A Collection of essays by diverse hands, Aspects of Indian Music offers accounts of the more prominent facets of the music of India. These writings set out the basic concepts of raga and tala, explain particular song-forms, describe the conservation and teaching of music through the gurushisya parampara. Also included are articles on the raga-time association, raga – mala paintings, and Rabindrasangeet-the songs of Tagore. Comprehensively compiled, the book would aid the lay reader's understanding of the theory and practice of Indian music.
Sumati Mutatkar learnt Hindustani classical music from notable vocalists of the Agra, Gwalior and Rampur gharanas. Her doctoral work at Bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyapeeth, Lucknow, was under the supervision of Pandit S. N. Ratanjankar, from whom she also received comprehensive practical training in vocal music. Sumati Mutatkar worked in All India Radio from 1953 to 1968, and was Dean of the Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, Delhi University, from 1970 to 1981. Over the years she has written and spoken extensively on Indian music; she is also known as a broadcaster and exponent of dhrupada. For her service to music Sumati Mutatkar received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 1979.
A collection of essays by diverse hands, Aspects of Indian Music offers accounts of the more prominent facets of the music of India.
Contributions to the book are chiefly of three kinds; though not separated in sections, they roughly follow the order described. Writings of the first variety set out the basic concepts of raga and tala. Those of the second explain particular song-forms - dhrupada, khayal and thumri. To the third belong articles on the teaching and conservation of music through the guru-shishya system and the gharanas. There are besides articles that share the nature of all three varieties, such as the synoptic survey of Carnatic music-taking in its history, song-forms, instruments. In addition, there are essays on the raga-time association, ragamala paintings and Rabindrasangeet-the songs of Tagore. These several writings are placed in a wider cultural context by 'Music Culture of Peoples', the first paper in the volume; read at the International Music Congress more than a decade ago, it still has astute perceptions to convey on India's music culture vis-a-vis the West's. Contributions to Aspects of Indian Music are mainly expository, and this is in keeping with the intent of the book. Even so, opinion is inevitable in matters aesthetic and historical. Such opinions, where they occur in the book, belong to the writers in question.
Also to be admitted is the overlap inevitable in a book of the kind, but this has its own advantages. For instance, definitions or interpretations of raga and tala, the building blocks of Indian music, are essayed by most of the contributors here; and this recurrence, by virtue of differences of emphasis peculiar to. each writer, only enhances the enquirer's comprehension of these musical phenomena.
Indian music is a vast and many-splendoured thing. Should the present volume promote in some small measure a discerning interest in the musical heritage of India, it will have served its purpose.
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