Everyday Creativity
Singing Goddesses in the Himalayan Foothills
Kirin Narayan's imagination was captured the very first time that, as a girl visiting the Himalayas, she heard Kangra women join their voices together in song. Returning as an anthropologist, she became fascinated by how they spoke of singing as a form of enrichment, bringing feelings of accomplishment, companionship, happiness, and even good health – all benefits of the "everyday creativity" she explores in this book. Part ethnography, part musical discovery, part poetry, part memoir, and part unforgettable portraits of creative individuals, this unique work brings this remote region in North India alive in sight and sound while celebrating the incredible powers of music in our lives. With rare and captivating eloquence, Narayan portrays Kangra songs about difficulties on the lives of goddesses and female saints as a path to well-being. Like the intricate geometries of mandalu patterns drawn in courtyards or the subtle balance of flavors in a meal, well-crafted songs offer a variety of deeply meaningful benefits: as a way of making something of value, as a means of establishing a community of shared pleasure and skill, as a path through hardships and limitations, and as an arena of renewed possibility".Everyday Creativity" makes big the small world of Kangra song and opens up new ways of thinking about what creativity is to us and why we are so compelled to engage it.
About the Author
Kirin Narayan is professor in the School of Culture, History, and Language in the College of Asia and the Pacific at Australia National University. She is the author of several books, including "My Family and Other Saints" and "Alive in the Writing", both published by the University of Chicago Press.
Reviews
"This highly original book, based on a rich but mostly unknown corpus of oral texts from the western Himalayas, reveals a world in which gods and goddesses from the classical Indian pantheon mingle with human beings, particularly women, and take part in their everyday lives, their communal rituals, and their deepest emotions. The translated songs are ravishing, and the ethnographic observations with which the author frames them are powerful texts in their own right" – David Shulman, author of "More than Real"
"Fluid, readable, and evocative, 'Everyday Creativity' is enriched by Narayan's trademark: a painterly mastery of charming, descriptive prose. We might almost forget that we are reading anthropology – yet her deep insights are gracefully woven throughout" – Ann Grodzins Gold, co-author of "Listen to the Heron's Words"
