Symphonies, Status and Soft Power: The Symphony Orchestra of India

Abstract

The Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) is India's only professional symphony orchestra. In this paper, I explore the roles and meanings of the SOI. First, I situate it locally within its home city of Mumbai, positioning it within discourses of social class, status, and globally-minded aspiration. I argue that local values and ideologies surrounding professional musicianship compromise attempts to embed orchestral musicking in the city. I then move on to place the SOI within discourses of nation building, questioning the role of the orchestra as a marker of national development. I suggest that Mumbai's transnational middle class and elite communities, as well as the SOI's multinational corporate donors, consider investment in an orchestra a part of India's wider political and economic development. I point to tensions that are created as India's local and national government resist the notion of the orchestra as a marker of modernity and instead champion Indian arts and cultures as foundational to India's nationhood. Finally, I explore the SOI's transnational networks, looking at its role within cultural diplomacy and soft power. I show that, whilst the SOI has made significant steps in 'reaching out' and finding a place within transnational cultural networks, its efforts are hampered by its failure to 'stand out'; to forge its own national identity as an Indian symphony orchestra.