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Articulating Regionalism through Popular Music: The Case of Nauchami Narayana in the Uttarakhand Himalayas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2012

Stefan Fiol
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Abstract

As regionalism has become a politically and economically advantageous policy across much of Asia, vernacular popular music has concomitantly become an important arena for articulating and codifying shared regionalist sentiment. This article explores the reasons for the emergence of subnational regionalism within post-independence India, and its more recent resurgence since the 1990s, arguing that expansion and diversification of popular music (in combination with other media) industries have been central to these processes. Examining the case of the protest song “Nauchami Narayana” from the Uttarakhand Himalayas, the article then investigates how vernacular popular music can blend local signs of devotion and cultural identity in order to effect political change and articulate a space of regional belonging.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , May 2012 , pp. 447 - 473
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2012

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