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Book/Printed Material Brought to life by the voice : playback singing and cultural politics in South India

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Title

  • Brought to life by the voice : playback singing and cultural politics in South India

Summary

  • "To produce the song sequences that are central to Indian popular cinema, singers' voices are first recorded in the studio and then played back on the set to be lip-synced and danced to by actors and actresses as the visuals are filmed. Since the 1950s, playback singers have become revered celebrities in their own right. Brought to Life by the Voice explores the distinctive aesthetics and affective power generated by this division of labor between onscreen body and offscreen voice in South Indian Tamil cinema. In Amanda Weidman's historical and ethnographic account, playback is not just a cinematic technique, but a powerful and ubiquitous element of aural public culture that has shaped the complex dynamics of postcolonial gendered subjectivity, politicized ethnolinguistic identity, and neoliberal transformation in South India"-- Provided by publisher.

Names

  • Weidman, Amanda J., 1970- author

Created / Published

  • Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2021]
  • ©2021

Contents

  • Introduction : theorizing playback -- Trading voices : the gendered beginnings of playback -- 'A leader for all song' : making a dravidian voice -- Ambiguities of animation : on being 'just the voice' -- The sacred and the profane : economies of the (il)licit -- The raw and the husky : on timbral qualia and ethnolinguistic belonging -- Anxieties of embodiment : liveness and deadness in the new dispensation -- Anti-playback.

Headings

  • -  Motion picture music--India, South--History and criticism
  • -  Musical films--Social aspects--India, South
  • -  Musical films--India, South--History and criticism
  • -  Singing in motion pictures

Notes

  • -  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  • -  Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Medium

  • 1 online resource

Call Number/Physical Location

  • ML2075

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2020045524

Rights Advisory

Access Advisory

  • Unrestricted online access

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

The books in this collection are licensed under open access licenses allowing for the reuse and distribution of each book following the terms described in each license. Researchers should consult the Rights Advisory statement for each title and the accompanying license details for information about rights and permissions associated with each of the licenses.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Weidman, Amanda J., Author. Brought to life by the voice: playback singing and cultural politics in South India. [Oakland, California: University of California Press, ©, 2021] Pdf. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2020045524/.

APA citation style:

Weidman, A. J. (2021) Brought to life by the voice: playback singing and cultural politics in South India. [Oakland, California: University of California Press, ©] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2020045524/.

MLA citation style:

Weidman, Amanda J., Author. Brought to life by the voice: playback singing and cultural politics in South India. [Oakland, California: University of California Press, ©, 2021] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/2020045524/>.