In regard to music "traditional" means more than one thing. If we refer to it as something from the distant past with the authour unknown then we would have to be dead and forgotten but survived by our composition in order to qualify.
If we mean that the copyright is expired and we don't wish to pay any royalties the result is similar because we would still be long dead.
If we use older music form to write new music and song this would be traditional if we defined the word to mean following in the older ways.
Greg in an earlier post on this thread mentioned Cajun music. The name Cajun is derived from Acadia , which was a province of New France comprising Canada's Maritimes and south eastern Quebec. The traditional French music of this area is vibrant and alive and although Cujun music is different from it the relationship is very recogniszble.