Carnatic Music and the Tamils by T. V. KuppuswamiReview by: Matthew AllenNotes, Second Series, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Jun., 1995), pp. 1345-1347Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/899141 .

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Book Reviews Book Reviews

content and musical style are closely scru- tinized by ideologues in order to ensure appropriate political edification of the peo- ple. However, the boundaries of officially sanctioned popular music are porous and ever-changing, depending on the political and social climates (including sporadic gov- ernment campaigns). Jones draws on a con- temporary Chinese short story written by Liu Suola, "A Superfluous Story," as a true reflection of the "corrupt" system in which popular music is produced in the past decade. (Liu, who is a singer by vocation, recently left China and now lives in New York.) Ever since the 1980s, nationalized music recording companies, despite their following the Communist doctrine, could not withstand the temptation of profit- making and exploitation of "consumer" markets. Popular culture is still viewed as the government's main propaganda mouth- piece. However, from the 1980s onward, "official" channels have been undermined by the boom in cassette culture and un- derground distribution.

The singer Cui Jian, who is still active in China and an icon of Chinese rock'n'roll, has indeed communicated far more than "music" to his audience. Jones's interviews with the singer, as well as extensive ref- erences to writings on him, provide some insight into an otherwise enigmatic char- acter and his working environment. Cui, who started his career as a trumpeter in a professional orchestra in Beijing, severed himself from the establishment and formed his own rock band in the mid-1980s, per- forming in foreign-owned bars and restau- rants, and university campuses. Classics such as "I Have Nothing," "A Piece of Red Cloth," "Like a Knife"-all embedded with political subtexts-are analyzed intel- ligently by Jones, who also translates the complete lyrics into English. Cui appeared in Tiananmen Square at the heyday of the student demonstrations of 1989, and in the spring of 1990 he performed in a series of concerts in major Chinese cities to raise money for the Asian Games, which was held in Beijing that year. The political over- tones of Cui's rock concerts eventually led the government to cancel the rest of the series. Jones also interviewed rock musi- cians in other bands, among them Heibao (Black Panther), Tutu, and punk rocker He Yong.

content and musical style are closely scru- tinized by ideologues in order to ensure appropriate political edification of the peo- ple. However, the boundaries of officially sanctioned popular music are porous and ever-changing, depending on the political and social climates (including sporadic gov- ernment campaigns). Jones draws on a con- temporary Chinese short story written by Liu Suola, "A Superfluous Story," as a true reflection of the "corrupt" system in which popular music is produced in the past decade. (Liu, who is a singer by vocation, recently left China and now lives in New York.) Ever since the 1980s, nationalized music recording companies, despite their following the Communist doctrine, could not withstand the temptation of profit- making and exploitation of "consumer" markets. Popular culture is still viewed as the government's main propaganda mouth- piece. However, from the 1980s onward, "official" channels have been undermined by the boom in cassette culture and un- derground distribution.

The singer Cui Jian, who is still active in China and an icon of Chinese rock'n'roll, has indeed communicated far more than "music" to his audience. Jones's interviews with the singer, as well as extensive ref- erences to writings on him, provide some insight into an otherwise enigmatic char- acter and his working environment. Cui, who started his career as a trumpeter in a professional orchestra in Beijing, severed himself from the establishment and formed his own rock band in the mid-1980s, per- forming in foreign-owned bars and restau- rants, and university campuses. Classics such as "I Have Nothing," "A Piece of Red Cloth," "Like a Knife"-all embedded with political subtexts-are analyzed intel- ligently by Jones, who also translates the complete lyrics into English. Cui appeared in Tiananmen Square at the heyday of the student demonstrations of 1989, and in the spring of 1990 he performed in a series of concerts in major Chinese cities to raise money for the Asian Games, which was held in Beijing that year. The political over- tones of Cui's rock concerts eventually led the government to cancel the rest of the series. Jones also interviewed rock musi- cians in other bands, among them Heibao (Black Panther), Tutu, and punk rocker He Yong.

Since Jones's work is heavily dependent on texts, he provides the readers with an appendix of song lyrics. Moreover, the au- thor has been diligent throughout in de- fining musical and political terms succinctly (accompanied by accurate Chinese roman- ization, which helps any reader conversant in Chinese to understand the native ter- minology used).

JOANNA C. LEE Kurt Weill Foundation for Music,

New York City

Carnatic Music and the Tamils. By T. V. Kuppuswami. Delhi: Kalinga Publications, 1992. [xix, 334 p. ISBN 81-85163-25-1. $65.00.]

