Rajasthan: An Oral History, Conversations with Komal Kothari (review)

Rajasthan: An Oral History is a groundbreaking work in which noted theater worker, writer, and cultural critic Rustom Bharucha has produced an informative commentary on the rich cultural heritage of the state of Rajasthan, India. This book is based on Bharucha's interviews with noted Indian ethnomusicologist Komal Kothari, and the theoretical, methodological, and ethical insights infused in the presentation and analysis of the materials emerge from the collaboration of the two experts.

Rajasthan is divided into twelve chapters, each of which consists of a narrative by Kothari on a specific theme—for example, water, folk gods and goddesses, oral epics, and women's songs—followed by Bharucha's reflections, responses, and analyses. Their edifying conversation unfolds multiple layers of local, regional, national, and global cultures embedded among various Rajasthani communities. The themes they address range from sociocultural geography, religion, and belief systems to various performance genres: epic, puppetry, foodways, and women's songs. Their examination takes into account globalization, the caste system, gender-roles, the politics and ethics of the representation of culture, the intellectual property rights of folk musicians, and the state of not-for-profit arts and culture organizations in contemporary India.

The introduction and first chapter provide an intimate introduction to Komal Kothari as a person and a scholar, which aids the reader in contextualizing Kothari's viewpoints throughout the book. In "Listening to Komalda," Bharucha describes his writing methodology by reviewing the processes of "inscribing, transcribing, and describing" and exploring various modes of narration through which texts are created. He evaluates "listening" as a "performative act" and illustrates the complexities of listening at various levels—during personal conversation, on tape, and listening to one's own transcribed words in the course of text production.

The chapters entitled "Land" and "Water" contextualize the socioeconomic and cultural relationship between the Rajasthani people and their landscape and illustrate the impact of the geographical elements on their lifestyle, language, and lore. The chapter "Oral Epic" demonstrates the ways in which musical instruments provide insights into the musical repertoire and the geographical locations of various communities. Here, Kothari uses the story of Pabuji and its artistic rendering on par (scroll painting) to illustrate how the texts and contexts of epic performance can inform us about the geography, kinship relationships, and local customs of the community members.

Rajasthan also addresses the subject of the caste system in contemporary India. Through contextual analysis of various folklore forms such as women's songs, teratali (a ritualized dance form), and puppetry, Kothari illuminates the customs, practices, traditions, and cultural changes in the lifestyle of the members of a wide range of communities such as Bhat, Damami, Dholi, Dakot, Kamad, Manganiyar, Nat, and Pavia. Issues connected with the social structure, customs, and repertoires of "Professional Caste Musicians" and their patrons are effectively treated in a chapter with that title.

Although attitudes toward the status of women, creative expressions, and the transformations in gender roles are mentioned at various junctures in the books, the chapters "Sati" and "Women's Songs" provide the most revealing discussions of gender. For example, in "Women's Songs" Kothari points out that, with the development of cassette and compact disk technologies, some caste groups associate public singing with prestige and higher status, while others view it as a low-caste activity and impose restrictions on the public singing of women. The impact of technology on artist communities is further elaborated in "From the Local to the Global: Rajasthani Folk Music in Performance" and "Marketing the Folk." These chapters employ specific examples from the lives of the performers to address the complexities enmeshed in the politics of national culture, the international festival circuit, the globalization of folk culture, and the intellectual property rights of folk musicians.

By blending the techniques...