Jairazbhoy, Nazir (Ali)
Jairazbhoy, Nazir (Ali)
Jairazbhoy, Nazir (Ali), English ethnomusicologist and instrumentalist of Indian descent; b. Clifton, Oct. 31, 1927. After schooling in England and India, he studied at the Univ. of Wash. (B.A., 1951) and at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (Ph.D., 1971, with the diss. The Rāgas of North Indian Music: Their Structure and Evolution; publ, in London, 1971), where he lectured on Indian music (1962–69). He was assoc. prof, of Asian studies at the Univ. of Windsor, Ontario (1969–75), and prof, of ethnomusicology at the Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles (from 1975), where he later became the chairman of its Department of Ethnomusicology and Systematic Musicology (1988). His study of the evolution of different ragas and scales contributed greatly to knowledge about North Indian music.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire