This dissertation explores the influence of regional cultures and, more specifically, of regionally based and regionally determined aesthetic preferences, on the Hindustani classical music tradition. The period from the late 19th century up through the decades following independence in 1947 saw a great deal of change both in Indian society as a whole and, by extension, within the Hindustani tradition. One of these changes was a transition in the demographic profile of the average Hindustani performer from Muslim, essentially low-caste, and hereditary, to Hindu, middle-class, and largely high caste. The other aspect of this demographic transition, namely that there was also a shift in the regional origins of the average classical musician from those native to North India to those native to the two historical regions of Bengal and Maharashtra, has largely been neglected by scholars, including ethnomusicologists. The primary assumption informing this study, then, is that, as almost every aspect of Indian culture varies markedly from region to region (including language, food habits, etc.), the regional cultures of Maharashtra and Bengal must have impacted classical music as it migrated to these regions. I approach this issue in two ways, which I term as the “Inside View” and the “Outside View.” The first represents a combination of the most common approach favored by scholars of Hindustani music, a generally objectivist approach that focuses primarily on biographies of individual musicians and on description and analysis of specifically musical processes, along with the viewpoint of the average Hindustani performer. The answers provided by this approach are partial. I complement this view of modern Hindustani music with the “Outside View,” which examines change in the tradition through the lens of larger social processes, particularly the influence of the tastes or aesthetic preferences of audience members native to these two regions, as well as by other aspects of regional culture, including the impact of semi-classical music genres native to these regions. As such, I not only demonstrate that specifically regional factors have impacted the style of classical music practiced in each of these regions, but also attempt to quantify and describe these changes. / text

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This dissertation examines jazz from the perspective of advertisers and marketers that have used the music with a view to unraveling the complicated web of cultural meanings and values that attend to jazz in the 21st century. Advertising is a critically important and profoundly complex medium for the mass dissemination of music and musical meaning. Advertisers and marketers therefore offer crucial perspectives on the construction, reification, and circulation of jazz meanings and discourses. At the same time, I argue that historically jazz has been a cultural practice that is uniquely situated on the cusp of the binarized cultural categories of “high art” and “popular/commercial”. With that in mind, I suggest that jazz offers an invaluable lens through which to examine the complex and often contradictory culture of consumption upon which North American capitalism is predicated. In a broad sense, then, I examine the confluence of jazz, consumption, and capitalism as they are articulated through the medium of advertising. I contextualize my analysis with a short history of music in advertising and a discussion of jazz’s embeddedness in capitalism and the North American culture of consumption. The core of the dissertation consists of three detailed case studies: an analysis of jazz and luxury in a 2003 Chrysler Canada campaign for the high-end cars Sebring and 300M, featuring Diana Krall; a discussion of the function of jazz in the spectacularization of cultural diversity and individual agency in the television campaign for a 2006 Diet Pepsi product called “Jazz”; and an examination of corporate amorality in the Toronto Dominion Bank’s sponsorship of jazz festivals in Canada. Finally, I consider how both communities and individuals have been subjectively constituted and/or called into being by consumption and, conversely, how they have used the convergence of jazz and consumption to “talk back” to capitalism.

This dissertation examines jazz from the perspective of advertisers and marketers that have used the music with a view to unraveling the complicated web of cultural meanings and values that attend to jazz in the 21st century. Advertising is a critically important and profoundly complex medium for the mass dissemination of music and musical meaning. Advertisers and marketers therefore offer crucial perspectives on the construction, reification, and circulation of jazz meanings and discourses. At the same time, I argue that historically jazz has been a cultural practice that is uniquely situated on the cusp of the binarized cultural categories of “high art” and “popular/commercial”. With that in mind, I suggest that jazz offers an invaluable lens through which to examine the complex and often contradictory culture of consumption upon which North American capitalism is predicated. In a broad sense, then, I examine the confluence of jazz, consumption, and capitalism as they are articulated through the medium of advertising. I contextualize my analysis with a short history of music in advertising and a discussion of jazz’s embeddedness in capitalism and the North American culture of consumption. The core of the dissertation consists of three detailed case studies: an analysis of jazz and luxury in a 2003 Chrysler Canada campaign for the high-end cars Sebring and 300M, featuring Diana Krall; a discussion of the function of jazz in the spectacularization of cultural diversity and individual agency in the television campaign for a 2006 Diet Pepsi product called “Jazz”; and an examination of corporate amorality in the Toronto Dominion Bank’s sponsorship of jazz festivals in Canada. Finally, I consider how both communities and individuals have been subjectively constituted and/or called into being by consumption and, conversely, how they have used the convergence of jazz and consumption to “talk back” to capitalism.

Thesis (M.L.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 3, 2008). Directed by Gavin Douglas; submitted to the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program. Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-87).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1997. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [298]-325).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 198-214).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wesleyan University, 1983. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-143).

Thesis (M.Mus.)--New Zealand School of Music, 2010. / Title on disc: Irish music in Wellington : Field recordings. Includes bibliographical references.