“Mr. Derbyshire—As a fixture of a large music school, I can assure you

that there are many South Asian students of western music. By and large,

however, your correspondent is correct: most talented South Asians are

diverted into classical North Indian (Hindustani) or South Asian (Karnatic)

musical styles. While lacking harmony, Indian music vastly outstrips

Western music in performance practice, rhythmic complexity, and melodic

subtlety.

“On a side note, we should initiate a competition in the Corner for the

reader who is most deeply embedded in the belly of the beast (the left-wing

academy). For instance, I believe I am probably the only ethnomusicologist

in the US who reads NRO faithfully, while I teach in both the music and

anthropology departments of my University. Beat that!”

So: do we have any readers at, say, Patrice Lumumba University in Havana?

Or the Kim Il Sung Party School at Pyongyang U.?

(NB: “Party school” means something different in a communist country…)