I was talking with someone about history not long ago, and I asked why all the history classes that we had in school seemed to only focus on U.S. and European history. What about the rest of the world? Certainly there was a lot of history happening in other places besides the U.S. and Europe. My friend's comment was that that was where all the "important" history had taken place.
How ethnocentric! Important to whom? Do you think the Chinese give a rat's ass about the Knights of the Templar, or the Austro-Hungarian Empire?
That got me to thinking about how ethnocentric we are when it comes to art and music as well. When we think of the great artists, we think of the European Old Masters and impressionists, etc.... DaVinci, Michelangelo, El Greco, Velasquez, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso, Kandinsky, Monet, Pisarro, Botticelli. When it comes to classical music, we think of European composers... Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Vivaldi, etc.
But at the same time that these artistic and musical masterpieces were being created in Europe, there must have been some amazing music and art being produced in the Orient as well. Why do we, in the west, know so little about them?
Can those of you who live in Asian countries please enlighten us? Who were your great classical music composers? Who were your great artists? At least, if I have the names, I can look them up on the internet. I love Asian music. I want to hear the best!
