UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title In Search of Agency: South Indian Percussion in a Globalized India Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/92b511qp Author Jones, Erica Suzanne Publication Date 2017 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE In Search of Agency: South Indian Percussion in a Globalized India A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music by Erica Suzanne Jones September 2017 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Deborah Wong, Chairperson Dr. Jonathan Ritter Dr. Tabassum “Ruhi” Khan Copyright by Erica Suzanne Jones 2017 The Dissertation of Erica Suzanne Jones is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION In Search of Agency: South Indian Percussion in a Globalized India by Erica Suzanne Jones Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Music University of California, Riverside, September 2017 Dr. Deborah Wong, Chairperson South Indian classical (Karnatic) music and dance are essential representations of a globalized Indian identity and culture. They are emblematic of and perpetuate socio- cultural ideals of masculinity and femininity within nationalist and performance spaces. I examine the current performance space as a heritage tradition, revived and reclaimed in the 1940s-Nationalist Period. My dissertation focuses on the performance of gender within Karnatic music from a postcolonial decolonized perspective. I examine musical performances where gender intersects with postcolonial realities. These performances represent moments of postcolonial experience as artists negotiate changing power relationships and perform socio-cultural expectations. The performance space provides new ways to examine and experience Karnatic percussion performance from a non-hegemonic, dominant perspective. iv I use gender and postcolonial theory as broad theoretical constructs to frame my work and to explore unquestioned power dynamics within private and public performance spaces. Gender is a complex part of the patriarchal performance space. With increased diasporic presence and technological changes, the tradition and gendered performances have become cultural, globalized commodities. Gendered negotiations within Karnatic percussion are essential to the examination of these patriarchal layers of conformity and tradition. Furthermore, women performers at the Chennai Margazhi music festival are instrumental to this promotion and dissemination. This festival provides performances which demonstrate the maintenance of gendered cultural ideologies in the face of change and globalization. I examine gender through the body and performances of male and female percussionists. Percussion is one place where it is harder to negotiate and break through gendered norms. It is a male dominated instrument and there are few women who chose to learn, perform, and negotiate their gendered presence within these spaces. Furthermore, the limitations placed on female percussionists because of the Nationalist reforms affects how they choose to either exist within the patriarchal system or to create new musical niches. I read beneath layers of patriarchy, tradition, and nationalism to discuss power dynamics of dominance and submission. The exploration of women’s societal responses to and participation as a part of this musical system which stands within this patriarchal, hetero-normative framework will add a new dimension to feminist scholarship. v Table of Contents Introduction: Intro ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 My Research ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 Feminist Scholarship and the Performance space in India -------------------- 8 Postcolonial Scholarship ----------------------------------------------------------- 16 Chapter Synopsis ------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Chapter 1: Literature Review Postcolonial Evolution of Music Scholarship ---------------------------------- 35 The Idealized Woman: The Female Musician ---------------------------------- 40 New Educational Structures ------------------------------------------------------- 49 Tamil Isai Iyakkam and Language Politics in Karnatic Music --------------- 58 Globalization and Indian US Diaspora ------------------------------------------- 72 Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 84 Chapter 2: “Play Strong Like a Man” Intro ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 86 Gendered Lessons and Female Agency ------------------------------------------ 92 The Death of the Demon God ----------------------------------------------------- 98 Ayudha Puja ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 102 Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 113 vi Chapter 3: A Gendered and Innovative Performance by Sthree Thaal Tharang Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 116 Music Concert ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 120 Ghata Tharang ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 121 Background -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 126 Reception/Audiences Globally ---------------------------------------------------- 128 Rhythm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 130 Physical Image ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 139 Family --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 145 Relationship of Artists -------------------------------------------------------------- 149 Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 154 Chapter 4: Language Politics, Music, and Postcolonial Dynamics Intro ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 158 Geeta’s Award and Tani Avartanam Solo -------------------------------------- 161 Geeta’s Speech and Language Politics in a Globalized India: The Importance of Monkeys and Tomatoes ---------------------------- 170 Diasporic Musician Presence on the Globalized Indian Concert Platform: He’s a What? --------------------------------------------------------------- 180 Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 198 Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 203 Glossary -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 215 Bibliography --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 217 vii Introduction Indian classical music and dance, both North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Karnatic), are essential today in representations of a globalized Indian identity and culture. They are emblematic of and perpetuate socio-cultural ideals of masculinity and femininity within nationalist and performance spaces. Nationalist fervor and a push toward the reclamation and reformation of cultural heritage characterized India in the early twentieth century. This re-appropriation of Karnatic music in the 1940s as an upper middle-class art form redefined who could perform and how it would be performed. Karnatic music today is a performance of certain framed socio-cultural reforms which were implemented during this time. My study focuses on how Karnatic music is still inherently linked with the nationalist period of the 1940s when classical music and dance were revived and reclaimed as heritage traditions. The music itself, beyond the “sainthood” of Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Shyama Shastri, has not changed and still represents thousands of years of heritage and history. However, the performance spaces, musicians, technology, and politics that surround the performance of this music have changed. The specter of the performers eliminated during the nationalist period is still present but has been covered up and rewritten. I examine these changes and their influence on current performances in relation to percussionists. The issue of gender as performed by female and male percussionists is important to my research project. I examine feminism and forms of agency through the context of the percussionist and her/his performance of the Karnatic tradition. The majority of the Indian classical musical families—that is the music parampara (musical family 1 lineages)—are male-dominated. This is especially true for percussive instruments. However, women—both performers and audience members—are essential to the promotion and dissemination of Indian classical music but are often relegated to less prestigious, private stages of performance. In relation to gendered ideals, femininity as part of the performance was solidified during the nationalist period and is continued today in many ways. This is especially true during the more conservative Chennai Margazhi music festival. The performance space thus becomes essential to how the tradition has maintained certain cultural ideologies in the face of change. I examine musical performances where gender intersects with dynamics