ABSTRACT
Audio-cassette technology has sparked an explosion of diversity in the popular musics of South India and Sri Lanka. The production of cassettes is much cheaper than the production of other mass media, notably films, CDs, and LPs, so small-scale or medium-scale producers can compete successfully with large companies, offering diverse, specialized genres for specific markets (Manuel 1993). Cassettes serve as sounding boards for voices that cannot find expression through other media, including voices of villagers, religious minorities, and political activists.
