This vivid introduction to the music of South India discusses historical and contemporary performance, cultural history and geography, and the social organization of performance traditions. It focuses primarily on Karnatak concert music and its formal conventions, modes of performance, and cultural influence within the context of the religious, historical, and political landscape of South India.

• Forward:
• Preface:
• CD Track List:
• 1. Song in South India
• Bhajan (Devotional Song)
• Songs and Singing:
• Meaning of the Text: Devotion, Love, and Praise:
• Celebrating Tyagaraja in the United States and in South India:
• Languages of the Region:
• Kriti:
• Evolution of Kriti
• Text and Context--a Continuum of Performance from Devotion to Virtuosity:
• Music, Language, and Politics:
• The Tamil Music Movement:
• Muttuttandavar (Seventeenth Century):
• The Text of "I Truste...