Singing Across Divides: Music and Intimate Politics in Nepal
Anna Marie Stirr
Abstract
An ethnographic study of music, performance, migration, and circulation, this book examines how forms of love and intimacy are linked to changing conceptions of political solidarity and forms of belonging, through the lens of Nepali dohori song. The book describes dohori: improvised, dialogic performed poetry that is sung, in which a witty repartee of exchanges is based on poetic couplets with a fixed rhyme scheme, often backed by instrumental music and accompanying dance, performed between men and women, with a primary focus on romantic love. The book tells the story of dohori’s relationship ... More
An ethnographic study of music, performance, migration, and circulation, this book examines how forms of love and intimacy are linked to changing conceptions of political solidarity and forms of belonging, through the lens of Nepali dohori song. The book describes dohori: improvised, dialogic performed poetry that is sung, in which a witty repartee of exchanges is based on poetic couplets with a fixed rhyme scheme, often backed by instrumental music and accompanying dance, performed between men and women, with a primary focus on romantic love. The book tells the story of dohori’s relationship with changing ideas of Nepal as a nation-state, and how different concepts of national unity have incorporated marginality, in the intersectional arenas of caste, indigeneity, class, gender, and regional identity. In the aftermath of Nepal’s ten-year civil war, changing political realities, increased migration, and circulation of people, media, and practices are redefining concepts of appropriate intimate relationships and their associated systems of exchange. Through multi-sited ethnography of performances, media production, circulation, reception, and the daily lives of performers and fans in Nepal and the United Kingdom, this book examines how people use dohori to challenge (and uphold) social categories, while also creating affective solidarities.
Keywords:
folk music,
song,
exchange,
intimacy,
politics,
Nepal,
migration,
gender,
intersectionality,
performed poetry
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2017 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780190631970 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2017 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780190631970.001.0001 |