Carnatic (often spelled Karnataka) music is the classical art music of South India. It is simultaneously a virtuoso performance tradition of "absolute" music revelling in pure sound and a Hindu devotional tra- dition in which sahityam (text) is extremely important. South India today comprises four political/linguistic entities, the states of Andhra Pradesh (where the Telugu language predominates), Karnataka (Kannada), Kerala (Malayalam), and Tamil Nadu (Tamil). The district of Tanjore (Tanjavur) in the heart of the Tamil speak- ing region was the center of the Karnataka musical universe from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries (see S. Seetha, Tanjore as a Seat of Music [Madras: University of Madras Press, 1981]). But the majority of song texts in Karnataka music, including the compositions of the famous eighteenth to nineteenth century "Trinity," Tyagaraja, Muttuswamy Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri, have been composed in the Sanskrit and Telugu languages. This linguistic prefer- ence (for Telugu over Tamil in particular) is largely explained by the fact that Telugu- speaking chieftains ruled Tanjore between around 1532-1675. They patronized Tel- ugu and Sanskrit, as did their successors the Maratha Rajas who ruled until the Brit- ish declared the line extinct in 1855, at which time Tanjore began to give way to the city of Madras as the seat of Karnataka performance and patronage. Further, most scholars of Karnataka music view the long tradition of treatises in Sanskrit as their primary intellectual heritage, and revere

Since Jones's work is heavily dependent on texts, he provides the readers with an appendix of song lyrics. Moreover, the au- thor has been diligent throughout in de- fining musical and political terms succinctly (accompanied by accurate Chinese roman- ization, which helps any reader conversant in Chinese to understand the native ter- minology used).

JOANNA C. LEE Kurt Weill Foundation for Music,

New York City

Carnatic Music and the Tamils. By T. V. Kuppuswami. Delhi: Kalinga Publications, 1992. [xix, 334 p. ISBN 81-85163-25-1. $65.00.]

Carnatic (often spelled Karnataka) music is the classical art music of South India. It is simultaneously a virtuoso performance tradition of "absolute" music revelling in pure sound and a Hindu devotional tra- dition in which sahityam (text) is extremely important. South India today comprises four political/linguistic entities, the states of Andhra Pradesh (where the Telugu language predominates), Karnataka (Kannada), Kerala (Malayalam), and Tamil Nadu (Tamil). The district of Tanjore (Tanjavur) in the heart of the Tamil speak- ing region was the center of the Karnataka musical universe from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries (see S. Seetha, Tanjore as a Seat of Music [Madras: University of Madras Press, 1981]). But the majority of song texts in Karnataka music, including the compositions of the famous eighteenth to nineteenth century "Trinity," Tyagaraja, Muttuswamy Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri, have been composed in the Sanskrit and Telugu languages. This linguistic prefer- ence (for Telugu over Tamil in particular) is largely explained by the fact that Telugu- speaking chieftains ruled Tanjore between around 1532-1675. They patronized Tel- ugu and Sanskrit, as did their successors the Maratha Rajas who ruled until the Brit- ish declared the line extinct in 1855, at which time Tanjore began to give way to the city of Madras as the seat of Karnataka performance and patronage. Further, most scholars of Karnataka music view the long tradition of treatises in Sanskrit as their primary intellectual heritage, and revere

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NOTES, June 1995

the Kannada saint composer Purandara Dasa (1480-1564) as the Pitamaha, the fa- ther of the practice. In several ways, then, though Karnataka music is rooted in the Tamil country, the Tamil language and its own venerable literary sources have been peripheral to the tradition (for a luminous discussion of early Tamil literature see A. K. Ramanujan, Poems of Love and War [New York: Columbia University, 1985]; for sources on early Tamil music in par- ticular see S. Ramanathan, Music in Cilap- patikaram [Madurai: Madurai Kamaraj University, 1979]; for an account of socio- musical dynamics and the Tamil Isai (Tamil music) movement in the present century, see Yoshitaka Terada, "Multiple Interpre- tations of a Charismatic Individual: The Case of the Great Nagasvaram Musician T. N. Rajarattinam Pillai" [Ph.D. diss., Uni- versity of Washington, 1992]).

T. V. Kuppuswami's Carnatic Music and the Tamils is a laudable attempt to integrate close to two thousand years of Tamil and Sanskrit language sources for Indian music theory and history. While it constitutes a prodigious labor of love and contains many valuable pieces of information (some trans- lated into English for the first time), the daunting scope of such an enterprise to- gether with the author's writing style sadly conspire to prevent a coherent account, let alone a synthesis, of the sources. The stated goal of the book is to "give a picture of the achievements of the historic tradition of the Tamils in this field of fine-art," that is, to redress a perceived imbalance in past schol- arship by incorporating Tamil sources into a discussion of the history of Karnataka mu- sic. Kuppuswami proposes to do this via "a thematic presentation" involving a "system- atic and chronological recording of musical thoughts and materials that evolved during different ages" (pp. i-iii). The reader will have excruciating difficulty, however, in discerning theme, system or chronology while wading through the dense jumble of facts and musings on the arts which pack the book from beginning to end. The chap- ters are organized chronologically (Age of the Sangam, Age of the Pallavas, etc.) but the author rarely maintains focus on a par- ticular subject for more than one or two paragraphs before leaping to a different subject, often from a time period outside the stated scope of the chapter and usually

without any linguistic cues to help the reader follow these narrative disjunctions. Instead of providing synthesis, the final paragraphs of chapters simply continue to introduce new material. The last chapter of the book, "Asian Art," is completely extraneous.

