Anglo-Indian Identity, Knowledge, and Power

Western Ballroom Music in Lucknow

Bradley Shope

Beginning in the first half of the 20th century, Western ballroom and dance music began to make its way into Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, as well as other cities in North India. It was imported via gramophone disks, radio broadcasts, and sheet music coming from Europe and America. In the 1930s, an increasing number of dance halls, railway social institutes, auditoriums, and cafe´s were built to cater to a growing number of British and Americans in India, satisfying their nostalgia for the live performance of the foxtrot, the tango, the waltz, the rumba, big-band music, and Dixieland. Influenced by sound and broadcast technology, sheet music, instrument availability, the railway system, and convent schools teaching music, an appreciation for these styles of music was found in other communities. Especially involved were Portuguese Goans and Anglo-Indians, defined here as those of European and Indian descent who were born and raised in India.1 For these two groups, it served to assert their identities as distinct from other South Asians and highlighted that their taste for music reached beyond the geographical boundaries of India. Numerous types of media, institutions, and venues contributed to this vibrant Western music performance culture in Lucknow in the early 20th century. James Perry, an elderly Goan musician, and Mr. John Sebastian and Mr. Jonathan Taylor,2 two elderly Anglo-Indian ex-railway workers, were involved in its performance and appreciation.3 By drawing from multiple field interviews in North India conducted with these individuals between 1999 and 2001, and by de- scribing the character of the performance culture, I will highlight the role of music in creating socioeconomic mobility and a distinct identity among Anglo-Indians in Lucknow, and address issues of power relations and colonialism with reference to the consumption of the music. Just before and during World War II, Lucknow was considered a strategic military defense location because of the fear of bombing campaigns in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) by the Japanese military. A large portion of the Allied Eastern Command was moved inland and established in Lucknow to counter

The Drama Review 48, 4 (T184), Winter 2004. ᭧ 2004 New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 168 Bradley Shope this threat. A large cantonment area built in the early 19th century greatly increased in size during the war, which generated a growth of businesses in an area adjacent to its periphery (see Llewellyn-Jones 1985). Beginning in the 1920s, this locale, known as Hazrat- ganj, was considered a center for the sale of European goods and services. By the time the British left Luck- now after India won independence in 1947, a number of dance halls, cinema houses, sheet music and instrument stores, and cafe´s were built there to cater to a growing British, Goan, and Anglo-Indian popu- 1. The Mayfair Cinema lation celebrating the popular and ballroom music and Ballroom featured pop- originating from America and Europe. Cafe´s and dance halls with names such ular music and English- as Magnolia’s Cafe´, the Ambassador, the Mayfair Ballroom, Melrose, the Sol- language films during the dier’s Club, the Silver Snow, and the Royal Cafe´ catered to the performance 1920s to 1940s. The audito- of the music. Cinema halls such as the Mayfair Cinema (plates 1 and 2), Cap- rium is currently abandoned itol Cinema, Nishat Cinema, Prince Cinema, Wesley Cinema, and Plaza Cin- and the ballroom is a cafe´. ema showed English-language films from Europe and America. Godino’s Lucknow, India. (Photo by Music Shop in Hazratganj was selling and distributing sheet music and instru- Bradley Shope) ments. All of these venues supported the economic growth of the music. The styles of music performed were the jazz foxtrot, the popular waltz, the popular tango, big-band jazz, swing, cabaret songs, and Hollywood war-film songs. Dependent on technology and trans–regional/global economic net- works for their dissemination, these styles were mass-mediated, and as such were heard by large numbers of people in multiple and often times distant geographic locales. The music was produced, performed, and recorded in Europe and America. But because unique local performance techniques were employed in Lucknow, the performance and consumption of the music was “In- dian” in character, especially with reference to improvisational skills taken from North Indian classical music. The performance of the music was “West- ern” only inasmuch as it was learned by Anglo-Indians and Goans from gramophone discs, films, recorded radio broadcasts, and published sheet music coming directly from Europe and America. Examples of recording artists found in gramophone collections of residents of Lucknow include Glen Miller,

2. Still intact, the lobby of the Mayfair Cinema and Ballroom. Lucknow, India. (Photo by Bradley Shope)

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Survey of 78 RPM Collections in Lucknow

The following is an abbreviated list of 78 RPM disks found in the collections of Raja “Jimmy,” a wealthy man of royal descent living just off Hazratganj in Lucknow, and Mrs. D’Costa, an Anglo-Indian woman. These are all from the 1930s through the 1950s. This list includes only music recorded in Europe and America, but many of the labels included here, including larger labels such as HMV, also pressed songs in Hindi and Urdu. Most of the ballroom music found in both collections was distributed by HMV, which built a factory in Dumdum outside of Kol- kata in the early 20th century, and Columbia records.

