("Elephant shit" was coined by Fritz Perls, and it doesn't mean that).

There was no perceived difference in ethnicity or religion (in their capacity as circumcizers these guys were performing a religious function - didn't make them any more accepted). Sakata was theorizing that a past difference in ethnicity might have led to the present situation.

That example was simply one of the more dramatic examples of social categorization of musical roles that Sakata describes. It's an illuminating read and should get you thinking about how the same processes operate in other societies, like your own; "musician" is very far from being a neutral behavioural label in Western society too.

I know the person who first got Highland pipers recognized officially as musicians in the BBC fee scale - it was as recent as the 1960s. Pipers had been playing in British Army regiments for about a century before they got the same recognition as musicians that drummers had. Look at the kind of qualifications you can get in the DJ field and it's obvious that the British educational establishment sees them as a lesser breed than pianists.

When did you last hear anyone describe a karaoke singer as a musician? How about a racetrack commentator?