With the onset of modernity in twentieth-century India, new social arrangements gave rise to new forms of music-making. The musicians were no longer performing exclusively in the princely courts or in the private homes of the wealthy. Not only did the act of listening to and appreciating music change, it became an important feature of public life, thus influencing how modernity shaped itself. This volume attempts to study the connections between music and the creation of new ideas of publicness during the early twentieth century. How was music labelled as folk or classical? How did music come to play such a catalytic role in forming identities of nationhood, politics, or ethnicity? And how did twentieth-century technologies of sound reproduction and commercial marketing contribute to changing notions of cultural distinction? Exploring these interdisciplinary questions across multiple languages, regions, and musical genres, the essays provide fresh perspectives on the history of musicians and migration in colonial India, the formation of modern spaces of performance, and the articulation of national as well as nationalist traditions.

This book offers the first social history of music in undivided Punjab (1800-1947), beginning at the Lahore court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and concluding at the Patiala royal darbar. It unearths new evidence for the centrality of female performers and classical music in a region primarily viewed as a folk music centre, featuring a range of musicians and dancers -from 'mirasis' (bards) and 'kalawants' (elite musicians), to 'kanjris' (subaltern female performers) and 'tawaifs' (courtesans). A central theme is the rise of new musical publics shaped by the anglicized Punjabi middle classes, and British colonialists' response to Punjab's performing communities. The book reveals a diverse connoisseurship for music with insights from history, ethnomusicology, and geography on an activity that still unites a region now divided between India and Pakistan.

Opening Credits "Akira Kurosawa" : a retrospective prologue -- Introduction : "Romance, comedy, and somewhat jazzy music" -- Problems of translation : world cinema as distribution history -- moving toward the "City of love": Hindustani lyrical genealogies -- Homosocialist co-productions : Pardesi (1957) contra Singapore (1960) -- Comedic crossovers and Madras money-spinners : Padosan's (1968) audiovisual apparatus -- Foreign Exchanges : transregional trafficking through Subah-O-Sham (1972) -- Special features.

What are the implications of establishing a university department for ethnomusicology ``in the field''? How does this affect not only the local music culture but also the development of ethnomusicology? What are the advantages/disadvantages of an ethnomusicology curriculum giving as much importance to practical training in music as to theory classes? At Kathmandu University's Department of Music in Bhaktapur, ethnomusicologists and professional musicians together support the sustainability of traditional music in Nepal by developing approaches that explore the space between ``keeping it as it is'' (conservation) and ``letting it disappear'' (non-interference). This book examines these efforts through an analysis of ethnomusicological research and teaching and the work of professional musicians involved in the development of new forms of popular music. It offers unique insights into a decades-spanning project of applied ethnomusicology, while also contributing to the discourse about musical sustainability and the localisation and practical application of ethnomusicology in South Asia and beyond.

Contributions by Vlad Dima, Laura Hatry, Alicia Kozma, Lynette Kuliyeva, Madhuja Mukherjee, Frank Percaccio, Gary D. Rhodes, Courtney Ruffner Grieneisen, Marlisa Santos, Michael L. Shuman, and Robert Singer Movie posters, regardless of their country of origin, have become indelibly linked with the films they represent, often assuming a status as visual encapsulations of films within collective memory. Long after their initial role in promotion is complete, these posters endure as iconic images, etched into film history and cultural consciousness. One can hardly hear mention of Steven Spielberg’s landmark production Jaws, for example, without immediately picturing the evocative poster art of Roger Kastel. Film by Design: The Art of the Movie Poster is a groundbreaking and comprehensive exploration of the international and Hollywood movie poster as a dynamic artistic and cultural formation. Drawing inspiration from such prominent genres as horror, science fiction, and noir, the twelve essays in this collection provide insightful analyses of the movie poster as a vital component of the cinematic landscape from the silent era to the contemporary period. Crucially, this anthology rejects the notion of movie posters as mere historical artifacts or advertising tools and instead examines them as integral parts of a broader aesthetic framework interwoven into their respective film narratives. Each chapter, whether focusing on controversies, close-ups, or Cuba, is accessible to scholars, students, and fans alike. Through its intervention in film studies, Film by Design reveals the movie poster to be an ever-evolving medium, firmly grounded in both theory and practice, while serving as an essential and enduring element within the realm of film art.

Contributed articles.

This book examines the meanings, uses, and agency of voice, noise, sound, and sound technologies across Asia. Including a series of wide-ranging and interdisciplinary case studies, the book reveals sound as central to the experience of modernity in Asia and as essential to the understanding of the historical processes of cultural, social, political, and economic transformation throughout the long twentieth century. Presenting a broad range of topics – from the changing sounds of the Kyoto kimono making industry to radio in late colonial India – the book explores how the study of Asian sound cultures offers greater insight into historical accounts of local and global transformation. Challenging us to rethink and reassemble important categories in sound studies, this book will be a vital resource for students and scholars of sound studies, Asian studies, history, postcolonial studies, and media studies.