"World Music"

The term "World Music" is often used in the Western vernacular to describe music from Non-Western countries.  Obviously, this label can be interpreted as problematic.  Wikipedia (a totally reputable source) describes world music as "a musical category encompassing many different styles of music from around the world, including traditional music, quasi-traditional music, and music where more than one cultural tradition intermingle. World music's inclusive 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 fRootsmagazine's description of the genre as "local music from out there".^[1] The term originated in the late 20th century as a marketing category and academic classification for non-Western traditional music. Globalization has facilitated the expansion of world music's audiences and scope. It has grown to include hybrid sub-genres such as world fusion, global fusion, ethnic fusion^[2] and worldbeat." If "local music from out there" describes the genre of World Music, what exactly are the qualifications?  This article by the Talking Heads' David Byrne, entitled "Why I hate World Music" is an excellent synopsis on why this problematic term dismisses the individuality of many types of music put under the umbrella of World Music.  Byrne believes that music (and art, in general) is an excellent way to share cultural experiences.  To Byrne, there is no real difference in a New Yorker listening to Appalachian Hillbilly music and a New Yorker listening to the Tuvan Throat Singers.  The New Yorker should take both experiences as opportunities to share valuable bits of that artists' cultural experience.  This excerpt is from that article:

Maybe it's naïve, but I would love to believe that once you grow to love some aspect of a culture — its music, for instance — you can never again think of the people of that culture as less than yourself. I would like to believe that if I am deeply moved by a song originating from some place other than my own hometown, then I have in some way shared an experience with the people of that culture. I have been pleasantly contaminated. I can identify in some small way with it and its people. Not that I will ever experience music exactly the same way as those who make it. I am not Hank Williams, or even Hank Jr., but I can still love his music and be moved by it. Doesn't mean I have to live like him. Or take as many drugs as he did, or, for that matter, as much as the great flamenco singer Cameron de la Isla did.

That's what art does; it communicates the vibe, the feeling, the attitude toward our lives, in a way that is personal and universal at the same time. And we don't have to go through all the personal torment that the artist went through to get it. I would like to think that if you love a piece of music, how can you help but love, or at least respect, the producers of it? On the other hand, I know plenty of racists who love "soul" music, rap and rhthym-and-blues, so dream on, Dave.

While reading this article, I thought about a piece of music I heard while in (ironically enough) a world music class in undergrad.  It was a recording from a post office in Ghana.  In the village the post office was located in, the local dialect had no word for 'music' because it was such an engrained part of their culture.  People went about their daily business in rhythmic, musical ways.  I wasn't able to find the exact piece I listened to in class, but this youtube video was pretty close: video