Sounding the Impact: A Case Study on the Social and Cultural Work of Music in the Context of the Edmonton Raga-Mala Music Society

• Author / Creator

  Sparkes, Julie-Anne M.

• The Edmonton Raga-Mala Music Society (ERMS) is a volunteer organization that supports Indian classical music, mainly through the act of organizing formal concerts. As a society that is centered on supporting a genre of music that is closely tied to a particular geographical location that is physically and culturally distant from its immediate surroundings, the ERMS occupies a delicate space within Canadian society. As a result, the organization has adapted in order to prosper in its environment. These adaptations, viewed through the multifaceted lens of the individuals who make up the ERMS, shed light on what kind of an identity the ERMS seeks to project and ways in which the society might be viewed as a type of community. As a result of the understandings gleaned from this exploration, I argue that the ERMS offers a compelling example of music’s ability to forge social solidarity in culturally diverse contexts.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Indian Classical Music
  • Diaspora
  • Identity
  • Edmonton Raga-Mala Music Society
  • Ethnomusicology
  • South Asian Music
  • Multiculturalism
  • Nationalism
  • Community

• Graduation date

  Spring 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3739G

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.