Traditional Asia

It is not too much to say that Asian musics, like one in other regions, have a lot of harsh problems.
First, they are changing their nature to respond to the demand of stage shows. They are porformed for tourists without traditional and social contents. Also, if the quality is often judged by public concerts or sales in market, it has a influence of the musics performed and the musicians who performed them, and various styles are standardized. Then, the acrobatic performance skill become a measure of individuality.
More over, the process of adaptation to media confronts to the social function for peculiar musics. To sum up, the musics which have the social or satirical contents likely to be sung in the party as Ceylonean "Baira", and "Kapriso" which has been impronptu culture are also out of neccessity to be produced in studio, be depend on technology, and be produced on a large sales as identical commodity.

What I'm afraid is that after ten or fifteen years,
caset tapes would come into wide use even in the most frontier villages,
while the original musics of the regions decline,
and the people would get used to lax musics.
Then, people lose their own culture.

I am not getting sentimental.
If the local cultures disappear,
The whole world culture will lose one aspect.
Whatever it is a small coutry, we
have peculiar style of singing, accompanying, and taking rhythm,
and do small original contribution into the world culture

But because of weakness of organizations and lack of funds,
we may loose our originality.
Though government encourages in nationalism
if the development problems come to the front, culture will be left until later
Before all else, it must allay all hunger,
and after finished investing to agriculture, road constraction, and industry,
search for the money for cultural activities.
It is much the same in all other countries.
-------------------- (W.B.Macroruwa, Sri Lanka,1982)

In Japanese
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