Defining World Music

Defining the relatively new categorical term “world music” is a bit of a ticklish assignment in my thinking. That said and after a good deal of reflection, research and conversation with musicians and scholars alike, I’ve come to the conclusion that ALL music fits under the musical umbrella labeled “world music”.

Of course a more common notion suggests that world music is the expression of the traditional roots music of a specific culture, indigenous music, or a group’s folk music. Even the most thoroughly composed works by such greats as Beethoven, J.S. Bach and my favorite Brahms, can trace some of the origins of their compositions to early forms of what we today call “roots” or traditional Eurocentric folk music. Some hold that world music is authored, created and originally played, interpreted, performed by indigenous musicians within their communities and/or is uniquely related to the music and the region of origin where the music was first birthed.

This is a troublesome, and culturally uninclusive idea in my view. It indirectly suggests at least to me, that if you are not directly from the culture of the music, you cannot legitimately or authentically create or perform it. Having experienced a good number of inclusive and collaborative performances over the years by varied artists who have an affinity for rendering music not grounded in their on specific ethnicity, I just don’t find this to be the case. What are your thoughts?

–Jonathan