Hindustani Airs: Exhibiting Performance Culture at the Fitzwilliam Museum

Hindustani Airs stages a performance gathering of a range of cultural actors in late eighteenth-century North India through the lens of an illustrated multilingual songbook made for an Englishwoman (Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 380). The manuscript enables exploration of the themes of collecting, music, poetry, and play, all of which were central to the vibrant nightly soirees hosted in the homes of noblemen and women in Lucknow. Such performances served as a meeting point between Mughal rulers, colonial officers, foreign merchants, and of course, courtesans, musicians, and poets. This talk presents the latest research on this manuscript, and future plans.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Howard Assembly Room, Downing College, Regent Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom