WORLD MUSIC

noun Also written World Music (Music) (Youth Culture) In the jargon of the popular-music industry, any music that incorporates elements of local or ethnic tradition (especially from the developing world) and is promoted on the UK or US pop market. Etymology: Formed by compounding: music from the wider world. History and Usage: The phrase world music has been in use since the late seventies in a general sense; it became a label for a category of popular music in the late eighties, as a number of ethnic sounds were incorporated into Western rock. As promoters raced to 'discover' groups from around the world and bring their music to a wider audience, world music became symptomatic of the increasingly blurred dividing line between folk music and commercial pop. World music (or simply world) is also sometimes used attributively or as an adjective to categorize an artist, group, etc. as belonging to world music. There are those who dismiss the growing interest in World Music as a passing fashion. Tower Records' Top Feb. 1988, p. 28 'Songhai', four stars, strong world music interest, file under jazz. The Face Jan. 1989, p. 52