Where Did The Term “World Music” Come From (and Should We Still Use It)?
Image: Michael Tompsett
“World Music” is one giant dump of a genre. Anything that sounds foreign or speaks in a different language can be shrugged off as world music. You can also define world music by what it’s not; it’s not mainstream or popular music, or it’s not music that belongs to you. World music is always someone else’s tradition.
My favorite description of world music comes from a…