ETHNMUS 148Global and Local South Asian Popular Music
Ethnomusicology · 4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)
India, South Asia, and South Asian diasporas are home to vast array of popular musics. Bollywood (or Hindi film music) dates from 1940s to present day and has spread to countries as diverse as Ghana, Greece, Israel, and western world from 1950s. Older history of popular music in India delves into cosmopolitan colonial cultures of jazz, minstrelsy and traveling theatre, and global circulation of gramophone discs. With advent of cassettes, then CDs, VCDs, MP3s, and now online platforms, popular musics have proliferated. These include rustic vernacular styles like Bhojpuri pop; music of downtrodden groups such as Chamar pop or Gaana; Sufi popular music highlighting religious harmony; pop-style Hindu devotional songs; and recently, militant Hindutva pop. Popular musics have also emerged from South Asian diasporas, such as Chutney and Soca from Trinidad, or Bhangra from United Kingdom Punjabis.
P/NP or letter grading.
When it runs
Not on the schedule for any of Fall 2025 through Spring 2027. UCLA publishes only that window, so this does not mean the course is gone — check the official listing.
Requisites
UCLA lists no requisites for this course.
Requires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
Nothing — this is an entry point.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.