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Talk eight as advertised on Sikh Discover Inspire taking place at Khalili Lecture Hall london EC1H 0XG , Sunday 9th Sept 2018 at 15:00 , ticket 5GBP: The series continues with our eighth talk, in which historian and ethnomusicologist, Radha Kapuria, establishes how Punjab emerged as a major centre for classical music patronage under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, revealing the particular centrality of sword-yielding, cross-dressing female dancers in his diplomatic negotiations with political rivals. This illustrated talk will be followed by a Q&A session. Radha Kapuria trained as a historian at the University of Delhi before joining the Jawaharlal Nehru University for her MPhil degree. Her research investigated the oldest classical music festival of north India- the Harballabh of Jalandhar, Punjab. She built on this ‘micro-history’ by researching a more macro-level social history of music in the region during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for her PhD at King’s College London. She currently divides her time between preparing a book manuscript titled Music in Colonial Punjab: A Social History, based on her PhD, and working as part-time Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at King’s. This lecture series has been organised by the UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA) in partnership with the SOAS South Asia Institute (SSAI). Image: Dancing girls and musicians at the Court of Lahore, by Bishan Singh, 1874 (Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan)