| Khyal is a traditional music genre in northern India. Historically practiced by hereditary musicians as court entertainment, in early twentieth century it was subsumed within an Indian nationalist project, and reframed as classical art. Part of the modernist reframing were the partial relocation of traditional master-disciple training to institution-based and standardized pedagogies, and the rationalization of Khyal knowledge. These shifts transformed how the music was taught and who learned it, leading to the emergence of a growing class of non-hereditary musicians. A century later, non-hereditary musicians comprise a large segment of Khyal professionals, and represent an important dimension of contemporary Khyal. On the one hand, their experiences as students and professionals are distinct from their hereditary counterparts; on the other hand, their presence has introduced new kinds of musical and social practices.;This dissertation proposes an understanding of Khyal as constituted through the practices of its non-hereditary musicians. Khyal today weaves together traditional notions and methods, with modern sensibilities, technologies, and institutions. Scholarly and popular discourses acknowledge this complex existence; however, they continue to frame the music through ideas about tradition and hereditary musicianship. I offer non-hereditary practices as an alternative window into the location of a traditional form in Indian postcolonial modernity. My specific interest lies in nontraditional modes for Khyal pedagogy, and the circulation of knowledge--musical and extra-musical--within these. A major section of my dissertation is a historical and ethnographic examination of standardized frameworks for Khyal training, and institutional adaptations of traditional master-disciple pedagogy. A smaller section of the dissertation examines the relationships of musicians in Maharashtra with Khyal and regional popular genres through the contiguous histories of Khyal and Marathi non-classical music on the one hand, and the various ways in which Khyal is deployed in non-classical contexts on the other hand. |