Raja “Jimmy’s” 78 RPM Collection “Dance Away the Night.” Leo Riesman and His Orchestra. HMV. “Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight.” Ambrose and His Orchestra. HMV. “You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me.” Ambrose and His Orchestra. HMV. “To Be in Love.” Warring’s Pennsylvanians. HMV. “Mr. Blackman Cakewalk.” H.M. Goldstream Guards. Gramophone Concert Record-London. “Silvery Moon and Golden Sands.” Henry Jacques and His Correct Dance Tempo Orchestra. HMV. “Scotch Country Dance.” Bohemian Orchestra. HMV-London. “The Waltz Dream.” The Black Diamonds. Gramophone Concert Record. HMV-London. “Following the Sun Around.” Jacques Benard and His Orchestra. HMV- London. “Too Romantic.” Glen Miller and His Orchestra. HMV-London. “Falling in Love Again.” Jack Hylton and His Orchestra. HMV-London. “You’re Always in my Arms.” Ben Pollack and His Dixieland Central Orchestra. HMV-London. “Blue Sky’s Are Around the Corner.” M. Pierre and His Strict Dance Orchestra. HMV-London.

Mrs. D’Costa’s 78 RPM Collection “Easter Parade.” Bing Crosby. Columbia. “Bells of St. Mary’s.” Bing Crosby. Columbia. “Voices of Spring.” Boston Promenade Orchestra. HMV. “Where Is Sometime?” Frank Sinatra. Columbia. “Wish Me Luck.” Gracie Fields. The Twins. “Trees.” Nielson Eddie. HMV. “Dancin’ Banjos.” Multiple Performers. Gramophone Company of India. “Ballroom Favorites.” Multiple Performers. Spectrum (Holland). “Hello Young Lovers.” Ray Conniff. Hallmark.

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 170 Bradley Shope Leo Riesman and His Orchestra, Ambrose and His Orchestra, the Bohemian Orchestra, The Black Diamonds, Jacques Benard, Ben Pollack and His Dixie- land Central Orchestra, and Frank Sinatra.4 All are recordings of waltzes, fox- trots, big band, or other pieces that are appropriate in a ballroom or formal dance environment in an auditorium, dance hall, or other establishment with a stage and dancing area. The boxed sidebar gives an example of the styles of music that were available in the 1930s through the 1950s in Hazratganj. One of the main orchestras performing frequently in and around Lucknow beginning in the 1930s was the Savoyans Orchestra (plate 3). Many orchestras had multiple performers playing on diverse instruments such as the ukulele, banjo, trumpet, double bass, saxophone, clarinet, flute, violin, and drums. The number of musical groups and venues increased beginning in the 1930s with the buildup of American and British military personnel during WWII. A testament to the vibrancy of the music scene at this time, a number of elaborate halls were constructed to accommodate the British, Americans, Goans, and Anglo-Indians willing to pay a significant amount of money to attend an evening of dancing.5 An example of one such venue is the Mayfair Cinema and Ballroom constructed in 1939 in Hazratganj in Lucknow. This hall has remark- able art deco characteristics such as “sunburst” hand railings, upward protrud- ing columns, and a streamlined and symmetrical box office design in the lobby of the cinema. Much effort and money was put into constructing this building in a style that mirrored architectural trends in America and Europe. Though only a small fraction of the people in the city at this time were participating in the consumption of this music, they had the power and finances to support an enthusiastic celebration of the music by hiring full orchestras to perform in elaborate halls. These performances continued until Indian Independence.

Constructing Anglo-Indian Musical Knowledge Formal knowledge about and appreciation for ballroom music and dancing was supported by the convent educational system in India. Many convent schools throughout North India were teaching music, and some even encour- aging students to learn jazz. Sheet music was widely available in most cities with well-known schools, and an efﬁcient network of distribution was organized out of Kolkata. Some students were also learning to dance to ballroom music. There were often formal school-sponsored dances that were an outlet for a public appreciation of the music and a forum for social interaction among youth. Students with British ancestry were allocated space at many of the best British-run schools before 1947, and children from a young age were devel- oping an aesthetic for the music both at home and in the school setting. In Lucknow, there were also a small number of private music schools run largely by Goans teaching piano, violin, and ballroom dancing (Advani 2001). For musicians, radio broadcasts and gramophone discs had the most direct impact on the styles of music being performed, musical techniques employed, and the development of virtuosity in musicianship. Consider James Perry, an elderly Goan man who came from a musical family with a Portuguese father who played violin and mother who sang European folk songs in the home. He was exposed to music through his parents and initially learned to play the ukulele. As a young child, he used to take lessons from his father, but when he became exposed to popular music on BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) coming from Europe, his taste in music shifted. He attended La Martinere Boys School in Lucknow, a highly regarded boarding school, where he was exposed to other musicians listening to this music and frequently attended the school-sponsored dances. Perry commented on how he learned to play the guitar in the 1930s:

