In this Book
- The Voice in the Drum: Music, Language, and Emotion in Islamicate South Asia
- Book
- 2014
- Published by: University of Illinois Press
summary
Based on extensive field research in India and Pakistan, this new study examines the ways drumming and voices interconnect over vast areas of South Asia and considers what it means for instruments to be voice-like and carry textual messages in particular contexts. Richard K. Wolf employs a hybrid, novelistic form of presentation, in which a fictional protagonist interacts with Wolf's field consultants, to communicate ethnographic and historical realities that transcend the local details of any one person's life. The narrative explores how the themes of South Asian Muslims and their neighbors coming together, moving apart, and relating to God and spiritual intermediaries resonate across ritual and expressive forms such as drumming and dancing. Wolf weaves in the story of a family led by Ahmed Ali Khan, a North Indian ruler who revels in the glories of 19th century life, when many religious communities joined together harmoniously in grand processions. His journalist son Muharram Ali obsessively scours the subcontinent in pursuit of a music he naively hopes will dissolve religious and political barriers. The story charts the breakdown of this naiveté. A daring narrative of music, religion and politics in late twentieth century South Asia, The Voice in the Drum delves into the social and religious principles around which Muslims, Hindus, and others bond, create distinctions, reflect upon one another, or decline to acknowledge differences.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-xii
- An Essential Note from the Author
- pp. xiii-xiv
- Note from the Editor
- pp. xv-xviii
- Note on Transcription and Musical Symbols
- pp. xix-xxiv
- Chapter 2. Emotional Agents
- pp. 23-54
- Chapter 3. Tone and Stroke
- pp. 55-80
- Chapter 4. Beyond the Mātra
- pp. 81-114
- Chapter 5. Muharram in Multan
- pp. 115-144
- Chapter 6. Shah Jamal
- pp. 145-164
- Chapter 7. Madho Lal
- pp. 165-187
- Chapter 8. The Manifest and the Hidden
- pp. 188-221
- Chapter 9. The Voice in the Drum
- pp. 222-249
- Chapter 10. A Silver Box
- pp. 250-258
- Appendix A Dhīmā and Mātam
- pp. 259-264
- References
- pp. 327-336
Additional Information
ISBN
9780252096501
Related ISBN(s)
9780252038587
MARC Record
OCLC
894227410
Pages
408
Launched on MUSE
2015-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2014