Classical Music Outside Of Europe: Have You Explored Much?

[Scion7]

The Magyars have been established in the Carpathian basin for over a thousand years, and are considered Europeans.  The Turks are most certainly NOT established in Europe, except as a few immigrants here/there.  The Turkish people's homeland now is in Anatolia, which is not Europe.  And I never said Bartok, Sibelius, etc., were not European composers.  The Finns are most certainly considered Europeans.

You may teach the way you wish to, just as I will teach history to my students as the overwhelming majority of scholarly texts state.
We will have a very different opinion on this.

:-)

[Christo]

Reza Vali has written some excellent music combining Western and Iranian musical traditions.

Great reminder, yes, have some of his music. Reminds me of another old favourite: Ravi Shankar, who not only joined and inspired The Beatles, but wrote two concertos for sitar and orchestra recorded by André Previn in my youth, when I loved to play them. Here's the lively Raga Adana from the first concerto:
https://www.youtube.com/v/JwqmbiMUIF0

[jochanaan]

Music can be "outside the European tradition" in two ways.  It can be written by someone who lives outside of Europe, or it can be written in or include styles that are part of some other tradition.  Composers such as Chavez, Villa-Lobos, Ginastera, Tan Dun, and Ravi Shankar share in common that they both lived (or live) outside of Europe and have consciously fused styles native to their homelands with a generalized "classical" style.  However, in doing so, they have actually followed the "nationalist" tradition that came into prominence in the 19th century, with composers from outside "Central Western Europe" such as Smetana, Sibelius, John Ireland, Isaac Albeniz and Bartok fusing their own countries' styles into the classical tradition.

One of the most interesting figures in this tradition is Alan Hovhaness.  Born in the Boston area to an Armenian father and an American mother, he also studied in India, Hawaii, Japan and Korea, and has included these lands' styles and ethos into his own music, resulting in a set of works that are immediately recognizable as his own and no others'.  My two favorite Hovhaness compositions are Symphony #2 "Mysterious Mountain" and Symphony #50 "Mount St. Helens."

[Brian]

One question remains: should we include the British Isles? 

They're going to hold a referendum on that

[The new erato]

They're going to hold a referendum on that

I thought Europe was a part of Britain?

[jochanaan]

I thought Europe was a part of Britain?

Like the US is part of New York? 

[Daverz]

Like the US is part of New York? 

As famously depicted in this New Yorker cover:

[The Six]

My mother was born on the Asian side of Istanbul

Not Constantinople?