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 Ballroom Music in Lucknow 171 The ﬁrst radio that came into Lucknow was my father’s. We used to play BBC then. [It was] all BBC in the 1930s. We also had Columbia and HMV [gramophone companies]. My father was crazy about [music]. Only because of him I learned music. You could get [sheet] music in [Hazratganj]. Any bloody thing. You could go to the shops. My father taught all bloody music. Then what happened? We started to improvise. My father didn’t like this. Then what happened was that we made our own radios, and listened to what we wanted. My father didn’t like it. Then after that gradually we learned to play the real jazz, I mean the im- prov. (Perry 2001)

Perry and his brothers made their own radios, and were able to listen to jazz and other Western music via BBC, and probably VOA (Voice of America) and Radio Ceylon, which his father did not approve of. He also had the capacity to buy gramophone disks in the Hazratganj area of Lucknow with money he made working on motorcycles in the early 1930s. All standard ballroom music recordings were available at this time, and people were buying them, especially Anglo-Indians and Goans. Many advertisements for radios and gramophone records and players can be found in The Pioneer, one of the main English- language newspapers in Lucknow at the time (plate 4).6 Several stores sold them, and multiple brands were available, testament to the inﬂuence of technology and media in supporting shifting aesthetics and new performance styles. The radios or gramophone discs that brought ballroom music to India were a luxury people in Lucknow did not have prior to this time. One deﬁning characteristic of these styles of music was improvisation. An ability to improvise in a manner unique to Lucknow and North India was appreciated by the British and Americans living there (Perry 2001). Because of the improvisatory qualities found in the formal structure of the music, there was an outlet for creative expression during a performance. Again consider James Perry. Here he comments on the presence of solo improvisation in the performance of the music:

It was some of the best music [...,] solid. We had some really gifted chaps. And people who used to dance. Good dancers. Starting in the

3. The Savoyans Orchestra performed in Lucknow during the 1930s. (Courtesy of Barbara Antonis)

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 4. Advertisement for a G.D.R. Radio in the Pio- neer Newspaper in Luck- now, 3 January 1942. (Courtesy of the Pioneer Newspaper)

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 Ballroom Music in Lucknow 173 early 1920s there was Louis Armstrong, [then] Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, [and] Jack Teagarden. I studied all this, I played all this, I listened to their records. I started by playing guitar. I used to solo, and solo over chords, unlike people these days. (2001)

During this interview, Perry continued on by demonstrating improvisatory techniques he used under complex chordal movements. He and other Anglo- Indians living in Lucknow during the ﬁrst half of the 20th century took pride in the fact that they could recognize, understand, and appreciate the complex- ity of improvisation. Perry and the other Lucknow musicians employed classical Indian ragas and other Indian classical music performance techniques in the improvisation, as well as in the ornamentation of the melodic and rhyth- mic structure. There was also an effort to learn how to properly perform the music in a large dance hall or outdoor setting, which was the context under which Brit- ish and Americans would have most appreciated its performance. Consider Perry’s remark about the ampliﬁcation of instruments at this time in Lucknow:

We used to make our own amplifiers. My brother was an electrical engi- neer. He was always working to make better amplifiers, [to] fine tune them. The sound and depth are spectacular now. But there is something missing. They’ve taken out the essence [with amplifiers now]. Then we made [guitar pick-ups]. I could work with magnets [to make guitar string pick-ups]. And you could make the best transistors: clarity. And you could get Phillips radios. And we got BBC. (2001)

Audio amplifiers were not available in Lucknow at the time, so it was important that the technical knowledge necessary to make audio amplifiers and “pick-ups,” the equipment used to amplify the instruments in a large hall or for an outdoor performance, was appreciated and pursued. Amplification was necessary for the performance of the music on occasions where people were dancing and conversing at a large evening social event, as well as outdoors. The concept of balance and multi-instrument performance practice was also vital. The balancing of instruments contributed to a virtuosic performance of the music, especially because improvisation was involved. Building amplifiers and other equipment demonstrated knowledge of music beyond individual skill and into group performance practice. As plate 5 illustrates, there were often performances involving multiple performers and instrumentations. This advertisement is for a venue in Hazratganj in Lucknow called the “Ambassador,” which was commonly known during World War II as the “American Club” because, according to Perry, American military personnel frequently attended. In this case the orchestra, Boris and His Boys, was performing with a four- member sax team, a four-member brass section, a bassist, a rhythm man or drummer, a pianist, and a singer, all conducted by Boris, the band leader. Knowledge of group performance practice would have been difficult to grasp by only listening to sound recordings. It was spread in a number of ways in the first part of the 20th century, and most notable here was the modern and efficient railway system. Handsomely designed social clubs at most large and midsize railway stations played a role in passing on techniques and styles of performance, as well as other logistical concerns such as how to build and perform with an amplified sound system. These railway social institutes had large, elaborate dance halls where groups throughout North and Central India performed for railway workers, many of whom were Goan and Anglo-Indian. The larger institutes in Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai on occasion had perfor-

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5. Advertisement for Boris and His Boys at the Am- bassador Club, 29 October 1944. (Courtesy of the Pio- neer Newspaper)

mances by foreign big bands from Britain and America (Sebastian 2000). The railway system throughout North India created a network of musicians and performance venues for local and foreign performers that was an efﬁcient way of connecting musicians with similar interests. Once again, modern technology played a large role in the celebration, development, and consumption of the music.

