Musics of India

This semester, we enter the complex world of Indian musics and dance through close listening, embodied practice, and critical reflection. Our focus moves from karnatak music and bharatanatyam dance to folk and religious traditions, culminating in the pervasive soundscape of Indian film music. Developing intimacy with music and dance provides a foundation for examining the effects of colonial knowledge, nationalism, religion, and changing technologies on the arts. As our understanding deepens, we ask how "tradition" is constructed, mobilized, and contested - and what India's vast and diverse musical world reveal about broader questions of identity, culture, and meaning.MUSA3304 was previously MUSA2304.