Transcending the Cultural Divide

Kaa Vaa Vaa, sang the voice, its searing intensity piercing the innermost core of the listener's heart. The song was in the Caratic classical tradition of South India. The singer was the late John Higgins, a Westerner. Indians, prone to think very proprietorially of their music and dance, diagnosed it as a case of Vaasana, a Sanskrit word which, among its other meanings, also refers to the lingering flavors of a previous birth that, despite cultural gaps, finds expression. While classical Indian literature and philosophy had, toward the close of the last century, attracted the attention of great foreign minds like Max Mueller, it is only in the past 5o years or so that classical dance and music have evoked outside interest. In a shrinking world where cross-cultural interaction is frequent, separateness and existence in isolated pockets are rare for any art tradition. Not only have the doors of art traditions been thrown open to all, but with young people more than willing to overcome yawning cultural chasms, the whole question of cultural entitlement assumes a different color

Aesthetics · Art · Dance · Entitlement (fair division · Linguistics · Literature · Sanskrit · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Diversity and Impact of Dance · History · Philosophy · Psychology · Theatre and Performance Studies

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