Published Paper Details:

In the context of the South Indian music system, Carnatic Sangita (music), synonymous with classical music, had been dominated by Telugu or Sanskrit language-speaking Brahmin musicians. In the context of caste-ridden Carnatic Sangita's hegemony, the non-Brahmin Tamil-speaking musicians began a new music system, dedicated to their mother tongue, called Tamil Isai. According to the leading Tamil music critic Yoshitaka Terada, the contrasting use of Sangita (Sanskrit) and isai (Tamil), both mean music, is an eloquent testimony to a different linguist and caste orientation. This contest was led by the Dravidian ideologues whose agenda was to replace the Brahmin-dominated Sanskrit/Telugu or other foreign language systems with a native non-Brahmin Tamil language system. Over time Dalits who actively participated in the Dravidian movement for the establishment of an egalitarian Tamil society get disappointed with the rise of intermediate caste dominance replicating the same caste pride, styles, and violence across the socio-political and cultural fields. This paper looks into the unfolding of the Dravidian politics-led Tamil Isai movement in the Tamil music system from the Tamil Dalit perspective. The new anti-caste music that emerged post-2010 has been studied as a counter music system to the Carnatic and Tamil Isai. The studies so far treat this anti-caste music as a socio-political tool in opposition to the dominant casteist music system in the Tamil film industry. The horizon of discussion has remained limited to the Tamil state and socio-political aspects. Music is a global cultural phenomenon and anti-caste music aspires to be global music that transcends the boundaries of space, language, caste, and ethnicity. The researcher here finds this anti-caste music a global cultural phenomenon having its eccentric aesthetics and identity of existence. It has transcended the boundaries set up by the traditional Dalit critics and created its distinct stage, instruments, lyrics, music, and musicians which is unique and has global appeal. This research paper presents anti-caste/casteless music as a mainstream global music system.