Constructing Anglo-Indian Musical Identity Arjun Appadurai (1996 and 2001) addresses globalized cultural forms in a more contemporary light with reference to, for example, Indian cricket, the internet, and an efficient and inexpensive air travel system. Appadurai’s thesis here maintains that various local media, products, and technologies are often global in origin. As such, our knowledge of them may be partially determined by the imagination, as we may not have directly experienced the circumstances under which they were created. In a globalized world, the construction of our social reality is often inseparable from ideas, images, and sounds that come from elsewhere (Appadurai 2001). Modern technology does not necessarily only belong to the latest stage in globalized processes. For decades technology and other institutions have been heavily influencing local sensibilities by creating what Appadurai calls a “global imagination.” In this instance, beginning in the late 1920s and early 1930s, communities of musicians in Lucknow were learning to play new styles of music brought to them by a technologically mediated, nonindigenous source. The sound technology had a significant impact on the Anglo-Indian population, who were enthusiastically appreciating the music and, in Lucknow, were often the gatekeepers at the dance venues, policing the type of patron entering the establishments (Advani 2001). Anglo-Indian identity can be characterized with reference to music, table manners, dress, language, etc., or, more importantly here, the shifting perception of these characteristics among others, both those in power before 1947 and those not. Though all groups, communities, cultures, societies, etc., are characterized in some way by hy- bridity, Anglo-Indians were shaped under very specific conditions (see Eras- mus 2001:21).7 Primarily, their place in South Asian society was determined by the British authority. The British sometimes gave them preference for

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 Ballroom Music in Lucknow 175 high-level employment, sometimes not. Sometimes they were given positions in the British-run school system, sometimes not. Anglo-Indian identities have been constructed in this context of British power, which at times left little control over self-representation. Once the British left, those who chose not to receive an education, or those who received their education in the British-run schools for the less wealthy, were left without an opportunity for jobs. Many were either uneducated or educated outside of the Indian school system, which also made it difﬁcult to enter Indian universities (Roychowdhury 2000:291–92). Thousands of Anglo-Indians were left impoverished or without employment opportunities after 1947. The scholarship on “hybrid” or “mixed races” most often highlights the idea that people have produced their own identities within the context of their relationships to contrasting groups between which they are considered situated (see Erasmus 2001). Here there is also an emphasis on the production of identity that is marked simultaneously by continuity and change, and the power of individual agency in its construction. In the Anglo-Indian example in the 1930s and 1940s, they were actively appreciating the music through performance, which was a move away from any self-description or self-history with reference to British colonialism, and into the outward celebration of their distinct identities. By saying “this is what we do” in the performance of popular music in Lucknow, Anglo-Indians were also claiming that “this is who we are.” An overwhelming majority of those living in South Asia during the ﬁrst part of the 20th century did not appreciate Western popular music, but Anglo-Indians did. The British (and Americans during the war) listened to the music and went to clubs and cafe´s, but did not perform it in Lucknow. Most of the musicians were Goan (who again are generally considered Anglo-Indian in Lucknow), with a few non-Goan Anglo-Indians. In their appreciation and mastery of music, Anglo-Indians were distinct from both the British and other Indians. Robert Armstrong, when speaking of aesthetics and taste, maintains that the art and music

of different cultures enact different kinds of notions concerning what is desirable for a created work to achieve. From culture to culture [...] there are different reasons why the work has power and owns presence, and differences therefore in the way the work is regarded. (1981:9)

Though this music was mass-mediated and performed with the intent of following performance styles from America and Europe, its celebration was dis- tinctly local, and its role in highlighting the nature of the Anglo-Indian and Goan population in Lucknow profound. One important element in the performance of the music that made it aes- thetically pleasing was its connection to past performances. Armstrong refers to a similar idea in terms of a work-in-invocation, which exists “in an ambient of time” and is linked to “what has happened to it in the past portion of its being” (11). The music, as it existed on gramophone disks, was considered the ideal, and there was an attempt to mirror many of its characteristics.8 During a performance, whether or not one could recognize any sort of link to the recorded music was important in the construction of an aesthetic. One would have to feel that a connection is made, and in this very moment a social relationship to the West is made. It is as if one is saying “they” (i.e., the West) know how to make this music, and so do “we.” Identity here can be under- stood as feeling “Western” with regards to the appreciation of music. The railroad was also important in the construction of an Anglo-Indian mu-

