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The study of South Asian music falls under the purview of
ethnomusicology, whereas that of South Asian literature falls under
South Asian studies. As a consequence of this academic separation,
scholars rarely take notice of connections between South Asian song
and poetry.
Modernizing Composition overcomes this
disciplinary fragmentation by examining the history of
Sinhala-language song and poetry in twentieth-century Sri Lanka.
Garrett Field describes how songwriters and poets modernized song
and poetry in response to colonial and postcolonial formations. The
story of this modernization is significant in that it shifts focus
from India’s relationship to the West to little-studied
connections between Sri Lanka and North India.