The new “model minority” is, as everyone knows, the South Asians. South

Asian immigrant families typically do well in school, careers, business, and

academia. And yet…

“Mr. Derbyshire—You wondered a while back why so many East Asians are

involved in classical music. I am equally mystified by a related question:

Why are so *few* South Asians? There’s Zubin Mehta, of course, but he’s a

Parsi. Can you think of any South Asian from a Hindu or Muslim background,

native-born or diaspora, who has become prominent in classical music? When

I go to the NY Philharmonic (as I will do tonight, by coincidence), I find

no members who seem to fit into this category, either by appearance or by

name (though as you know, names can be deceiving). In any other profession

that requires years of study and hard work, you will find both East Asians

and South Asians in large numbers–business, academia, medicine, law,

engineering, etc. But in music, for some reason, the South Asians are much

less common. Why?”

This is one of those unfathomable things you can probably never get to the

bottom of. (To the bottom of which… Oh, never mind.) I did try it out

on the Human Biodiversity e-list, though, and got the following responses:

[From an Indian Muslim] Many muslim families, especially of elite bent,

seem to think that music is a disreputable career. This is partially

derived from the idea that the only proper lyrical music is verses of the

Koran (this is an extreme view, but it sets the curve). Non-lyrical music

is technically not included but it generally gets slotted into it.

[A young American from a Hindu family] Hmmm, I think this may be a

definitional issue. There are a lot of South Asians who do classical

*Indian* music, e.g. Ravi Shankar. In my (limited) experience, upwardly

mobile Indian Americans with kids of a musical bent send them to

carnatic music classes rather than violin lessons.

[From a non-Indian list member — actually he’s French] Though melodically

rich and rhythmically complex, Classical Indian music is without harmony.

This may account for why Indians have not accepted Western music.