Requiem in Raga Janki

• The novel recreates an era when Allahabad was a thriving centre of musicians, poets, scholars and freedom fighters. Janki Bai, popularly known as Chhappan Chhuri, becomes a celebrated performer whose admirers include maharajas, poets, judges, nawabs and government officials.

  The story moves through the history of Hindustani music, from older traditions associated with Tansen and Baiju to the arrival of the gramophone. It also explores the tensions surrounding recording technology and the changing world of Indian classical music.

• Neelum Saran Gour is an Indian novelist and short-story writer and a professor of English at the University of Allahabad. Her works include Grey Pigeon and Other Stories, Speaking of '62, Winter Companions and Other Stories, Virtual Realities, Sikandar Chowk Park and Song without End and Other Stories.

Requiem in Raga Janki tells the story of Janki Bai Ilahabadi, a gifted Hindustani singer whose extraordinary voice takes her from poverty to the grand palaces and royal durbars of colonial India.

After surviving a violent attack in her youth, Janki rises from the world of the nautch house to become one of Allahabad's most admired musical stars. Her performances attract audiences from across the social spectrum, including royalty, intellectuals and influential officials.

Against this personal story, the novel paints a larger picture of Indian musical culture at a time of profound change. The emergence of the gramophone begins to transform the relationship between performers and audiences, while traditional musicians debate whether music should be captured and reproduced through recordings.