On a winter evening in 2016, Sumana Ramanan casually attends a private Hindustani music performance in South Mumbai. The singer, a man in his early seventies, specialises in khayal, one of the Indian subcontinent's most scintillating music genres, the very name of which means 'imagination'. Astounded by what she hears, Ramanan sets off on a mission to solve the mystery of the missing maestro: for, although a student of khayal, a regular concertgoer and a writer on music, she has never heard him before.

In this musical detective story, Ramanan unravels the secret of the life, art and milieu of the singer, Arun Kashalkar. He performs on the fringes of the mainstream Hindustani music ecosystem in Mumbai, which has been the epicentre of the art form since the early twentieth century. He is one of the most accomplished and charismatic figures in a wider underground scene that has been preserving this music in its most vibrant colours.

After joining Kashalkar's large student community, Ramanan grapples with his intricate and rhythm-infused style while exploring answers to fundamental questions about the nature of the mainstream and the reasons for the rise of an underground culture. The Secret Master is thus also an excavation of khayal's history and a meditation on its aesthetics and contemporary practice.

About the Author

Sumana Ramanan is an award-winning journalist with three-and-a-half decades of experience. She has worked for leading media organisations as an investigative reporter, feature writer, foreign correspondent, senior editor and columnist. She is drawn to hidden histories, narrative non-fiction and dark chocolate. For several years, she helped curate a prominent literature festival. To keep sane, she sings, swims and practises yoga. She lives in Bengaluru, but has one foot in Mumbai, where she grew up and worked for a major part of her life. Her work can be found at www.sumanaramanan.in.

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