CHENNAI: Renowned Carnatic vocalist and composer M Balamuralikrishna on Thursday released the Oxford Encyclopedia of Music of India here.
Actor-cum-playwright Girish Karnand, who received the first copy of the Encyclopedia, told the gathering that though many books on Indian music have been published earlier, they didn't capture the tradition in India holistically.
"After 12 years of serious research on music Oxford University Press (OUP) have come out with this encyclopedia, which captures the entire traditional music from classic, folk in the country and also the music of the subcontinent."
Dr Girish Karnand also pointed out that Indian music has a unique feature. "Unlike other art forms, Indian music continues to be traditional even today and was not disturbed during the British rule," he said adding that the colonial rulers have taught India other arts like painting and architecture, but not the music.
He further said that every one in India had an ear for music.
"With understanding the tradition of music, it will not be possible to understand the history of India," he added.
The threevolume encyclopedia covers the story of music spread across 2000 years.
It has entries on classical, folk, film, and other forms of the music to details of all forms of dance, raga, tala, gharana and treatises.