Redefining Contemporaneity: Seeing the Tradition as the New Contemporary

Abstract

Music undergoes significant expressional changes owing to the parallel changes in the time it belongs to as art adapts itself to the changing time. Such developments are reflected directly in its expressions. It can be assumed, that the impact of the social changes making art look ‘relevant’ or ‘contemporary’ seemingly contributes to the perpetuation of art. The difference of times apposes the binary of tradition and contemporaneity to the further binaries of old and new. When the individual talent rises as part of both tradition and the contemporary, tradition after a point itself becomes contemporized. This paper aims to elucidate the various aspects of the coexistence of tradition and contemporaneity in Indian classical music and Rabindrasangeet. The paper also aims to discuss the contemporary time necessitating a change in art, the presence of tradition in contemporaneity, and the acceptance of tradition as the new contemporary.