[lbo-talk] medieval/renaissance music and middle eastern music

[123hop at comcast.net]

I don't know if you guys listen to Pandora; I use it a lot when I work. 

One of the stations I've set up is based on The Waverly Consort, a musical group that plays medieval and renaissance music. 

I am struck again and again how much closer to middle eastern music this is than the European music (baroque, classical, etc) that followed. 

Any musicologists lurking about that can explain to me how all this lovely rhythmic polytonal stuff got purged out of western music? 

Joanna