ABSTRACT
The category better adapted to integration in a foreign institutional setting is probably that of music of a voluntary nature, within which no principle of restriction opposes its diffusion. Since 1992, an international conference has been organised annually on the theme of the integration of extra-European music into academic programmes of education and musical training. One of the general features of traditional music is the orality of its transmission. Those genres that make systematic or occasional recourse to written aids do not question the common principle of orality: this is even the case in scholarly or ritual repertoires, in which interpreters must respect the rules rigorously. An apprenticeship in certain genres is extremely arduous and requires many years' experience and daily practice. Even when artistically highly qualified, a recently disembarked master risks slipping up due to an insufficient knowledge of Western attitudes and living conditions.
