I'm puzzled at how it could be necessary... musicianship is about making music. And, if it's necessary to read music to be a musician, then you're degrading all these people in India and such areas who obviously play music, make music, yet you regard it as not being musical just because the player can't read it?

No, it seems blatantly obvious to me that one can be a musician without reading a note of music.

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"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler