Retrieval is not simply a matter of hauling the old 
thing back onto stage, holus-bolus. Some 
translation or metamorphosis is necessary to 
place it into relation to the new ground—as 
anyone can testify who has experienced “revivals” 
in our culture, whether in fashion or music or any 
other forms. The old thing is brought up to date, 
as it were. For archaic or tribal man, in acoustic 
space, there is no past, no history—always 
present. Today we experience a return to that 
outlook when technological breakthroughs have 
become so massive as to bring one environment 
into collision with another, from telephone to 
radio to TV to satellite to computer.