ABSTRACT
Ananda coomaraswamy examines 'how tradition determines itself in opposition to other musical forms, in setting itself aside from them, in short, in exercising its power, and thereby leaning on power'. Intending to determine the common components of traditional music, and concerned as much with its object as its topic, during separates a set of criteria and levels of relevance shared by this music: tradition as transmission process; content and forms; means of production; performance and listening conditions; social and cultural context; senses and values manifested by music. The boundaries between musical characteristics relevant to a tradition and those that rather seem to slide away to form a kind of no-man's-land, particularly in the contemporary context, are difficult to define because of the increasing permeability of cultural borders and resulting reinterpenetration of genres. Some people hold in esteem the notion that tradition is opposed to all kinds of development or evolution.
