A beginner’s guide to world music

As a self-proclaimed world music fan, I often get asked something along the lines of, “What is world music, and how do you find it?”

Where to begin?

World music is such a broad genre that defining it is like defining the term music itself.
It encompasses literally all music anywhere in the world.

Generally, when people say “world music,” they are referring to music from exotic places like Mali and Chile. But world music is anywhere and everywhere you find music that you enjoy listening to and can relate to.

For me, world music doesn’t have to be from a foreign place and sound a certain way. It is just music that sounds fun and has relatable lyrics.

When you hear a song that reflects issues you’ve dealt with, regardless of its country of origin, you identify with it. It becomes part of your life and joins the other songs you have added to your life’s never-ending playlist. 

For me, exploring world music is very much like exploring the world.
By listening to the type of music people in a particular place enjoy, you learn more about the political, economic and social characteristics of a given culture.

All too often, people buy into the concept that world music has to have “traditional” sounds.

Yet the idea of defining any culture’s music as traditional or modern is very problematic for both the critic and the artist.

These quests for “authenticity” in music seem to be exercises in futility.

All music that is made has its own time and purpose. It holds different meanings at various times and occasions based on one’s cultural background.

Music is all about blending new and old sounds in different ways and incorporating them into our lives.

In doing so, we gain a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
Being a world music enthusiast is all about exploring new and old sounds in unique
places.

In a country where Justin Bieber and Katy Perry reign supreme in the music industry, I know that sometimes it seems like that is all there is.

It’s hard to find music that isn’t cheesy pop, intense rap or corny country.

That’s where sites like YouTube and the plethora of music blogs come in.

The Internet has opened up a world of music to the masses. With a click of a button, people can journey from Austria to Zimbabwe in seconds collecting unique sounds that best meet their personal interests.

From Senegal’s Baaba Maal to Angola’s Cabo Snoop, the sounds of the African continent and the rest of the world are far more accessible and similar than you would probably imagine.

Worldwide musical genres mirror and feed off one another.

Ghanaians listen to Lil Wayne, and Lady Gaga has plenty of “little monsters” in South Africa, so why can’t we try listening to amazing bands like Kenya’s Just a Band and Nigeria’s P-Square?

Though hip-hop, country and pop songs change from country to country, they all resemble one another and capture universal emotions of happiness, sadness, love and loss.

There are so many different sounds to be heard on blogs around the world.

By exploring new sounds from around the continent we can help make this big world a little bit smaller and help bridge global cultures together through music.