Perspectives on Music: Ideas and Theories

In reality the totality of Indian music is a cumulative result of six musical categories functioning for centuries and enjoying an impressive distribution in India – a country of subcontinental expanse! The six categories are identifiable as primitive, folk, religious, art, popular and confluence. Each category enjoys a unique cultural hinterland though in larger contexts the categories inevitably overlap! Consequently they raise interesting questions about space-time location, produce multiple nuances of interpretaton and create exciting possibilities of developing a wide understanding of the pervasive importance of music. Awareness of multiple Indian musical streams is indeed essential if music is also to contribute towards a bettering of the human condition. The reach, role and effect of music as an ameliorative force can only be appreciated when music is placed in the progressively expanding perspectives of art, culture and life. In a series of essays the author attempts to examine Indian music in dimensions offered by varied disciplines such as education, history, religion, yoga, popular culture, mass media, philosophy, musicology and studies of regional contribution to the overall Indian achievement. Information, knowledge and insight make their presence felt in these well-reasoned and widely based presentations. Some of these essays have been published in national and international journals — but all of them have been re-written to enable inclusion of new data and tightening of presentation.