Skip to content
1981
Volume 4, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2059-0660
  • E-ISSN: 2059-0679

Abstract

The ephemerality of music is a consuming philosophical problem; it is also a practical dilemma for archivists and researchers. For oral traditions such as Indian classical music, notations, recordings and transcriptions fail to capture much of what is communicated in musical performance, which problematizes the creation and function of archives. This article explores an approach to archiving musical practices in relation to constitutive processes of emplacement, a complex I denote by the term ‘thick sound’. Using a rich and historic Dhrupad tradition as a case study, I discuss how I used documentary, material, aural, embodied and sensory performance data to construct my archive. I investigate the ways in which such documentation captures ecologies of music-making and the challenges posed for the analysis of histories of (thick) sound. I conclude by discussing the implications for theorizing archival work as active intervention, mediating relationships of past, present and future.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/itj_00005_1
2020-08-01
2026-04-22

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bakhle, Janaki. ( 2005), Two Men and Music: Nationalism in the Making of an Indian Classical Tradition, New Delhi:: Oxford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bandyopadhyay, Gopeswar. ( 1917), Sangit Chandrika, Kolkata:: Rabindra Bharati University;.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Basso, Keith H.. ( 1996;), ‘ Wisdom sits in places: Notes on a Western Apache landscape. ’, in K. H. Basso, and S. Feld. (eds), Senses of Place, Sante Fe, NM:: School of American Research Press;, pp. 5390.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Basu, Shivendranath. ( 1924), Sangit Samuchchai, vol. I, Varanasi:: Bharat Kala Parishad;.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Bua, Ingle. ( 1936), Pandit Gayanacharya K. Balkrishnabua Ichalkaranjikar yanche Charitra (in Marathi), Pune:: Aryabhushan Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Casey, Edward. ( 1996;), ‘ How to get from space to place in a fairly short stretch of time. ’, in K. H. Basso, and S. Feld. (eds), Senses of Place, Sante Fe, NM:: School of American Research Press;, pp. 1352.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Casey, Edward. ( [1987] 2000), Remembering: A Phenomenological Study, Bloomington, IN:: Indiana University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Farrell, Gerry. ( 1997), Indian Music and the West, Oxford:: Clarendon Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Feld, Steven. ( 1996;), ‘ Waterfalls of song – an acoustemology of place resounding in Bosavi, Papua New Guinea. ’, in K. H. Basso, and S. Feld. (eds), Senses of Place, Sante Fe, NM:: School of American Research Press;, pp. 91135.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Feld, Steven. ( 2010;), ‘ Re-producing acoustic landscapes. ’, in P. Gagliardi,, B. Latour, and P. Memelsdorff. (eds), Coping with the Past: Creative Perspectives on Conservation and Restoration, Firenze:: Leo S. Olschki;, pp. 97114.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Deshpande, Vamanrao H.. ( [1973] 1987), Indian Musical Traditions: An Aesthetic Sutdy of the Gharanas in Hindustani Music, Bombay:: Popular Prakashan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Ganguly, O. C.. ( 1935), Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources, Mumbai:: Nalanda Books;.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Geertz, Clifford. ( 1973), The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays, New York:: Basic Books;.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Kashi Sangeet Samaj ( 2006), Dharohar, Varanasi:.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Khan, Alladiya. ( 2000), Khansahab Alladiya Khan: My Life, translated by Amlan Das Gupta and Urmila Bhirdikar, Kolkata:: Thema;.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Lahiry, Kartik. ( 1977;), ‘ Bettiah Gharana: A school of Dhrupad. ’, Journal of the Indian Musicological Society, 8:3, pp. 2947.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Misra, Kameswaranatha. ( 1997), Kasi ki Sangita Parampara: Sangita Jagat ko Kasi ka Yoga Dana, Lucknow:: Bharat Book Center;.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Neuman, Daniel M.. ( 1980), The Life of Music in North India, Detroit, MI:: Wayne State University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Novak, David, and Sakakeeny, Matt. ( 2015), Keywords in Sound, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Ranganathan, Sumitra. ( 2015;), ‘ Dwelling in my voice: Tradition as musical judgment and aesthetic sense in North Indian classical Dhrupad. ’, Ph.D. thesis, Berkeley, CA:: University of California;.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Sanyal, Amiyanath. ( 1953), Smritir Atale, Kolkata:: Calcutta Mitralaya;.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Sanyal, Ritwik, and Widdess, David Richard. ( 2004), Dhrupad: Tradition and Performance in Indian Music, Aldershot:: Ashgate;.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Sastri, Sudarsanacarya. ( 1916), Sangit Sudarsan, Benares:: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series;.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Sayyid Safdar Husain Khan Dehlavi ( 1873), Qanoon-e-Sitara, Lucknow:: Munshi Naval Kishor Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Schofield, Katherine Butler. ( 2013;), ‘ Chief musicians to the Mughal emperor: The Delhi kalawant biraderi, 17th to 19th centuries. ’, Journal of the Indian Musicological Society, n.pag.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Shelemay, Kay. ( 2011;), ‘ Musical communities: Rethinking the collective in music. ’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 64:2, pp. 34990.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Singh, Gajendra Narain. ( 1990), Bihar ki Sangita Parampara, Patna:: Sarada Prakasana;.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Subramanian, Lakshmi. ( 2006), From the Tanjore Court to the Madras Music Academy, New Delhi:: Oxford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Truax, Barry. ( 2001), Acoustic Communication, , 2nd ed.., Westport, CT:: Ablex;.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Wade, Bonnie. ( 1984), Khyal: Creativity within North India’s Music Tradition, Cambridge:: Cambridge University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Weidman, Amanda. ( 2006), Singing the Classical, Voicing the Modern: The Postcolonial Politics of Voice in South India, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Ranganathan, Sumitra. ( 2020;), ‘ Reimagining the archive as thick sound: A case study of Dhrupad from Bettiah and beyond. ’, Indian Theatre Journal, 4:1, pp. 3958, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/itj_00005_1
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/itj_00005_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/itj_00005_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): archiving practice; Dhrupad; emplacement; Indian music; performance; sound
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test