Monograph (in preparation) by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
Analysing Ṭhumrī explores the sounds, meanings and social life of the North Indian semi-classical... more Analysing Ṭhumrī explores the sounds, meanings and social life of the North Indian semi-classical genre ṭhumrī. Once sung and danced by courtesans for elite male patrons, this genre is now a central component of contemporary North Indian classical music, enjoyed by diverse audiences of music-lovers in India and internationally. Some hear in ṭhumrī sonic traces of a now-extinct courtesan tradition, while others invest the genre with ideas about Hindu spirituality, selfless love, nationalism or everyday life in an imagined Indian rural past. //
What is the relationship between the social life of the genre and its sounds, styles and structures? In this book, I integrate ethnographic and musical analysis of ṭhumrī in order to theorise links between social processes and musical sound. Based on extended fieldwork amongst musicians and listeners, I highlight the various overlapping, sometimes contradictory discourses through which contemporary ṭhumrī acquires meaning and affective power. I show how performers’ musical decisions in this context are also social decisions: in crafting a musical style, performers also intervene into ongoing debates over the status of the genre and its singers. And I examine the sociality of how audiences listen to ṭhumrī, exploring the listening sensibilities through which some of ṭhumrī’s most enthusiastic listeners engage with the genre. I consider how the music of thumri participates in social processes at multiple levels: these range from how ṭhumrī animates embodied, affective responses from its listeners in real time to how ṭhumrī reproduces gender and social class in contemporary India. //
This book will be of interest to scholars and students of North Indian classical music and to ethnomusicologists and music analysts more generally. It intervenes into longstanding scholarly debates about the role of analysis in ethnomusicology and also into current discussions around the so-called “affective turn”. I argue that music analysis is an essential tool for understanding the social nature of musical sound and for revealing how this musical sociality is related to questions of affect, embodiment and materiality.
Articles by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
Ethnomusicology, 2017
Please contact me directly for a PDF version of this article.
With this article, I theorize t... more Please contact me directly for a PDF version of this article.
With this article, I theorize the sociality of embodied ways of listening to North Indian classical music. I focus on “rasikas” (connoisseurs): these expert listeners are conspicuous at live performances, where they gesture and comment to express their enjoyment of the music. Based on ethnography and interviews with musicians and music-lovers in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, I argue that rasikas’ embodied, audible listening practices enact shared imagined histories and perform expertise and social status. Moreover, these listening behaviors also sustain values of the so-called old middle class in India in the face of economic and social change.
Musicians and listeners hear many aspects of contemporary North Indian classical vocal music as g... more Musicians and listeners hear many aspects of contemporary North Indian classical vocal music as gendered: genres, improvisational techniques and even certain ornaments evoke gendered connotations. However, analytical work on this music has failed to take gender into account, so the relationship between gender and musical sound remains unexamined. In this article, I explore how issues of gender might come to bear on the close analysis of North Indian classical vocal music. First, I present an overview of the gendered musical landscape of the tradition. I then draw upon work by Judith Butler in order to theorise this in terms of what I call ‘sonic performativity’: I argue that North Indian classical musicians perform gender sonically and that this influences the subtlest nuances of musical style. Finally, I demonstrate ways in which considerations of gender inform the stylistic decisions of one singer, detailing how she negotiates gendered musical norms.