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 176 Bradley Shope sical identity. Mr. Sebastian, a man who lived most of his life in Jamalpur in the state of Bihar, settled in Lucknow in 1971. He worked in various administra- tive capacities in several cities and traveled frequently. Jamalpur has a large rail junction and he was involved in the organization of special events during World War II. He worked for a brief period with the American Women’s Camp promoting social events, including dances at the institute. Sebastian emphasizes that the institutes were socially accepted venues. He claims that they were “for your betterment,” hinting that one would benefit from the social dynamic at the dances. He also indicates that the Anglo-Indian community “was in various towns” and the main social establishments were the institutes. The concept of community here is pan–North Indian, held together by multiple institutes all connected efficiently by the rail system. A sense of Anglo- Indianness was solidified, at least according to Mr. Sebastian, by the railroad (Sebastian 2000).

I’m going back to the 1940s. Our [Anglo-Indian] community was in [many] towns [...and] you had institutes. The British provided us with enough facilities to keep you going. So we held dances on the weekend. The ladies had to be in evening dress. It was the “in” thing. I remember even as a youngster, we were particular about our shoes. We had the institutes...clubs we used to call them. Every institute had a wooden ﬂoor for dancing. There were springs in the wood to bounce. I started dancing on my own. I learned on my own. I was in charge of the American Woman’s Camp, so you see, they used to say, “Oh, c’mon. Dance with us.” And I used to do the jitterbug with them. In the 1940s I was in Ja- malpur, where there was a large Railway Institute. The British set up every station, right along the whole of this country. Every station we had an institute, for your betterment. I tell you, in Jamalpur we had a band, a band with strings. It was a 20-piece band. Music was all there. You just could not sit out. (2000)

These social institutes were important for a few reasons. Not only were they places to dance, but also gave musicians an opportunity to interact with each other, even with musicians who lived in distant geographic locales in North India. Those who were not performing the music were also involved in spreading an awareness and taste for the music among Anglo-Indian and Goan railway workers. For many Anglo-Indians, the railroad created and sustained a sense of pride in their celebration of the music. The music was appreciated beyond the confines of Lucknow, and was found over large stretches of land ab- sent of any modernized awareness, even in terrifically isolated areas that would normally bring about highly regionalized and localized traditions, in part because of the rail system and the large number of Anglo-Indians that worked on it. Anglo-Indians knew that this music was not only being heard in Europe and America, but also in other parts of India, which created a pan–North India sense of unity, and a unique and coherent musical landscape solidified by technology and the railroad. As another example, consider Mr. Taylor.9 He grew up on the railroad and his father, a British man, worked for the railroad out of Kanpur, a city just south of Lucknow in the state of Uttar Pradesh. From his early childhood, Taylor always wanted to work on the railway, and began apprenticing as a young boy after school. As the son of a British man, he was able to attend La Martiniere Boys School in Lucknow. There he learned Urdu as a second language, and came to be quite fluent. Urdu is the language spoken by many Muslims in Lucknow. After apprenticing, he went on to be a firefighter for

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 Ballroom Music in Lucknow 177 awhile, working on the ﬁre cars as a rescue worker. Because he was ﬂuent in Urdu, he was recognized as an asset to the system since most Anglo-Indians and British laborers at the time could only speak English and a broken Hin- dustani (a mixture of Hindi, Urdu, and English). He quickly moved up the ranks from a goods driver to a passenger driver, then to an express passenger driver. His family was stationed in Kanpur, but he spent most of his life trav- eling along the railroad and obtained a high rank in the hierarchy, much higher, he claims, than the British would have allowed before they left in 1947. He remembers learning to dance from the young women. He emphasizes often that these women were convent educated. He is also very frank in stating that no Indians were allowed in the railway institutes. Others outside of the Anglo-Indian, British, and American communities were more than likely not welcome. Taylor highlights a particular type of patron at the institutes: women who were getting a good education and knew how to dance because it was an accepted tradition carried on by the family. He states that they learned from their mothers, not from simply going to clubs and dancing to “pop music.” The idea that it was a learned tradition legitimizes the celebration of the music as a suitable activity for young couples. These young women were not, as he describes it, “modern,” but merely convent-educated women that were car- rying on the proper way of courting young men as taught by their mothers. The institutes were important in facilitating social interaction among Anglo- Indians, and in this example served as a way young men and women could interact. In the following excerpt he addresses these ideas and is sure to distinguish between “modern” women of today listening to “pop” music and the convent-educated women of the past:

