Tales of Tradition: Musical GIs of India by Khushi Kesari and Shivani Singh is a richly curated coffee table book that brings to life the stories, craftsmanship, and cultural significance of India’s Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged musical instruments. Framed around the 2025 World Intellectual Property Organisation’s theme—“IP and Music: Feel the Beat”—the book highlights how music, tradition, and intellectual property intersect in powerful and often overlooked ways. It journeys through diverse regions of India, showcasing instruments like the Bobbili Veena from Andhra Pradesh, the Maddalam from Kerala, and the Bodo Kham and Serja from Assam. Through vivid photographs, historical insights, and intimate profiles of artisans, the book reveals how these instruments are not just tools for performance but living embodiments of regional identities, oral traditions, spiritual beliefs, and ancestral craftsmanship. They resonate not only with sound but with memory of the soil they come from, the hands that shape them, and the communities that preserve them through festivals, rituals, and everyday life.
The book also serves as an educational and legal lens into the world of GI protection in India, shedding light on how intellectual property frameworks try to safeguard cultural heritage. With only around 20 GI-tagged musical instruments among more than 630 registered GIs in India, the authors emphasise the urgent need for documentation, awareness, and preservation. Each instrument featured is accompanied by its mythological origin, the specific materials and techniques used in its creation, and the socio-economic backdrop of the artisan communities. Legal discussions on the evolution of India’s GI Act (1999), the impact of reforms, and the significance of GI in empowering marginalised craftspersons are seamlessly integrated, making the book both visually compelling and academically robust. Ultimately, Tales of Tradition is more than a tribute—it is a call to action. It reminds readers, policymakers, and cultural custodians that protecting these instruments is not merely about safeguarding objects, but about nurturing the stories, skills, and legacies that keep India’s cultural soul alive and resonant across generations.
