T.M. Krishna, one of the foremost Karnatik vocalists today, begins his panoramic exploration of that tradition with a fundamental question: what is music? Taking nothing for granted and addressing diverse readers from Karnatik music's rich spectrum and beyond it, Krishna provides a path-breaking overview of south Indian classical music. He advances provocative ideas about various aspects of its practice. Central to his thinking is the concept of 'art music', the ability to achieve abstraction, as the foundational character of Karnatik music. In his explorations, he sights the visible connections and unappreciated intersections between this music form and others - Hindustani music, Bharatanatyam, fusion music and cine music - treading new, often contentious, ground.