The Radical Impulse ─ Music in the Tradition of the Indian People's Theatre Association

This book attempts to fill the gap in knowledge about the vast musical repertoire of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA): it is about the IPTA tradition's music in a national as well as specifically regional context, located within the overall cultural and political context of the transitionary period in India, as well as in the context of the shaping of a radical imaginary in many parts of the world from the beginning of the twentieth century. It is the culmination of an archiving-cum-documentation project of the IPTA tradition's music undertaken by the author. The volume also includes a song book, with lyrics and musical scores, revivifying the songs of a radical impulse in South Asia.

Sumangala Damodaran is an economist and a musician involved in teaching and research in economics, development studies, and popular music studies at Ambedkar University Delhi. She has performed extensively from the documented repertoire and has also collaborated with poets and musicians from South Africa in a project titled 'Insurrections.' This is a collaborative project between scholars and musicians, and several universities, in Africa and Asia.