Well, [...] there were girls then. They all went to convent schools, and they learned [to dance] from their mothers. And we learned from them. And we used to go to swimming pools with them. And they taught us. We [Anglo-Indians] were the only people that used to go there [to the railways clubs]. Now the institutes are in a terrible state. The swimming pools are dirty. They don’t maintain them. Then things were so much nicer. At the age of 15 or 16, the girls and the boys quietly used to go to the pool or the river and have a swim, and later to dance. Now there are so many objections to this. [...T]he girls in the convent schools used to come, and they were allowed in. But no Indians allowed in. You see, now there are a lot of the Indians and modern girls that are fond of the pop music. Then it was the girls in the convent schools. They were de- cent girls. (Taylor 2001)

British/Anglo-Indian Power Relations England was the colonial power during this period, so issues of power relations and class also arise. Pierre Bourdieu maintains that

scientiﬁc observation shows that cultural needs are the product of up- bringing and education: surveys establish that all cultural practices and preferences in [...] music are closely linked to education level and sec- ondarily to social origin. (1987:1)

According to his thesis, there is a social hierarchy of the arts: our aesthetic appreciation of the arts corresponds to a social hierarchy among consumers. Taste is linked to markers of class (1). In a sense, the capacity to appreciate is a function of knowledge or an ability to perceive. Music has interest only for

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 178 Bradley Shope someone who possesses the “cultural competence” for recognizing its depth (2–3). One who lacks a specific “code,” as Bourdieu calls it, feels “lost in a chaos of sounds and rhythms, colors and lines, without rhythm or reason” (2). Most Anglo-Indians interviewed in Lucknow expressed a deep appreciation for certain styles or composers, and could articulate names of popular genres such as big band, Dixieland, swing, etc. It is safe to assume that so could many of the British and American military and political personnel attending the dances. Here there was an aesthetic link that one would connect to class. The Brit- ish were in political power; Anglo-Indians were not, but they had a similar taste for the music. Some semblance of power was appropriated by Anglo- Indians in their aggressive appreciation of the music, if only through facilitating informal interaction between the two communities. It is difficult to know exactly the extent to which the British felt a connectedness to Anglo-Indians because they too listened to the music, but at the very least they were accepted into British and American ballrooms and other establishments, except for the officers’ clubs. Some interviewees indicated that people not of European descent were not allowed in most clubs in Hazratganj, and that Indian clothing such as saris was generally frowned upon in the clubs.10 Even though the Anglo-Indians were not ranked with the British in the political hierarchy,they were at the very least seen as of a certain aesthetic class by the British, and as such further distinguished from other South Asians. People often distinguish themselves by the distinctions they make between the beautiful and the unattractive, the sophisticated and the crude, etc. This taste in music can create cultural mobility. The definition of musical aesthetics in this circumstance includes the social uses of music and its function in the power relations that existed between multiple groups in South Asia, with the British at the top with reference to the political control of India. The music gave Anglo-Indians access to highly selective groups, and as such they were empowered. Most others, at least those not in an upper economic class, would not have been allowed to go to these dances and, with regards to the consumption of this music, the British remained inaccessible. Many Anglo-Indians and Goans I interviewed in Lucknow claim that in the past a negative image was at times thrust on them because of their half-Indian, half-European identity. An enthusiastic participation in and performance of these styles of music served to distinguish their aesthetic as unique, and demonstrated a global musical sensibility. As Perry teaches us, beginning in the 1920s this was possible because musicians could listen to, learn, and perform the music in a manner supported by an efficient network of performers who had the resources to become virtuosic musicians. Some of the construction of Anglo-Indian identity came from their claim to emulate an aesthetic similarly appropriated by their British and Western counterparts. But their celebration of the music was different, as they ultimately were not in power and were viewed as a distinct community. They were dependent on media, technology, and other cultural forms made available by the British, so their taste for music was built on existing foundations laid out by the colonialist state. They used both older resources of power and privilege (i.e., their European ancestry, technology, preference in schools and on the railways) as well as new ideas about the organization of social and political relations (i.e., making sure they were the gatekeepers at many of the dance halls) to construct their position as unique compared to both the British and other Indians (see Erasmus 2001:23). Sanjay Joshi in speaking about the development of modernity in Lucknow and North India in the late 19th and early 20th century outlines similar ideas with reference to the empowerment and growth of a middle class. According

