Through our lifestyles and opinions, we express our individuality. Yet we are more than our choices and opinions. Greater knowledge, and a better understanding of the science, history, literature and art about the ways in which we divide ourselves can help us live more ethically, more fully, and shape a better world. Diversity is the bedrock on which the richness…
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Value for Thursday of Week 23 in the season of Growth
Tradition
Tradition is a practice or set of practices within a society or culture. Its value is similar to that of ritual. It can contribute to stability but it can also lead to a loss of individual freedom.
- Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse. [Winston Churchill]
- Tradition is the illusion of permanence. [Woody Allen]
- If I belong to a tradition, it is a tradition that makes the masterpiece tell the performer what to do, and not the performer telling the piece what it should be like, or the composer what he ought to have composed. [Alfred Brendel]
- Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking about. [Gilbert K. Chesterton]
Tradition, with its ritual element, is a way of recapturing the past for a while, often in the company of others with a shared set of traditions. The values and ethics in our Human Faith model emphasize growth, expansion and testing limits. Tradition offers an occasional break from that, for a restorative breath.
Real
True Narratives
Histories of traditions:
- John Bentley, Herbert Ziegler and Heather Streets Salter, Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History (McGraw Hill Education, 4th Edition, 2015).
- Nepia Muhalka, Rethinking Oral History and Tradition: An Indegenous Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2019).
- Jan M. Vansina, Oral Tradition as History (James Curley, 1985).
- A.N. Wilson, The Elizabethans (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2012): on influential Brits who created a culture steeped in tradition and, simultaneously, in innovation.
- William Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition (Columbia University Press, 2nd edition, 1999): From Earliest Times to 1600 (Volume 1); From 1600 Through the Twentieth Century (Volume 2).
- William Theodore de Bary, Carol Gluck and Arthur Tiedermann, eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition (Columbia University Press, 2nd edition, 2002): Volume 1: From Earliest Times to 1600; Volume 2: 1600 to 2000.
- Ainslie Thomas Embree, Stephen H. Hay and William Theodore de Bary, eds., Sources of Indian Tradition (Columbia University Press, 2nd edition 1988): Volume 1: From the Beginning to 1800; Volume 2: Modern India and Pakistan.
- William Theodore de Bary and Peter H. Lee, eds.,Sources of Korean Tradition (Columbia University Press, 2nd edition, 1996): Volume 1: From Early Times Through the Sixteenth Century; Volume 2: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries.
- George Dutton, Jayne Werner and John Whitmore, eds., Sources of Vietnamese Tradition (Columbia University Press, 2012).
- Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Matthew Kapstein and Gray Tuttle, eds., Sources of Tibetan Tradition (Columbia University Press, 2013).
- William Theodore de Bary, ed., Sources of East Asian Tradition, Volume 1: Premodern Asia (Columbia University Press, 2008).
- William Theodore de Bary, ed., Sources of East Asian Tradition, Volume I1: The Modern Period (Columbia University Press, 2008).
- Marvin Perry, Sources of the Western Tradition, Volume I: From Ancient Times to the Enlightenment (Cengage Learning, 10th edition, 2018)
- Marvin Perry, Sources of the Western Tradition, Volume II: From Renaissance to the Present (Cengage Learning, 10th edition, 2018).
- Neils Peter Lemche, The Israelites in History and Tradition (Westminster John Knox Press, 1998).
Technical and Analytical Readings
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Novels:
- David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Winter Counts: A Novel (Ecco, 2020): justice is in short supply on an Indian reservation steeped in history and tradition.
Poetry
Poems:
- William Wordsworth, “Young England – What Is Then Become of Old”
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
From all over the world, music has grown out of and been associated with traditions. Even jazz and Western classical music have their traditions: to Western ears, these do not seem like traditions but they are as firmly based in culture as is the Klezmer music associated with Jewish culture. However, because Western classical composers place a greater emphasis on music theory from a non-cultural perspective, and intellectual development, I will focus this discussion on music that adheres tightly to its cultural roots, presenting just a few examples from many cultures around the world.
- Klezmer music emphasizes celebration of Jewish traditions, and is strongly represented on disc, including: Early Klezmer, 1908-1927 (75’); The Chicago Klezmer Ensemble early recordings 1987-1989 (58’); Kaschauer Klezmer Band (53’); Romanian Klezmer Tour, 2011 (130’); and Giora Feidman, “The Magic of Klezmer” (1990) (62’).
- Music of Sephardic Jews emphasizes reverence for traditions, as opposed to Klezmer music, which is more celebratory. It is represented on disc by a group called The Renaissance Players. That group has released albums called “Thorns of Fire” (1998), “Apples and Honey” (1998), “Gazelle and Flea” (1999), and “Eggplants” (1999).
- Hamdi Benani was an Algerian singer and instrumentalist whose style and well expresses the musical traditions of his culture. He sang as though he was telling his people’s story. Here is a link to his playlists.
- Domna Samiou is a musicologist and performer who has worked hard to preserve the art form of Greek traditional music. Here is a link to her playlists.
- Rembetika is a riff on Greek popular music, for the underground, as represented here. It has been called the blues of Greece.
- From the small kingdom of Macedonia, in northeastern Greece, came a delightful celebration of culture, as captured on the album “Traditional Music from Macedonia” (2010).
