Sustained-tone music is worldwide, but the label 'drone music' is reserved for the Western avant-garde lineage

Sustained-tone music appears across many regional traditions: Scottish bagpipe pibroch, Australian didgeridoo, South Indian Carnatic and Hindustani music (accompanied by the tanpura, an instrument capable only of a drone), Japanese gagaku, and Byzantine chant’s ison. Despite this global spread, the genre label ‘drone music’ is conventionally reserved for work originating in the Western classical tradition, specifically the 1960s American avant-garde around La Monte Young. The connection between the two is explicit rather than coincidental: Young, Zazeela and Terry Riley became disciples of Hindustani vocalist Pandit Pran Nath, so the Western genre openly draws its sustained-tone aesthetic from non-Western practice.

Examples

Tanpura drone under Hindustani alap; Scottish pibroch; gagaku sho clusters — all sustained-tone but not labelled ‘drone music’ as a genre. Young studying under Pandit Pran Nath is the explicit bridge between the traditions.

Assessment

Name two non-Western traditions that feature drone-like sustained tones, then explain why the genre label ‘drone music’ is nonetheless reserved for Western avant-garde practice.