School of Music Colloquium

Lalita du Perron, associate director for the Center for South Asia at UW-Madison, delivers a talk exploring North Indian vocal genres. Today, the genres of khyal and thumri are performed by middle-class performers, but their history is firmly rooted in courtly and courtesan milieus. We will look at some modern video footage of traditional performers and analyze how the texts of the songs they sing have been altered to fit in with today's respectable image of Hindustani music.