The Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music (review)

The Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music. By Ludwig Pesch. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999. [xvii, 376 p. ISBN 0-19-564382-8. $39.95.]

Newcomers to the music of the Indian subcontinent often find the many music traditions bewilderingly diverse and the music terminology and theory highly complex. The problem lies both in a social diversity that lends the music to categorization and in music that transcends clear style boundaries. Two of the most common conceits of this musical cornucopia are the classical music traditions of North and South India (Hindustani sangit and Karnataka sangita, respectively). These two porous traditions not only share core concepts about melody (raga) and meter (tala) but have freely incorporated elements from each other, from other classical traditions, and from Indian nonclassical traditions. The tension between this inclusiveness and the tendency for artists and scholars to draw lines of exclusivity around their practices accounts for much of the controversy within the study of Indian music. Of these two classical traditions, the forms of South India are perhaps the most accessible to Western readers and listeners. The South's emphasis on composition and rote memorization is more compatible with many Western notions of classical music than is North India's focus on improvisatory virtuosity.

Ludwig Pesch brings his considerable experience as a musician and scholar of South Indian classical music to this informative introductory volume, which in many ways is a companion to his book on South India raga titled Ragadhana: An Alpha-numerical Directory of Ragas (2d ed. [Irinjalakuda, Trichur District, Kerala, India: Natana Kairali, 1993]). He guides both novices and readers experienced in the music through this nexus of arts from the perspective of a beginning musician. This balance is difficult to maintain, and Pesch sometimes falls into the gap. He demonstrates the kind of attention to detail that performers and scholars embrace, but he sometimes presumes that his readers have had performance experience with this music or have listened to it intensely. For example, his chapter on melodic ornaments (pp. 73-78) provides general descriptions (which sometimes begin to sound prescriptive) that only those who have studied the music would recognize. Usually, though, he shows the reader how performers of Karnataka sangita think about music. The chapter on tala (pp. 128-52) provides a detailed introduction to counting musical time, and the reader learns to appreciate some of the drummer's complex patterns. The material on raga (pp. 87-127) provides an overview and historical summary of this key concept.

While many will find the word "illustrated" in the book's title misleading, this volume does function well as a "companion" for those whose recording collections increasingly hold performances of South Indian music. Listeners who want a handy reference to this style of music will want to keep this book nearby. Pesch provides brief descriptions of the most important music genres (pp. 172-88), brief biographical notes on South Indian "musicians and music scholars" (pp. 224-65), the same on composers (pp. 189-217), and an index of composers' musical pen names (pp. 218- 23). The all-important index to this book is quite thorough and directs the knowledgeable reader clearly and directly. Many readers, however, will find the bibliography and discography frustrating; the former consists of selected items listed alphabetically by title, not author, and the latter of selected items listed mostly by title under performance medium, with references to recording company.

Despite all of its positive attributes, the book has a number of drawbacks. For example, presumably in the interest of attracting and comforting Western readers, Pesch repeatedly invokes parallels between South Indian and European art traditions; see, for example, the discussion of voice production, where he parallels the training of opera and lied singers and that of South Indian musicians (p. 59). The South Indian tradition does not need connections to Euro-American art music to validate it.

Part of the value of a companion volume is the conceit of a connoisseur showing...