Series: Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology

An unprecedented portrait of Sikh devotional music demonstrating how musical traditions shift to meet changing needs. Kirtan—the sung expression of sacred verses—spans the Indian subcontinent, but it plays a unique role in the Sikh faith. In Sikh Kirtan and Its Journeys, musicologist Gurminder Kaur Bhogal introduces the devotional tradition of kirtan, examining it alongside the writings of holy figures, the...

Presents a new history of how Hindustani court music responded to the political transitions of the nineteenth century. How far did colonialism transform north Indian music? In the period between the Mughal empire and the British Raj, how did the political landscape bleed into aesthetics, music, dance, and poetry? Examining musical culture through a diverse and multilingual archive, primarily using...

A close look at how Taiwanese musicians are using rap music as a creative way to explore and reconcile Taiwanese identity and history. Like many states emerging from oppressive political rule, Taiwan saw a cultural explosion in the late 1980s, when nearly four decades of martial law under the Chinese Nationalist Party ended. As members of a multicultural, multilingual society...