- Tuoareg music is a centuries-old musical tradition featuring a three-stringed tehardent, percussion, vocalization and hand claps. A Smithsonian Folkways recording, “Tuareg Music of the Southern Sahara” (1959) (42’), and a self-titled recording by Al Bilali Soudan (2013) (57’) provide excellent examples, as do Al Bilali Soudan’s other recordings.
- “Nakibembe is a small village in Uganda’s Busoga Kingdom, where the residents preserve the local tradition of playing and dancing to the undulating rhythms and melodies of the embaire – a massive log xylophone, comprising up to 25 wooden keys, which is amplified by the pit dug around it in the village's communal space.” Examples include the album “Nakibembe Embaire Group” (2023) (42’), this documentary film, and this video.
- Júlia Colom has resurrected musical traditions of the island of Mallorca with her album “Miramar” (2023) (30'). Here is a collection of the Island’s traditional music.
- Sankyoku is a form of Japanese music in ensemble. A representative album, by Ensemble Hougaku Shijyuusoudan, is “L’art du Sankyoku” (2024) (73’).
- The Down Hill Strugglers is an old-time string band in the Appalachian tradition. “The band — Walker Shepard (fiddle, banjo, guitar, harmonica, voice), Jackson Lynch (fiddle, banjo, guitar, voice) and Eli Smith (banjo, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, jews harp, pump organ, voice) — make no concession whatsoever to any modern embellishment, choosing instead to play music as it might have been heard on the back porches of Appalachian homesteads by those that settled there early on.” Here is a link to their albums and singles.
As an illustration of how musical traditions can lead to other musical traditions, each rooted in its culture of time and place, consider the roots of American bluegrass music.
- Irish traditional music is represented by artists such as Martin Hayes, Paddy Keenan, Liam O’Flynn, and Mary Bergin.
- Contemporary Scottish traditional musical artists include Alasdair Fraser, Julia Fowlis, Dàimh, and Dougie MacLean.
- Contemporary English traditional musical artists include Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, and John Kirkpatrick.
- Bluegrass is the result of Irish, Scottish and English immigrants settling in the United States, as represented on this compilation. Top bluegrass artists include Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, The Osborne Brothers, and more recently, Ricky Scaggs, and Alison Krauss.
Drawing on tradition does not imply a slavish or single-minded adherence to it. As creative artists, musicians routinely layer their individual lives atop their traditions, to produce new music. Here are a few examples of that.
- BKO, “Djine Bora” (2022) (37’): Mande music from Mali infused with dance-ready rock
- Shadi Fathi & Bijan Chemirani, “Âwât” (2002) (58’): traditional Persian music, featuring Fathi on setar, with hints of contemporary influence; the album title means “great desire”
Compositions:
- Gustav Holst, Suites for Band [No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 28, No. 1 (1909) (approx. 11’) (list of recorded performances); No. 2 in F Major, Op. 28, No. 2 (1911) (approx. 12’) (list of recorded performances)], reflecting British customs and traditions
- Lukas Foss, Adon olom (1947) (approx. 5-7’), on the interconnectedness of tradition: “The liturgical poem adon olam, which is attributed to Solomon Ibn Gabirol (1021/22—c. 1055), occurs within the body of the traditional morning liturgy independently of its widely accepted role as a concluding hymn of (actually, following) formal Sabbath and other holy day morning and evening services.”
- Alfred Schnittke, Suite in the Old Style (1972) (approx. 14’) (list of recorded performances)
Albums, from various musical traditions:
- Various artists, “Hanin: Field Music in Syria 2008/2009”
- On “LAS” (2022) (51’), bagpipers Ross Ainslie and Brìghde Chambeul team with guitarist and drummer Steven Byrnes to create joyful Scottish music on the most traditional of Scottish instruments.
- John McCusker is one of many artists whose music expresses fine aspects of tradition. His music touches on values including home, belonging and longing, always with a traditional Irish flavor. A compilation album, “The Best of John McCusker” (2023) (139’), makes the point.
- Mohammad Mostafa Heydarian, “Noor-e Vojood” (2025) (40’): “In a musical tradition where religion, myth, mysticism, and the influence of elder masters play important roles, claiming mastery in your 20s is no easy task.”
- Bejuco, “Machete” (2025) (32’): “Fusing marimbas (which give it a very African feel!) with rapping, jazz and dub they create their own unique twist on the niche & traditional Colombian sound.”
- Jasdeep Singh Degun, “Jogkauns” (2025) (42’): “The clash of civilizations is audible. It starts with Degun’s most fundamental choice. Jogkauns is a fairly modern raga, dating back to the 1940s. It was popularized by vocalist Kumar Gandharva and has mostly been the province of vocalists ever since. He’s not playing Zeppelin, but he is stepping out a bit for a sitar player on his first classical outing.” “Indian classical music . . . is a long form, improvised tradition, resistant to being captured in a studio and pressed onto vinyl. Its ornamented melodies and complex rhythms unfold spontaneously, often over hours . . . It demands a very different approach from the writing, tight arrangements and rehearsals with which musicians in the western tradition prepare for a session.”
Music: songs and other short pieces
Visual Arts
- Andrey Ryabushkin, Sunday (1889)
- Gentile Bellini, Procession in St. Mark's Sqaure (1496)
Film and Stage
- The Rules of the Game, (La règle du jeu) in whichJean Renoir takes on social conventions.
- Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, suggestingthat some social conventions are deeply rooted
- The Go-Between, a film about “a culture where social standing defines every relationship”
- Two English Girls (Les deux Anglaises et le continent), on romanceand social convention