The challenge of communication with readers not previously steeped in the sub- ject, a formidable one under the best of circumstances (and one which has been met admirably for the Sanskrit sources by Lewis Rowell in Music and Musical Thought in Early India [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992]) is multiplied by the lack of translations or synopses for Indian lan- guage terms (the brief glossary does not address this issue), inconsistency in spelling and use of diacritics (under the heading "Diacritical Marks" in the table of contents, the author says simply "conventional method adopted"), and grammatical idio- syncracies which will confuse the reader not familiar with English as sometimes in- formally spoken in South India. For ex- ample, the word "few" in "Few of the com- positions of Manickavacakar contain verses on the model of . . ." (p. 100) must be un- derstood as "some" or "a few," not as "hardly any." And "should have been" in "There are Marati gitas which should have been composed by either Saji or.. ." needs to be understood as "were most likely" (p. 204). The bibliography misguidedly clas- sifies most European and American schol- ars by first name (Curt, Sachs), misspells many (Jeap, Kunst; Fox, Strongways), and contains howlers such as the entry for the article "Mantlehood" (one word): "The nu- clear theme as a determinant of Patent in Javanese Music."

Carnatic Music and the Tamils does contain fascinating and valuable material, notably Kuppuswami's coherent summary of the seventh century Kudumiyanmalai rock in- scription (pp. 52-56) and an account of Araiyar expositors of the Divyaprabandham, Vaishnavite devotional hymns (pp. 98- 100). The book presents information from a vast number of inscriptions as well as treatises, but the manner of presentation frustrates rather than facilitates access and understanding. What little is offered in the way of synthesis or conclusion does not ex- tend beyond general statements such as "Music had been linked with the life of the

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Book Reviews Book Reviews

people from time immemorial" and "Music in Tamilnadu expresses the 'soul of the inhabitants'" (p. 291). The last word re- mains to be written on the historical dy- namics of Karnataka music and the Tamils, and the pen has hardly been taken up to begin discussion of issues of import today (e.g., musical and linguistic nationalism) germinated in their continuing encounter.

MATTHEW ALLEN Duke University

Media Policy and Music Activity. By Krister Malm and Roger Wallis. Lon- don: Routledge, 1992. [xiv, 271 p. ISBN 0-415-050200 (pbk.). $17.95.]

While Media Policy and Music Activity stands on its own, it is best understood as a sequel to these authors' Big Sounds from Small Peoples: The Music Industry in Small Countries (New York: Pendragon, 1984). The authors found that while the principal problems for cultural policy-makers in the 1970s were bound up with the availability of technology, the 1980s witnessed a re- directing towards issues of media policy (p. 3). The avowed purpose of the new book is to present "an international comparative study to facilitate the flow of information and experience between countries and decision-makers involved in the tricky area of media policy" (p. xiii), to "map out the interaction between music in the mass me- dia and music activities in society at large in this sample of countries" (p. 2). The countries examined as case studies include Jamaica and Trinidad in the Caribbean, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa and Wales (treated as a country) and Sweden in Europe. These six locations constitute half of those examined for Big Sounds (which also examined Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Chile). The choice of countries examined is both a strength and a weakness. It's helpful that these areas figured in Big Sounds, and that the media in these six countries share an important historical factor, a British legacy of public service broadcasting. Complementary con- trast appears in socioeconomic levels, differing mixes of market and socialist economy, and, in the European sample, in- dependent nation versus minority culture (Wales). But while this sample is a handy

people from time immemorial" and "Music in Tamilnadu expresses the 'soul of the inhabitants'" (p. 291). The last word re- mains to be written on the historical dy- namics of Karnataka music and the Tamils, and the pen has hardly been taken up to begin discussion of issues of import today (e.g., musical and linguistic nationalism) germinated in their continuing encounter.

MATTHEW ALLEN Duke University

Media Policy and Music Activity. By Krister Malm and Roger Wallis. Lon- don: Routledge, 1992. [xiv, 271 p. ISBN 0-415-050200 (pbk.). $17.95.]

