Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2015
Abstract
Hathrasi rasiya is a traditional song genre of North India’s Braj region, performed by semi-professional members of music clubs (akhār.ās) and informed by a complex set of prosodic schemes, with secondary melodic aspects. As these schemes involve, however tangentially, a kind of music theory, and the genre is patronized by local elites and enjoyed by connoisseurs, it constitutes a member of the “intermediate sphere” of regional genres that share features of both classical and folk musics. Although currently in a state of decline, Hathrasi rasiya flourished vigorously in the twentieth century. This article surveys its formal features and its place in Braj music culture and in the broader category of North Indian intermediary genres.
Comments
This work was originally published in Asian Music, available at DOI 10.1353/amu.2015.0012