From Prince to Populace: Patronage as a Determinant of Change in South Indian (Karnatak) Music

Far from being the enemy of tradition, change has been rather the core, the soul of a vital art form constantly in the process of becoming. Over the past two thousand years and more, every new generation of musicians has received the oral corpus of musical repertoire and style, transformed it, and in turn transmitted it to the next generation. So far as we know the tradition has undergone a constant process of evolution in which the individual musician has been not only allowed, but required, to interpret and refine his materials through systematic styles of improvisation. Thus change, when controlled and disciplined, has long been welcome in South Indian music. What frightens the bearers of this tradition are those current winds of