 Celebrating variety in the music world
Added: 02/02/2006 |
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World music is an attempt to link different cultures together preserving the spirit and vibe of each. World music is a worldview; it is an attitude to life expressed through emotions and feelings. World music is also an antidote to mass media and soulless pop culture; it is something cross-cultural, humanly reflective, and deep in nature.
When we say 'world music' we most often mean any kind of music that is not a part of Western mainstream music (pop, rock or R&B) or traditional classical music. In different countries around the world music can be very dissimilar. World music can be ethnic, or inspired by ethnic music. It is usually played with folk instruments. One of the greatest things about world music is that it has no boundaries. There are no limits for experimentation, whatever style you choose to play. It can be a crossover of, for example, jazz and traditional African sounds.
Modern music artists sometimes introduce the elements of ethnic music into their compositions. The first popular Western band to experiment with world music were the Beatles, who started using oriental instruments and motives in their songs of 1966 album 'Revolver', particularly on George Harrison?s 'From Me To You', which even featured Indian musician Anil Bhagwat playing tabla drums. A famous jazz musician and innovator Miles Davis used a lot of ethnic instruments in his jazz-funk album 'On The Corner'. The distinctive sound of Santana is basically the fusion of rock, African and Latin tune.
The benchmark in the development of the genre was 1982 and related to the first Word Music Day festival in France, which is celebrated every year ever since then. This event also coined the term 'world music' that is extensively used today. People who are interested in unusual and non-mainstream genres in the music world often find themselves attracted by ethnic music. Today world music gets much support in various countries of the world, especially in large cosmopolitan cities. One of such cities is London, a home for many immigrant communities from the former British Empire and many other countries.
People from Southern India actively support the Bhangra music industry. Bhangra is a musical genre that originated from the Indian folk dance with the same name. Based on percussion beats, Bhangra carries the tribal energy, which is a part of the ancient Indian culture. This genre is so popular that it has become a part of the mainstream music industry with the help of British artists like Panjabi MC, who mixed the elements of Indian music with modern house beats. Moreover, Great Britain is the home of several world music record companies and one of the most popular ethnic music magazines in the music world, FRoots.
New York City is one more place where world music gets much support. Being the largest city in the United States, New York is a mixture of the multitude of ethnic groups and subcultures. This is why the city has a large number of world music-related institutions, including satellite TV channels, radio stations, magazines and much more. The fullest and most comprehensive ethnic music source in the music world is New York?s World Music Institute. It contains an extensive collection of ethnic music records and other information. It also provides tickets to all kinds of world music-related events.
The best way to learn about world music is, of course, travel to other countries, meet musicians to uphold ethnic music and visit concerts around the world. This way you can substantially enrich your knowledge about the other countries music and the diversity in the music world.
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