Emergence of an Ecumene: Transnational Encounters in South Indian Carnatic Music

Abstract:This article addresses a new stage in the transnationalism of South Indian Carnatic music, focusing on second-generation diasporic musicians in the United States. With expanded youth music scenes, an increasing number of acclaimed diasporic professional musicians who take the music back to India, and a broad network of students and teachers in the United States, Carnatic music has been firmly established in the diaspora. I argue that the decentralization of Carnatic music and persistent interactions built around its aesthetic mark the emergence of a Carnatic ecumene. I draw from interviews with musicians and personal experiences as a Carnatic musician.