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178Part 2.Comparative perspectivesIntroduction:dialogue between regionaland comparative studiesAfter the world centre of ethnomusicology shifted from Germany to the USA inthe 1950s, there was a paradigm shift in ethnomusicology. To put it very simply,comparative studies were replaced by deep regional studies. Regional study (favored bythe post-WW2 USA school of ethnomusicology) is a study going into the depths of aculture. We could call this method “vertical study” as well. Ethnomusicologists, whofollow this paradigm, try to look at every aspect of a culture. Multiple fieldworks in thesame region for long years, learning the local language, living among the members of thesociety for a lengthy period are some of the methods of getting deep “vertical”knowledge of the whole system of social interaction and music. Such a high standard ofrequirements to get into the complex system of social and cultural life of any country,region or even village under study, of course, severely limits the quantity of cultures ascholar can study during his lifetime. As a result, most of the scholars, following thisparadigm, are experts in very few (often only one) culture or region.On the other hand, comparative study (widely used by pre-war German andEuropean scholars) was more geographically spread and did not go deep “vertically” intoevery culture under comparison. We could call this method ”horizontal study”. Scholarswould study and compare several cultures, sometimes from totally different regions ofthe world and without much knowledge of these cultures. In their studies comparativistscholars would also often rely on already existing materials from cultures they may neverhave visited (let alone doing long fieldworks or committing themselves to such a task aslearning the native languages).After the paradigm shift in the 1950s, the comparative method was discreditedand mostly rejected together with the major part of comparative studies of pre-warGermany. As Tim Rice told me on July 9 th , 2001 in Rio de Janeiro, during the ICTMConference: “the baby was thrown out together with the bath water”. The ICTM(International Council for Traditional Music) is the world’s biggest and arguably the mostimportant professional body of experts in traditional music. Symptomatically, one of theimportant indications of the possible “Comparative comeback” in 21 st centuryethnomusicology was the Rio de Janeiro ICTM Conference itself, where the first themewas actually dedicated to the state and perspectives of Comparative research incontemporary ethnomusicology. As ethnomusicology learned few lessons from theprevious experience (hopefully), the factual basis widened, methodology advanced, andthe means of communication became much more sophisticated, and the time for the “newcomparative wave” feels right.