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Cover image for book Modernizing Composition

Modernizing Composition

Sinhala Song, Poetry, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Sri Lanka
By:Garrett Field
Publisher:University of California Press
Print ISBN:9780520294714
eText ISBN:9780520967755
Edition:1
Copyright:2017
Format:Reflowable

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A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.
 
The study of South Asian music falls under the purview of ethnomusicology, whereas that of South Asian literature falls under South Asian studies. As a consequence of this academic separation, scholars rarely take notice of connections between South Asian song and poetry. Modernizing Composition overcomes this disciplinary fragmentation by examining the history of Sinhala-language song and poetry in twentieth-century Sri Lanka. Garrett Field describes how songwriters and poets modernized song and poetry in response to colonial and postcolonial formations. The story of this modernization is significant in that it shifts focus from India’s relationship to the West to little-studied connections between Sri Lanka and North India.