\@zhao
yes the avant garde used 3rd world music to create cognitive shock tactics in unsuspecting westerners from debussy onwards
no, you are criminally understating.
much more than "using... to shock", the FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS and INSPIRATIONS of minimalism, modularity, atonality, microtonality, polyphony, micro-polyphony, CAME FROM non-western, indigenous music. period.
frankly it is dissapointing to hear someone so knowledgeable say something so flippantly distorted.
but I dont think one can pretend we have exactly the same relationship with the music of the past or exotic music as we did.
is anyone trying to do this? i certainly am not.
my main points are:
A. that modern music is in no way a break from, or separate from, musical forms of the past, and is often direct or indirect descendent. for instance: lots of current electronica is influenced by dub/reggae, which is influenced by traditional African musics. simple. anyone want to argue with that?
B. that many musical forms of the past is formally (and perhaps in other ways as well) more developed, refined, sophisticated, challenging, "advanced" than modern music, which is often nothing more than crude in comparison.