In this article, I examine the repeated musical formulas that appear in ṭhumrī performances. Chun... more In this article, I examine the repeated musical formulas that appear in ṭhumrī performances. Chunks of recurring musical material, my analysis has revealed a large number of different types of formulas in ṭhumrī recordings by a wide variety of musicians from throughout the twentieth century. Here, I propose ways of understanding how and why they occur in ṭhumrī and suggest ways of taking them into account in an analysis of ṭhumrī style. In Parts I and II, I lay some of the theoretical groundwork for my analysis of formulas in ṭhumrī. In Part I, I consider the nature of improvisation in North Indian classical music and begin to explore the significance of musical formulas in ṭhumrī. Attempting to account for their widespread occurrence, I argue that they are a result of the way in which North Indian classical musicians teach, learn and practice ṭhumrī, in preparation for largely improvised performances. In Part II, I explore wider contexts in which to make sense of formulas in North Indian classical music; specifically, I draw attention to parallels with the formulas that appear in other musical traditions, oral poetry and spoken language. In Part III, I take the formulas of ṭhumrī as a starting point for an analysis of ṭhumrī style. Categorizing these formulas into different types, I distinguish, for example, between the precise repetition of memorized musical figures and the repeated use of abstract musical strategies, which produce entirely different musical phrases whenever they appear. I consider the role that formulas play in delineating phrase structure and creating a sense of musical syntax. Finally, I argue that the examination of formulas offers a means of characterizing different ṭhumrī styles.
Book Chapters by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
Listening to Music: People, Practices and Experiences, edited by Helen Barlow and David Rowland
Forthcoming in Listening to Music: People, Practices and Experiences, edited by Helen Barlow and ... more Forthcoming in Listening to Music: People, Practices and Experiences, edited by Helen Barlow and David Rowland. With this chapter, I explore the social meanings of embodied ways of listening to North Indian classical music. I focus especially on still, silent listening, a mode of listening that has been neglected in scholarship in this context. This scholarly neglect reflects that fact that most North Indian classical musicians and listeners tend either not to discuss this form of listening or else to cast it in a negative light, preferring instead to celebrate more active, noisy ways of listening to music. However, by not considering the full range of listening practices at North Indian classical performances, scholars have not theorised how competing value systems shape different ways of listening within a single performance environment. Here, I consider how certain North Indian classical musicians and listeners invest still, silent listening with positive significance. I argue that embodied modes of attending to music are implicated in social negotiations over prestige and status. Moreover, embodied listening demeanours have the power to reproduce musical ideologies.
Book Reviews by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
hardback) $60. ISBN 978-0-19-981131-1(paperback) £18.99.
Thesis by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
This thesis is a music-analytical study of the North Indian semi-classical vocal genre ṭhumrī. I ... more This thesis is a music-analytical study of the North Indian semi-classical vocal genre ṭhumrī. I am interested in the musical style of ṭhumrī, in its social environment and in how the two are related. In order to address this relationship, I advocate a multifaceted, interdisciplinary approach to music analysis, incorporating theoretical concepts from linguistics, semiotics and gender studies. Early in the thesis, I analyse the structural building blocks of ṭhumrī, drawing attention to parallels with language and other musical traditions. I then apply theories of semiotics to ṭhumrī in order to tackle age-old questions about how and why music comes to be meaningful for the people who perform and listen to it. This lays the foundations for the remaining chapters of my thesis, in which I look at how ṭhumrī participates in broader social processes. I argue that singers’ musical decisions form part of social strategies, through which singers attempt to improve their own status and negotiate a better position for ṭhumrī within North Indian classical music. Finally I consider ṭhumrī’s gendered associations and the role musical performance plays in the social construction of gender. Overall this study is an exercise in doing analysis “in context”: I suggest that the musical style of ṭhumrī best makes sense when considered in relation to issues of transmission, prestige, respectability, connoisseurship, spirituality and gender. Ultimately I argue that the musical features of ṭhumrī are not merely abstract phenomena, but are thoroughly embedded in particular historical, social and cultural circumstances.
Papers by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
With this chapter, I explore the social meanings of embodied ways of listening to North Indian cl... more With this chapter, I explore the social meanings of embodied ways of listening to North Indian classical music. I focus especially on still, silent listening, a mode of listening that has been neglected in scholarship in this context. This scholarly neglect re ects the fact that most North Indian classical musicians and listeners tend either not to discuss this form of listening or else to cast it in a negative light, preferring instead to celebrate more active, noisy ways of listening to music. However, by not considering the full range of listening practices at North Indian classical performances, scholars have not theorised how competing value systems shape different ways of listening within a single performance environment. Here, I consider how certain North Indian classical musicians and listeners invest still, silent listening with positive signi cance. I argue that embodied modes of attending to music are implicated in social negotiations over prestige and status. Moreover, e...
