Playing Karnatic music: The public life of a south Indian musical form

摘要

Karnatic music, the traditional 'classical' music of South India, acquires its spirit in its public performances. While these performances display musical creativity and religious devotion, their vitality is won primarily on the strength of the felicity of the collective spirit they foster during live concerts. The vitality of this consociality has earned for Karnatic music an enduring following, rooted in its public character, which has not changed very much in modern times.