Finding the raga: an improvisation on Indian music

"Finding the Raga is more than a book that tries to make sense of the raga, of Indian classical music, and of how Indian music challenges Western notions of what music might be.

It is a work of self-inquiry, as might be expected from Amit Chaudhuri, a musician who is also a novelist; a novelist who is also a critic and essayist; a trained and recorded performer in the Indian classical vocal tradition who was also, once, a guitarist and songwriter in the American folk music style and is now a composer and recorded performer in experimental music.

Each one of these undertakings and selves signifies turns at different points in life, and each turn and change of direction brings a fresh perspective on music, writing, and what it means to take on and do these things.

No category-Indian, Western-is a given in this book.

Partly a record of one of the most important turns in the author's life, toward North Indian music, and of its long aftermat