The Intermediate Sphere in North Indian Music Culture: Between and Beyond ‘Folk’ and ‘Classical’

Authors

Peter L. Manuel, CUNY Graduate CenterFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 2015

Abstract

If in discourse about traditional music in North India, the notions of “folk” and “classical” continue to be widely used, in this essay I posit the existence of an “intermediate sphere,” comprising a heterogeneous set of traditional music genres that, in different ways, shares features with both folk and classical realms. I suggest five categories in this socio-musical stratum and provide brief glimpses of some of their constituents and distinguishing features, including the distinctive sorts of theory they embody and elite patronage that sustains them. I conclude with observations about historical changes in the status of this sphere in general.

Comments

This work was originally published in Ethnomusicology, available at DOI: 10.5406/ethnomusicology.59.1.0082 .