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Monograph (in preparation) by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
What is the relationship between the social life of the genre and its sounds, styles and structures? In this book, I integrate ethnographic and musical analysis of ṭhumrī in order to theorise links between social processes and musical sound. Based on extended fieldwork amongst musicians and listeners, I highlight the various overlapping, sometimes contradictory discourses through which contemporary ṭhumrī acquires meaning and affective power. I show how performers’ musical decisions in this context are also social decisions: in crafting a musical style, performers also intervene into ongoing debates over the status of the genre and its singers. And I examine the sociality of how audiences listen to ṭhumrī, exploring the listening sensibilities through which some of ṭhumrī’s most enthusiastic listeners engage with the genre. I consider how the music of thumri participates in social processes at multiple levels: these range from how ṭhumrī animates embodied, affective responses from its listeners in real time to how ṭhumrī reproduces gender and social class in contemporary India. //
This book will be of interest to scholars and students of North Indian classical music and to ethnomusicologists and music analysts more generally. It intervenes into longstanding scholarly debates about the role of analysis in ethnomusicology and also into current discussions around the so-called “affective turn”. I argue that music analysis is an essential tool for understanding the social nature of musical sound and for revealing how this musical sociality is related to questions of affect, embodiment and materiality.
Articles by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
With this article, I theorize the sociality of embodied ways of listening to North Indian classical music. I focus on “rasikas” (connoisseurs): these expert listeners are conspicuous at live performances, where they gesture and comment to express their enjoyment of the music. Based on ethnography and interviews with musicians and music-lovers in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, I argue that rasikas’ embodied, audible listening practices enact shared imagined histories and perform expertise and social status. Moreover, these listening behaviors also sustain values of the so-called old middle class in India in the face of economic and social change.
Book Chapters by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
Book Reviews by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
Thesis by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
Papers by Chloe Alaghband-Zadeh
What is the relationship between the social life of the genre and its sounds, styles and structures? In this book, I integrate ethnographic and musical analysis of ṭhumrī in order to theorise links between social processes and musical sound. Based on extended fieldwork amongst musicians and listeners, I highlight the various overlapping, sometimes contradictory discourses through which contemporary ṭhumrī acquires meaning and affective power. I show how performers’ musical decisions in this context are also social decisions: in crafting a musical style, performers also intervene into ongoing debates over the status of the genre and its singers. And I examine the sociality of how audiences listen to ṭhumrī, exploring the listening sensibilities through which some of ṭhumrī’s most enthusiastic listeners engage with the genre. I consider how the music of thumri participates in social processes at multiple levels: these range from how ṭhumrī animates embodied, affective responses from its listeners in real time to how ṭhumrī reproduces gender and social class in contemporary India. //
This book will be of interest to scholars and students of North Indian classical music and to ethnomusicologists and music analysts more generally. It intervenes into longstanding scholarly debates about the role of analysis in ethnomusicology and also into current discussions around the so-called “affective turn”. I argue that music analysis is an essential tool for understanding the social nature of musical sound and for revealing how this musical sociality is related to questions of affect, embodiment and materiality.
With this article, I theorize the sociality of embodied ways of listening to North Indian classical music. I focus on “rasikas” (connoisseurs): these expert listeners are conspicuous at live performances, where they gesture and comment to express their enjoyment of the music. Based on ethnography and interviews with musicians and music-lovers in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, I argue that rasikas’ embodied, audible listening practices enact shared imagined histories and perform expertise and social status. Moreover, these listening behaviors also sustain values of the so-called old middle class in India in the face of economic and social change.