Everyday Creativity

This book by anthropologist Kirin Narayan--a thoughtful exploration of Kangra women’s singing over the past thirty years--is part ethnography, part travelogue, part musical discovery, part poetry and poetry translation, and three parts memoir. Like the intricate geometries of mandalu patterns drawn in the courtyard outside a home or clothes meticulously stitched, well-crafted songs identify a woman as smart, adept, and skilled--and so are a source of status. Kangra singers speak of singing as enriching their lives; the well-being generated by shared songs brings feelings of accomplishment, companionship, happiness, solace, peacefulness, even good health and recovery from illness. The concept Narayan keeps finding herself returning to, however, is creativity--the everyday creativity that brings well-being. In this book, the second in our new Big Issues in Music series, Narayan beautifully draws out the particulars of everyday creativity in women’s singing in Kangra, as well as giving readers the more general gift of a new way of thinking of creativity--in music and the arts, in crafts, and in everyday life.