cept. Nothing can be modern by itself. -To be modern is to repattern the temporal relationship of cultural manifestations of a social group. It is evident that primitive life excludes such a possibility. Folk-music is in a slightly different position. A considerable portion of folk-music is secular. As a result it does not totally eliminate the the possibility of a partial change. However, the changes can only be partial because the characteristic of functionality has its own constraints on folk-music. In this manner, though modernism is possible in the case of folk-music, yet, the proportion of the potential or possible change is too inadequate to merit a discussion while considering the problem of musical modernism. There remain, therefore, the three major categories of music : urban, popular and art. Of the three, the urban variety is entirely shaped by the needs of urban societies. Political songs, mela songs, bhajans recited in crowded metropolitan trains, band-music of marriage bands, etc., are instances of musical structures that possess in-built mechanisms responsive to the needs of the time. And as far as popular music is concerned the category chiefly consists of music which is propagated and often manufactured by the mass-media including broadcasting, television, films, recorded music and the like. Popular music, as a musical category, is a product of the total social, economic and cultural processes initiated and carried by mass-media. It can, therefore, be expected to be modernist on account of intrinsic compulsions. The third major category - that of art music — needs i separate discussion. Art music suffers the least from the direct pressures of day-to-day life. Its basic motivation too exhibits the touch of materialism to the minimum. In short, the modernism it can boast of, is bound to be a direct result of aesthetic compulsions. In order to get an idea of musical modernism, if we decide to apply the convenient yardstick of examining the nature and proportion of changes that take place we note that art music exemplifies two types of changes : some introduced during a performance and some others that occur in the tradition taken as a whole. During actual performances the logic of the internal and intended organization of the musical components undergoes continuous changes. Quite often, the approach that leads to such changes is in reality due to atavistic tendencies. Thus, a reappearance of tendencies apparently belonging to the past makes its impact felt as an instance of Jo urnal of A rts and Ideas 4 9