Bob Van Der Linden – författare

Cultivating Sikh Culture and Identity explores the development of modern Sikh identities through the concept of ‘cultivation of culture’. It investigates diverse, but repeatedly overlapping, Sikh encounters in the fields of art, music and philology, and considers their role in the making of a continuous living tradition.

The volume focuses particularly on the imperial encounter and intellectual interaction between coloniser and colonised. It emphasises the enduring importance of the modern rational approach of the Singh Sabha (Tat Khalsa) reformers in defining a normative Sikh tradition. In so doing, the author reflects on the importance of philological research and the complexity of modern knowledge production in relation to the formation of cultural identities. The chapters offer a critical historical overview of the changes in the performance and reception of Sikh devotional music in the context of the community’s successive encounters with the Mughals, the British and globalisation. They also provide new insights into the life and work of Max Arthur Macauliffe, author of the classic The Sikh Religion (1909), and a contextualised discussion of contemporary Sikh drawings by Emily de Klerk.

Taking a global, interdisciplinary approach, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of religion, South Asian Studies and history.

Cultivating Sikh Culture and Identity explores the development of modern Sikh identities through the concept of ‘cultivation of culture’. It investigates diverse, but repeatedly overlapping, Sikh encounters in the fields of art, music and philology, and considers their role in the making of a continuous living tradition.

The volume focuses particularly on the imperial encounter and intellectual interaction between coloniser and colonised. It emphasises the enduring importance of the modern rational approach of the Singh Sabha (Tat Khalsa) reformers in defining a normative Sikh tradition. In so doing, the author reflects on the importance of philological research and the complexity of modern knowledge production in relation to the formation of cultural identities. The chapters offer a critical historical overview of the changes in the performance and reception of Sikh devotional music in the context of the community’s successive encounters with the Mughals, the British and globalisation. They also provide new insights into the life and work of Max Arthur Macauliffe, author of the classic The Sikh Religion (1909), and a contextualised discussion of contemporary Sikh drawings by Emily de Klerk.

Taking a global, interdisciplinary approach, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of religion, South Asian Studies and history.

Arnold Bake (1899–1963) was a Dutch pioneer in South Asian ethnomusicology, whose research impressed not only the most renowned Indologists of his time but also the leading figures in the emerging field of ethnomusicology. This long overdue biography sheds light on his knowledge of the theory and practice of South Asian music, as well as his legacy on the intellectual history of ethnomusicology. Bake spent nearly seventeen years in the Indian subcontinent and made numerous, irreplaceable recordings, films and photographs of local musicians and dancers. As a gifted Western musician, he studied Indian singing with Bhimrao Shastri, Dinendranath Tagore and Nabadwip Brajabashi, and successfully performed Rabindranath Tagore’s compositions and South Asian folk songs during hundreds of lecture-recitals in India, Europe and the United States. For the last fifteen years of his life, Bake taught Indian music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London; he was the first to do so at a Western university. Besides his numerous writings and radio presentations, he advanced his subject through his activities in British and international research associations. The history of ethnomusicology, especially as applied to South Asia, cannot be fully understood without regard to Bake, and yet his contribution has remained, until now, unclear and unknown.

Arnold Bake (1899–1963) was a Dutch pioneer in South Asian ethnomusicology, whose research impressed not only the most renowned Indologists of his time but also the leading figures in the emerging field of ethnomusicology. This long overdue biography sheds light on his knowledge of the theory and practice of South Asian music, as well as his legacy on the intellectual history of ethnomusicology. Bake spent nearly seventeen years in the Indian subcontinent and made numerous, irreplaceable recordings, films and photographs of local musicians and dancers. As a gifted Western musician, he studied Indian singing with Bhimrao Shastri, Dinendranath Tagore and Nabadwip Brajabashi, and successfully performed Rabindranath Tagore’s compositions and South Asian folk songs during hundreds of lecture-recitals in India, Europe and the United States. For the last fifteen years of his life, Bake taught Indian music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London; he was the first to do so at a Western university. Besides his numerous writings and radio presentations, he advanced his subject through his activities in British and international research associations. The history of ethnomusicology, especially as applied to South Asia, cannot be fully understood without regard to Bake, and yet his contribution has remained, until now, unclear and unknown.