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 Ballroom Music in Lucknow 179 to Joshi, the middle class and their sense of “modernity [...] represents more than a fixed set of indicators regarding patterns of economic organization, social relations, or even a set of cultural values. To be modern in colonial India [...] was also an aspiration, a project” (2001:2). Anglo-Indians in Lucknow found themselves solidifying a certain place under the British rule, and took steps to appropriate a position within the power relations between multiple groups, each with their own interests and agendas. Anglo-Indians were active in a self-fashioning in which certain cultural and artistic forms were highlighted. Music was one of these, and the railway institute and the Lucknow Club became places for Anglo-Indians to build their sense of identity by out- wardly celebrating a common appreciation of music. They became the gatekeepers at many of the main ballrooms of the time in order to preserve the elite nature of the events. It was also their distinction from other groups and through their activities in the public sphere that empowered them to define themselves. Empowerment, both against established social and political elites and over other subordinated sections of society, was an important aspect of the character of the consumption of the music. Essential to this project of empowerment were strategies that sought to advance their respectability (see Erasmus 2001). Whether it was in their dress, hairstyles, shoe styles, fluency in English, their acceptance of un- married men and women dancing together, or the establishment of Anglo- Indian dance halls, Anglo-Indian efforts at empowerment sought to reconstruct norms that would work to distinguish them from others. One Anglo-Indian in Lucknow, Mrs. McFarland, often mentions that she wanted a new dress for every formal dance because, as she claims, “the Anglo-Indian used to try to dupe the British” at the dances (McFarland 2001). The Anglo- Indian could one-up the British by wearing a new dress that reflected current European fashions, and at the same time could distinguish herself from other Indians by not wear Indian clothing. “There were no salwar kameez,” as she also mentions (2001).11 Georg Simmel maintains that in our sense of fashion, we represent “one of the many forms of life by the aid of which we seek to combine in uniform spheres of activity the tendency towards social equaliza- tion with the desire for individual [and societal] differentiation and change” (1971:296). Anglo-Indians were not necessarily on an equal footing with the British with regards to dress fashion, and they could perhaps go even further by staying in touch with current trends through fashion magazines. They were empowered to demonstrate creativity on an individual level, and in the end possibly be even trendier than some of the British (McFarland 2001). Values created by the pre-British royal courts of Lucknow, as well as those associated with the court, shaped the rich culture of Lucknow. Pre-British Lucknow was often defined by a patronage of the classical arts, music, dance, and poetry in the courts, and an educated elite with well-informed political views. The British annexed the region within which Lucknow is situated in the 19th century, which created a major disruption in the court-sponsored elite culture at this time ( Joshi 2001:11). The political and social norms around which the court culture flourished collapsed. Colonial administrators and governors reshaped the area with fractured communities and shifted social hi- erarchies (Oldenburg 1989:39–41). New opportunities came along with these disruptions, and the new British-designed power had a more direct control over the area. The remnants of the older order associated with the courts were marginalized as communities negotiated their new circumstances ( Joshi 2001: 11). Out of these circumstances Anglo-Indians fashioned themselves slowly over the last 50 or so years of the 19th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, they were a well-organized community with a significant degree of

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 180 Bradley Shope financial security under the British system. All of this changed after the Inde- pendence of 1947 when the British left, and more of a sense of Hindu nation- alism began to take hold. Closely related to these shifting social and political systems, the performance of Western popular music increased in popularity just as the Anglo- Indians were beginning to find themselves a more powerful force in Indian society. The growth and decline of the British influence in India is closely par- alleled by the consumption of popular music and the social, economic, and demographic realities of the time. In Lucknow, the performance of the music, and economic structures that supported its public consumption, faded away just as fast as it emerged in the 1920s. The number of advertisements for evening dances found in the English-language Lucknow newspaper The Pioneer diminished beginning in 1947. The largest number of advertisements occurred between 1939, when the Mayfair Dance Hall opened, and 1945, when World War II ended. Advertisements for dance classes disappeared in 1945, and the Mayfair Ballroom only advertised when Ken Kummins, a well-known musician at the time, performed. The Anglo-Indian “Lucknow Club” adjacent to the Hazratganj area and the Lucknow railway institute continued to have dances through the late 1950s and early 1960s, but there were no advertisements for these venues and dances were less frequent (McFarland 2001). After 1950, many Anglo-Indians were leaving the country. Gramophone discs, sheet music, and many musical instruments used in the performance and appreciation of the music became increasingly unavailable. The music curriculum of many convent schools was less a part of the students’ education or was discon- tinued. Anglo-Indians were no longer given preference in schools or on the railways (Advani 2001). The print media, the availability of the sound technology of the time, and the relationship between Anglo-Indians and the British that empowered the Anglo-Indian community with educational and occupational opportunities quickly ended. Anglo-Indians in many ways depended on the political and economic system of the colonialist government, and when it ended so did much of their sense of community in Lucknow. As Mr. Naqwi, a local scholar of Lucknow history describes it, “[t]he British abandoned them” (2000). Even though many of the numerous dance halls built in the first half of the 20th century remain, most contemporary Indians are unaware of their history, and very few in Lucknow and throughout North India even know that the music had a presence at all. This fact is especially apparent in Lucknow, where this style of music, and popular music in general, is considered by many I interviewed, at least before the wide availability of popular music cassettes in the early 1990s, as unrefined. By examining the presence of multiple forms of technology and media, power relations, colonialism, and the thoughts of a few elderly individuals involved in the consumption of the music between the 1920s and the 1940s, I hope to have shown that a performance culture can be heavily influenced by technology, but always in a manner unique to local communities. Though the music had a mass-mediated quality, it was appropriated by Anglo-Indians and Goans in a way that asserted a sense of local distinctness in an increasingly complex global and colonialist dynamic. For Anglo-Indians especially, it was one way a cohesive relationship was established with the British, and within this association upward cultural mobility was further enhanced. The railway facilitated interaction between the British and Anglo-Indians, served to solid- ify Anglo-Indians as a single community throughout North India, and fostered an awareness and appreciation of Western popular music. Music was one me- dium by which British/Anglo-Indian relationships were established and simi-

