I am a carnatic vocalist,and I found this book extremely valuable for both newcomers and somebody who has knowledge in this art form.Actually I have asked my students in the University to use it as a reference.It is easily readable and written in a way that the author understands the deapth of culture and tradition of South India and its musical tradition, along with many pictures to illustrate the ideas.I personally feel that we really needed this book,since there are not many books written by westerners on carnatic music and will be highly appreciated by anybody who buys this book.

For someone already familiar with South Indian classical (Carnatic) music, this book will be a wealth of additional historical, technical and biographical information. For someone who doesn't know much about the music, I would recommend reading the book in conjunction with listening to the music (as much of it as possible) and reading other material. This book combines the detailed information of a reference book with the approachability of a popular introduction; it may be heavy reading initially for the newcomer (since the nature of the music is so different from western music), but will be very rewarding.