1 - Entertainment Globalization, 1850s to 1910s

Summary

This chapter addresses the practical capacity of blackface minstrelsy and ragtime to constitute a significant portion of Western entertainment in India in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this era of transnational entertainment networks and new mechanical reproduction technologies, these styles of music spread unevenly, yet consistently, across India. This chapter shows that regimental bands and ballroom dances supported the entertainment needs of British and Europeans in India, and asserts that commercial structures and social capital associated with these entertainments facilitated demand for music from the United States. In this process it comments on the spread of printed music, musical instruments, and musicians, and outlines the role of ballroom dances and regimental bands in their proliferation. It then focuses on blackface minstrel shows in the 1800s and ragtime at the turn of the century, detailing their scope and character, including the role of theater venues, gramophone recordings, and foreign entertainment troupes. This chapter concentrates on music whose audiences were primarily British, Europeans, or English speaking Indians, and suggests that blackface minstrel shows and ragtime were transnational styles that reached India almost from their beginnings.

For audiences in India, knowledge of the African American origins of blackface minstrel shows and ragtime—including cultural, historical, and geographical roots—represented select knowledge of the history of black America. Blackface minstrel performances encompassed many characteristics—comedy, parody, acrobats, and mischief—but also exemplified the recent history of slavery in the United States. Ragtime embodied many attributes—antecedents in “coon” songs, an emphasis on syncopation, and prevalence in American brass bands—and was sometimes considered rooted in the black minstrel or slave music idioms. Accurate or not, these links to African American origins signified black exoticism which was important to value construction and cosmopolitan meaning. Furthermore, as I mention in the introduction to this book, blackface minstrelsy and ragtime were popular in India in many respects because they were popular in England, especially London, and they represented adherence to musical trends in both Great Britain and the United States. Thus, this chapter expands on my earlier discussions of the trilateral musical links between India, England, and the United States.