more than 5000 in-depth entries by over 100 acclaimed contributors from India and abroad.Covering classical, folk, film, and other forms of music in India, the three volumes provide an overview of the historical and cultural contexts of the musical forms, instruments, and composers. Fully cross-referenced, the encyclopaedia includes detailed entries on all forms of music, dance, raga, tala, gharana, treatises, instruments, and technical terms, and biographical notes on vocalists, musicologists, saint poets, gurus, composers, dancers, and instrumentalists. The over 200 rare photos, paintings, and line drawings of instruments, musicians, and musicologists from family albums and private collections enhance the visual appeal of the work. For the first time, this major undertaking will help to explain much of what music in India is all about and open the subject for a new audience, both in India and abroad.

Since their beginnings in the 1930s, Hindi films and film songs have dominated Indian public culture in India, and have also made their presence felt strongly in many global contexts. Hindi film songs have been described on the one hand as highly standardized and on the other as highly eclectic. Anna Morcom addresses many of the paradoxes eccentricities and myths of not just Hindi film songs but also of Hindi cinema by analysing film songs in cinematic context. While the presence of songs in Hindi films is commonly dismissed aspurely commercial this book demonstrates that in terms of the production process, musical style, and commercial life, it is most powerfully the parent film that shapes and defines the film songs and their success rather than the other way round. While they constitute India's still foremost genre of popular music, film songs are also situational, dramatic sequences, inherently multi-media in style and conception. This book is uniquely grounded in detailed musical and visual analysis of Hindi film songs, song sequences and films as well as a wealth of ethnographic material from the Hindi film and music industries. Its findings lead to highly novel ways of viewing Hindi film songs, their key role in Hindi cinema, and how this affects their wider life in India and across the globe. It will be indispensable to scholars seeking to understand both Hindi film songs and Hindi cinema. It also forms a major contribution to popular music, popular culture, film music studies and ethnomusicology, tackling pertinent issues of cultural production, (multi-)media, and the cross-cultural use of music in Hindi cinema. The book caters for both music specialists as well as a wider audience.

Focus: Popular Music in Contemporary India examines India's musical soundscape beyond the classical and folk traditions of old to consider the culturally, socially, and politically rich contemporary music that is defining and energizing an Indian youth culture on the precipice of a major identity shift. From Bollywood film songs and Indo-jazz to bhangra hip-hop and Indian death metal, the book situates Indian popular music within critical and historical frameworks, highlighting the unprecedented changes the region's music has undergone in recent decades. This critical approach provides readers with a foundation for understanding an Indian musical culture that is as diverse and complex as the region itself. Included are case studies featuring song notations, first-person narratives, and interviews of well-known artists and emerging musicians alike. Illuminated are issues of great import in India today--as reflected through its music--addressing questions of a "national" aesthetic, the effects of Western music, and identity politics as they relate to class, caste, LGBTQ perspectives, and other marginalized voices. Presented through a global lens, Focus: Popular Music in Contemporary India contextualizes the dynamic popular music of India and its vast cultural impact.

First ever history of Jazz in India - matched with rare archival images never-before publishedPackaged with a free CD of original jazz recordings of the time'Fernandes is among the best narrative historians in India today, and his new book is a triumph of storytelling. Taj Mahal Foxtrot's got the beat.' Suketu Mehta'The pictures match the words, producing this jewel of a book, which I read with pleasure, profit, and, above all, admiration.' Ramachandra Guha'For several months now I've been looking forward to the publication of Taj Mahal Foxtrot by Naresh Fernandes. The extracts were fascinating - intensively researched and extremely well written.' Amitav GhoshIn 1935, a violinist from Minnesota named Leon Abbey brought the first 'all negro' jazz band to Bombay, leaving behind a legacy that would last three decades. In a decade, swing would find its way to the streets of India as it influenced Hindi film music - the very soundtrack of Indian life. The optimism of jazz became an important element in the tunes that echoed the hopes of newly independent India.This book tells a story of India - and especially of the city of Bombay - through the lives of a menagerie of geniuses, strivers, and eccentrics, both Indian and American, who helped jazz find a home in the sweaty subcontinent. They include the African- American pianist Teddy Weatherford; Goan trumpet player Frank Fernand, whose epiphanic encounter with Mahatma Gandhi drove him to try to give jazz an Indian voice; Chic Chocolate, who was known as the Louis Armstrong of India; and Anthony Gonsalves, who lent his name to one of the most popular Bollywood tunes ever; and many more. Taj Mahal Foxtrot, at its heart, is a history of Bombay in swing time.