Author Description

This is the first book to tackle the diverse styles and multiple histories of popular music in India. It brings together fourteen of the field's leading scholars to contribute chapters on a range of topics from the classic songs of Bollywood to contemporary remixes. The chapters in this volume address the impact of media and technology on contemporary music, the variety of industrial developments and contexts for Indian popular music, and historical trends in popular music development both before and after the Indian Independence in 1947. The contributors also address the subcontinent's historical relationships with colonialism, the transnational market economies, local governmental factors, international conventions, and a host of other circumstances that shed light on the development of popular music throughout India. To illustrate each chapter author's points, and to make available music otherwise not always easily accessible, the book features a companion website of audio and video tracks.