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1054204042442053 by guest on 30 September 2021 Ballroom Music in Lucknow 181 lar aesthetics created and respected. Anglo-Indians, empowered in the early 20th century by the political policies of the colonial administration, were able to further increase their standing in the colonial social hierarchy with their performance and appreciation of the music. For this self-described marginalized group, the performance of Western popular music was also an effective tool in promoting respectability and recognition of the community within the sociopolitical system of the early 20th century.

Notes 1. “Anglo-Indians” is defined here as those of both European and Indian descent who were born and raised in India, also the common definition of the term in Lucknow and North India. Goa in the early 20th century was a Portuguese colony on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent. It is now a part of India. In 1911, the Viceroy Lord Harding agreed to the term “Anglo-Indian” as a category in the Indian census, and this started the common usage of the term, and assured the presence of Anglo-Indians in the elite British-run school system (Roychowdhury 2000:291). Despite the exact definition of the term “anglo,” Anglo-Indians are not necessarily only considered those of British descent, and most in Lucknow now consider Goans in this category. 2. Name changed. 3. James Perry was my main source of information in Lucknow with reference to performance practice and techniques. The material about Lucknow, the music, the venues, the musicians, etc., is also verified by hundreds of interviews in Lucknow and elsewhere with people involved in this music culture. 4. These music groups are only a small number of the total available and represent a survey of the collections of two individuals in Lucknow. 5. Most advertisements in the Pioneer newspaper for evening dances in the major clubs advertised between 2 and 10 rupees for admission into the venue. 6. Many radio advertisements such as that shown in plate 4 emphasized that the radios came from England, thus giving them a unique and “elegant” quality as is described in this ad. Much of the taste for Western music was influenced by the fact that it originated in a foreign country, which many claimed gave it a worldly quality that was associated with excellence in music, and in this case, technological design. 7. See Erasmus (2001) for similar study of South African “Coloureds,” those of African and European descent. 8. Perry maintains that improvisatory techniques were listened to on the recordings and there was an effort to mirror and ultimately expand upon them. 9. Name changed. 10. Some I interviewed in Lucknow claim that Indians were allowed in the railway social institute dances. 11. The salwar kameez is a style of Indian dress.

References

Advani, Ram 2001 Interview with author. Lucknow, 14 March. Appadurai, Arjun 1996 Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: Univer- sity of Minnesota Press. Appadurai, Arjun, ed. 2001 Globalization. Durham: Duke University Press. Armstrong, Robert 1981 The Powers of Invocation, the Powers of Virtuosity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1998 Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy. Delhi: Oxford Univer- sity Press.

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Bourdieu, Pierre 1987 Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Boston: Harvard Univer- sity Press. 1998 Practical Reason. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Erasmus, Zimitri, ed. 2001 Coloured by History, Shaped by Place: New Perspectives on Coloured Identities in Cape Town. Colorado Springs: International Academic Publishers. Joshi, Sanjay 2001 Fractured Modernity: Making of a Middle Class in Colonial India. London: Ox- ford University Press. Llewellyn-Jones, Rosie 1985 A Fatal Friendship: The Nawabs, the British and the City of Lucknow. Delhi: Ox- ford University Press. McFarland, Jackie 2001 Interview with author. Lucknow, 18 January. Naqwi, Ram 2000 Interview with author. Lucknow, 5 November. Oldenburg, Veena Talwar 1989 The Making of Colonial Lucknow. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Perry, James 2001 Interviews with author. Lucknow, 2 January–1 March. Roychowdhury, Laura 2000 The Jadu House: Intimate Histories of Anglo-India. London: Doubleday. Sebastian, John 2000 Interview with author. Lucknow, 18 November. Simmel, Georg 1971 On Individuality and Social Structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Taylor, Johnathan 2001 Interview with author. Lucknow, 5 March.

Bradley Shope received his PhD in Folklore and Ethnomusicology from Indiana Uni- versity in 2003. He conducted his dissertation research in Lucknow and North India from 1999 to 2001 on the presence of Western music there in the early 20th century. He is currently engaged in full-time public sector folklore/ethnomusicology work in New York City and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music at St. John’s University.

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