Annual Conference - 2027
Dates: February 11-13th, 2027
Venue: Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, India
Hybrid Mode (In-person and Online)
Theme: Histories, Practices and Aesthetics
The Annual Conference 2027 of the Forum for Research in Indian Music (FRIM) is to be held from 11th to 13th February 2027 . The conference, organised in a hybrid mode and in collaboration with Christ (Deemed-To-Be) University, Bengaluru, seeks to bring together scholars and practitioners engaged in the study of Indian music across its performative, textual, and theoretical dimensions.
FRIM warmly invites you to participate in the conference.
Call for Papers
Indian music encompasses diverse traditions and practices that have evolved through processes of transmission, interpretation, adaptation, and change. Its history is preserved not only in performance traditions but also in treatises, compositions, notation, and other forms of musical knowledge. At the same time, musical texts acquire meaning through their engagement with lived practices.
“Histories, Practices and Aesthetics” invites papers that critically engage with the musical traditions and practices of India, including, but not limited to, what are broadly referred to as tribal, folk, classical, popular, and religious. The papers may explore performance, repertoire, pedagogy, technique and aesthetics of musical practices or may interrogate musical texts- including treatises, compositions, commentaries, and notation - to examine the relationship between textual formulations and practices of performance, pedagogy, transmission, and aesthetics. Contributions may draw upon historical, philosophical, ethnographic, music-analytical, or practice-based approaches to illuminate the ways in which musical practice is transmitted, interpreted, and transformed. It also opens space for considering how contemporary technologies, institutions, interdisciplinary approaches, and changing performance contexts are reshaping the ways Indian music is understood and practised.
We welcome submissions from academics and researchers as well as from performer-scholars, practitioner-researchers, and those working in collaborative or cross-disciplinary frameworks.
Potential Topics Include
Histories of performance, pedagogy, or patronage
Transmission of musicological knowledge (oral, textual, digital)
Intersections with dance, ritual, or religious practice
Psychoacoustics
Close readings of Indian musicological texts
Analytical studies of rāga, tāla, or compositional forms
Historical Musicology
Music and aesthetics in Indian philosophical systems
Music Philology and Manuscript Studies
Music and colonial/postcolonial knowledge formations
Comparative frameworks and global musicology
Themes in Philosophy of Music
Histories of instruments, techniques
Conceptual and methodological issues
We welcome proposals for:
Individual papers (20-minute presentation + 10-minute discussion)
Thematic panels (3-4 papers + moderator; 60 minutes presentations +30 minutes discussion) - Contact Editor@frim.co.in
Lecture-demonstrations or practice-based presentations (20-minute presentation + 10-minute discussion)
Submission Guidelines
Abstract: 100-400 words with Bio: 100 words (including institutional affiliation, if any)
The abstract should clearly mention the following: Purpose and scope of the study, the methodology employed, findings and conclusions from the study.
The abstract should be objective and analytical in nature. Eulogistic and hyperbolic language should be avoided.
Deadline for Abstract and Panel Proposals: 30 September, 2026
Notification of Acceptance: 30 Oct 2026
Deadline for submission of full paper: 1 December, 2026
Deadline for Registering for Conference: 31 December, 2026