The Ma‘dan al-Musiqi of Muhammad Karam Imam Khan - A Masterwork on Music from Nineteenth-Century Lucknow

The Ma‘dan al-Musiqi of Muhammad Karam Imam Khan is the first complete English translation of Ma?dan al- Musiqi, one of the most important nineteenth-century works on Hindustani music, and the earliest work of its kind in the Urdu language. Written around 1855-56 and revised in the 1860s, Ma?dan al-Musiqi presents a nineteenth-century interpretation of earlier Persian and Sanskrit musicological treatises and vividly chronicles the oral tradition and musical practice of its time. It is also a personal account of elite musical life cut off by the British destruction of the Lucknow court. The work offers an unparalleled window to the musical culture of Lucknow, the pre-eminent cultural and artistic centre in early and mid-nineteenth century North India. Key points of interest include emerging ideas of theory and practice, changing patterns of patronage, social categories of musicians, male and female, and transformations in music inspired or forced by the British Colonial presence. The Ma‘dan al-Musiqi of Muhammad Karam Imam Khan will be of interest to students and scholars of South Asian music, musicologists concerned with aesthetics and non-Western systems, and historical anthropologists studying performance and courtly culture.