As assertions about music and the state become increasingly cliché, The Musical Gift provides a timely critique of the "music and identity episteme." Focusing on acts of musical giving, the author provides a wide-ranging study of interpenetrating musical histories in Sri Lanka - shared histories that have implications for post-war reconciliation. Music scholars, anthropologists, and South Asianists may all find something useful and surprising in this
exciting new work.
Jim Sykes is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. His research is in sound and music studies, religious studies, labor history/capitalism, and conflict studies, focusing to date on Sri Lanka and Singapore. He is the co-editor of Remapping Sound Studies (Duke University Press, 2019). He is also a drummer who has recorded and toured widely with numerous experimental and indie rock
groups.