Music in Colonial Punjab: Courtesans, Bards, and Connoisseurs, 1800-1947

By Radha Kapuria

This book offers the first social history of music in undivided Punjab (1800-1947), beginning at the Lahore court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and concluding at the Patiala royal darbar. It unearths new evidence for the centrality of female performers and classical music in a region primarily viewed as a folk music centre, featuring a range of musicians and dancers -from 'mirasis' (bards) and 'kalawants' (elite musicians), to 'kanjris' (subaltern female performers) and 'tawaifs' (courtesans). A central theme is the rise of new musical publics shaped by the anglicized Punjabi middle classes, and British colonialists' response to Punjab's performing communities. The book reveals a diverse connoisseurship for music with insights from history, ethnomusicology, and geography on an activity that still unites a region now divided between India and Pakistan.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192867342
• ISBN13: 9780192867346
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 410 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.9" x 8.8"