South Asian Music Ensemble

The South Asian Music Ensemble (SAME) is a special repertory ensemble that explores a wide range of music with roots in South Asia (specifically, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and their diasporas), be they classical, popular, regional/local/vernacular, folk, primarily diasporic, or not so easily classifiable. SAME embraces various learning and performing opportunities, including those of regular weekly full-group rehearsals, small-group sectionals, student-led discussions and sessions, asynchronous work, on and off-campus performances, guest lectures/workshops/residencies, and classroom visits. While the primary focus of rehearsals is the mastery of repertoire, we also provide instruction on South Asian music more generally—music theory, musicianship skills (e.g., instruction in instrumental/vocal exercises and techniques, improvisation, and composition), performance practices and cultures, musical genres, styles, and compositional forms, and more. Moreover, we strive towards foregrounding and interrogating the so-called “extramusical” valences and contexts of South Asian music making, asking how South Asian music is imbricated in culture, social life, and politics from local to global stages both in and beyond the geographic boundaries of South Asia.