ABSTRACT
Any analysis of the demarcations of genre in Indian music sooner or later meets a significant obstacle in the form of the existence of a ‘semi-classical’ or ‘light-classical’ category. Although these terms, which appear to have been coined specifically for the Indian market,1 seem to adequately describe a genre that is located near the midpoint of the continuum between classical and non-classical forms, they in fact tend to be badly defined and used in a variety of (sometimes conflicting) contexts. Not only is the concept confusing to the non-initiated (is it the semi or the classical that is most salient?), even performers of genres included in the category are unclear as to what the conditions for inclusion actually are. Although we begin this chapter with a brief and general examination of the concept of genre per se, we soon arrive at the point where
status as a semi-classical genre becomes the focal point of discussion.
