Entering the 'world' of music

World music is perhaps the most intimidating genre of all for musical neophytes.

Even its name seems to imply an unconquerable vastness. With an entire world of music to explore and so many disparate sounds falling under the tag, finding a starting point is problematic.

The best approach to world music is to become indoctrinated in phases. A lot of things that fall under the world music banner are rooted in traditional western styles but have a distinct local twist. This is among the most accessible music in the genre.

The 2010 compilation “Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas” is an excellent example of this. The bands featured on the double LP take popular American genres like psychedelia and funk and shake them up with Portuguese lyrics and tropical percussion. The resultant genre, sometimes called tropicalia, made its way onto countless 7” releases in the 1960s and ’70s. Those recordings languished for decades in boxes in studio basements until World Psychedelic salvaged them all for the “Fuzz Bananas” compilation.

Another point of entry for world music comes from the obsession of one of rock’s biggest icons.

Peter Gabriel is best known for his work with English prog rockers Genesis and solo hits like “In Your Eyes” and “Sledgehammer,” but one of his biggest passions lies in world music. His founding of the World of Music, Arts and Dance in 1980 marked the first truly bold commitment of a viable mainstream rock star to a genre still elusive to most Americans and Brits.

The organization has grown into a worldwide recording collective and series of world music festivals not unlike Bloomington’s own Lotus Fest. Gabriel’s world music obsession culminated in a record called “Big Blue Ball.”

It’s not credited as a Peter Gabriel album, and that’s fair. He served as more of a curator for the project, bringing in world music luminaries like Natacha Atlas, Papa Wemba and Hossam Ramzy for three recording sessions in the early ’90s that finally made it to record store shelves in 2008.

For an even more accessible look at Gabriel’s love of world music, “Signal to Noise” from his 2002 album “Up” features the late, great Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It remains one of the best songs Peter Gabriel has ever recorded.

One crucial world music subgenre was bred mostly in the United States. Afrobeat fused American styles like jazz and funk with traditional Nigerian Yoruba music. Its top purveyor, and one of the most important figures in world music history, is Fela Kuti. Kuti was born and raised in Nigeria but cut his chops in the smoky club scenes of London and Los Angeles before eventually relocating to his birthplace.

His visionary Afrobeat sound has spawned thralls not only in Nigerian music but American music as well, including Staten Island’s excellent Budos Band, who played The Bluebird Nightclub in the spring.

After these entry points, there’s a whole, erm, world of world music out there to explore. Music is one of the most basic things that can unite a community, and you can assume that if there’s a nation of people, they have a native music and have found ways to blend it with international styles.

With such a wealth of music to discover, the best thing to do is simply dive in.