Really enjoyed reading the "Is blues music avant-garde?" discussion here. Thanks for that!
The one thing that came to my mind that wasn't yet mentioned in this thread is Kecak music created in Bali in the 1930s. Very strong roots in their musical tradition, yes, so it perhaps doesn't count as avant-garde. But if you listen to it with Western ears, it certainly sounds like one of the most distinctive and other-wordly music ever created. Varese, Cage, Stockhausen or the like would sure have been proud if they would have produced anything like this. And the music scene in Bali has been very vivid and creative throughout the last 100 years so I guess you could consider the birth of kecak a pretty experimental episode even in Bali terms. If you want to hear it, I would prefer listening to some old recordings by renowned world music labels and not the Youtube videos made for tourists.
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