Court music outside the court: defining the ‘professional’ musician in nineteenth-century Bengal

Williams, Richard David

Abstract

How did the social position of professional Hindustani musicians change over the nineteenth century? As performing artists travelled in the wake of the fall of the Mughal empire, taking their families and students with them, they adapted their forms of social organisation, repertoires, and modes of teaching. While many musicians were considered service providers, employed by their patrons for their technical expertise or hereditary obligations, did this accurately reflect the status of the men who fashioned themselves as artists and masters of their craft? Some musicians were low status, but others occupied liminal positions, being treated as celebrities or the respected teachers of princely clients. With the rise of ‘amateur’ musicians from non-hereditary and often upper-class family backgrounds, how did ‘professional’ musicians define and demarcate their expectations and obligations? This essay considers the longer history of middle-class, non-hereditary performers, and how the labour of musicianship developed into forms of intimacy, especially in the context of teaching. Examining the relationship between one Muslim musician and his Brahmin disciple, I consider the emotional implications of musicians living and working in their clients’ homes, not only as performers and teachers but also as the spiritual advisers of their client disciples.

Citation

Williams, R. D. (2025). Court music outside the court: defining the ‘professional’ musician in nineteenth-century Bengal. In A. Morcom, & N. Raina (Eds.), Creative Economies of Culture in South Asia: Craftspeople and Performers (112-122). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351031028-11

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2025
• Deposit Date: Dec 24, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 2, 2026
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 112-122
• Series Title: Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series
• Book Title: Creative Economies of Culture in South Asia: Craftspeople and Performers
• ISBN: 9781138492172
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351031028-11