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world music
Sign in to saveAlso known as ethnic, ethnic music, ethno music, regional music, international music, global music
umbrella term for traditional, indigenous, popular or art music, not following North American or British popular and folk traditions
Key facts
- Cultural origins
- Indigenous music worldwide
- Derivative forms
- Folktronica
via Wikipedia infobox
~31 min read
Encyclopedic overview
World music is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English-speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical category pose obstacles to a universal definition, but its ethic of interest in the culturally exotic is encapsulated in Roots magazine's description of the genre as "local music from out there".
There are several conflicting definitions for world music. Music that does not follow "North American or British pop and folk traditions" was given the term "world music" by music industries in Europe and North America. The term was popularized in the 1980s as a marketing category for non-Western traditional music. It has grown to include subgenres such as ethnic fusion (Clannad, Ry Cooder, Enya) and worldbeat.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “world music” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.