Publication

Abstract : The December music festival or Margazhi Music Season as it is also called is a globally renowned carnival of Indian classical Carnatic music conducted in Chennai, India. Several newspapers and other media take it upon themselves to promote the event through dedicated coverage on the music season with detailed critiques and reviews, making it one of the best examples of Indian music journalism. Drawing inspiration from the existing friction between musicians and critics on balancing the aesthetic and journalistic principles of critiques, the research compares the English daily, The Hindu, and a Tamil newspaper, Dinamani, on the grounds of framing and critical efficacy of reviews using qualitative framing analysis and in-depth interviews with experts in both the critic and musician fraternities, in addition to scholars specialized in similar areas. The research finds that the coverage quality is comparatively better both aesthetically and technically in The Hindu in comparison to Dinamani. It also confirms the existence of an ongoing tension between performing musicians and critics on the quality of reviews, apart from determining the role of a critic in creating knowledge communities among the readers.