While Media Policy and Music Activity stands on its own, it is best understood as a sequel to these authors' Big Sounds from Small Peoples: The Music Industry in Small Countries (New York: Pendragon, 1984). The authors found that while the principal problems for cultural policy-makers in the 1970s were bound up with the availability of technology, the 1980s witnessed a re- directing towards issues of media policy (p. 3). The avowed purpose of the new book is to present "an international comparative study to facilitate the flow of information and experience between countries and decision-makers involved in the tricky area of media policy" (p. xiii), to "map out the interaction between music in the mass me- dia and music activities in society at large in this sample of countries" (p. 2). The countries examined as case studies include Jamaica and Trinidad in the Caribbean, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa and Wales (treated as a country) and Sweden in Europe. These six locations constitute half of those examined for Big Sounds (which also examined Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Chile). The choice of countries examined is both a strength and a weakness. It's helpful that these areas figured in Big Sounds, and that the media in these six countries share an important historical factor, a British legacy of public service broadcasting. Complementary con- trast appears in socioeconomic levels, differing mixes of market and socialist economy, and, in the European sample, in- dependent nation versus minority culture (Wales). But while this sample is a handy

one, I miss the discussion of countries with very different media histories, say, Para- guay and Vietnam.

In each case study, the authors investi- gated the same aspects of media policies. What were these policies in each country? By whom, how, and how effectively were they formulated and implemented? How have musics changed when incorporated into mass media? How did the music pre- sented through the media influence music activity on the local level, and which factors and individuals stood out in this process? How does new technology (e.g., CDs) fit into this picture? Last, and most critical, "how effective have different policy mea- sures aimed at supporting local music been?" (p. 4).

While the authors maintain an objective, unimpassioned tone, their real goal is to arm those who stand for pluralism and lo- cal culture in the struggle against mass me- dia cultural gray-out. They detail errors small countries have made: a meticulous history of the media in Sweden makes dev- astatingly clear how much damage was done by the sluggish and unsystematic re- action of Sweden's amelioration-oriented government-controlled broadcasting sys- tem to commercial encroachment. And they also describe successful tactics. For in- stance, in Trinidad, many calypso artists operate their own record labels. In many cases, artists "will record either at a studio in Port of Spain or in New York and then send the tape to one of the record shops in Brooklyn. These will press a certain quantity of records, keeping as many as they need to get the money invested back with a profit through sales in the Brooklyn shop or to mail order customers. The re- mainder of the records will be shipped to the calypsonian in Trinidad who distributes them locally. In this way, the calypsonians avoid the need for hard currency to pay to have their records pressed in New York" (p. 67).

The authors' conclusions paint a com- plex but in general somber picture of re- cent trends in the international media. The global media conglomerates (SONY-CBS, Polygram, EMI, Time-Warner WEA, and BMG-RCA, with MCA close behind) con- tinue to grow, as does the technological gap between developed and developing com- panies. Expanding gulfs are everywhere:

one, I miss the discussion of countries with very different media histories, say, Para- guay and Vietnam.

In each case study, the authors investi- gated the same aspects of media policies. What were these policies in each country? By whom, how, and how effectively were they formulated and implemented? How have musics changed when incorporated into mass media? How did the music pre- sented through the media influence music activity on the local level, and which factors and individuals stood out in this process? How does new technology (e.g., CDs) fit into this picture? Last, and most critical, "how effective have different policy mea- sures aimed at supporting local music been?" (p. 4).

While the authors maintain an objective, unimpassioned tone, their real goal is to arm those who stand for pluralism and lo- cal culture in the struggle against mass me- dia cultural gray-out. They detail errors small countries have made: a meticulous history of the media in Sweden makes dev- astatingly clear how much damage was done by the sluggish and unsystematic re- action of Sweden's amelioration-oriented government-controlled broadcasting sys- tem to commercial encroachment. And they also describe successful tactics. For in- stance, in Trinidad, many calypso artists operate their own record labels. In many cases, artists "will record either at a studio in Port of Spain or in New York and then send the tape to one of the record shops in Brooklyn. These will press a certain quantity of records, keeping as many as they need to get the money invested back with a profit through sales in the Brooklyn shop or to mail order customers. The re- mainder of the records will be shipped to the calypsonian in Trinidad who distributes them locally. In this way, the calypsonians avoid the need for hard currency to pay to have their records pressed in New York" (p. 67).

The authors' conclusions paint a com- plex but in general somber picture of re- cent trends in the international media. The global media conglomerates (SONY-CBS, Polygram, EMI, Time-Warner WEA, and BMG-RCA, with MCA close behind) con- tinue to grow, as does the technological gap between developed and developing com- panies. Expanding gulfs are everywhere:

1347 1347

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