On Music and Musicians of Hindoostan

This is an unusual book it shows a lifetime of intimacy with not only the tone and timber of music, its pitch and resonance, its inner depths and outer ramifications; it also shows an unusual mastery of related disciplines and literature , art, cinema, the radioit s really a sociological treatise, an indepth study of the oral tradition, the keertana philosophy, its sound and sweetness, how it holds people together and causes an spiritual upliftmenta popularization of music so that it becomes an integral part of the life of the community divided into two parts the first dealing with theoretical, historical, conceptual issues, the second, a practical commentary on the major exponents of prominent khayal gharanas, the book is really more than a mere analysis of music and musicians it s a classicala thought structure of high relevance by a vocalist whose intimacy with the performing tradition matches his depth of scholastic insight classical music is and has been the author s life in this volume, he has sought out its origins and worked on its techniques, instruments and implications in a manner that appears at once so natural and at the same time so deep readers are made to feel at home as if music is or should be a normal ingredient of that is an unusual achievement it s a treat to see the author s familiarity with the empire of his selection of six major vocalists of hindustani musicramkrishnabuwa vaze through abdul karim khan, faiyaz hussain khan, kesarbai kekar, omkarnath thakur, bade ghulam ali their various gharanasthis is done with extraordinary finesse and sophistication; and they come alive it s more than a book on music its potential with regards to developing the radio and the cinema and the connected areas, its unfoldment of the potentiality of the oral tradition with regard to, for example, the liquidation of illiteracy, social reform, family planning show what an interdisciplinary approach can achieve

Sangeetacharya Ashok Da. Ranade (1937-2011) was an internationally renowned vocalist (Hindustani Classical), composer, musicologist, enthnomusicologist, voice-culturist and a teacher with degrees in literature, law and music. He was the author of a number of authoritative books on Hindustani music and enthnomusicology