The Music of Hindostan c17.162

c17.162

Who would wish to decide which way was the best? Both are human. There is no need to decry one in favour of, or to exalt one at the expense of the other. Are those Europeans who smile at ‘tomtoms’ sure that they understand the grounds of their faith in their own music? And are those Indians who scoff at Equal Temperament, at the dullness of European song and the screaming tones of the European voice, able to reach the governing principles of their own art through the mass of tradition and imagery in which it has become involved?