So... What is World Music?

When people make me that question, well the answer delays to come out...
why?
Simple, because is not very clear to anybody what does world music mean. Some people say that is folkloric music from not western lands, but the term "folkloric" is a treat by itself because it could lead us to a fantasy where romantic landscapes with exotic traditions and even more exotic people live, a picture taken from any Hollywood film from the 50's -very far from reality of course.

Others say that world music term is used by who we call "villamelones" (people who say they are specialist in a specific topic but with the only purpose to look smarter and more interesting) so the word is senseless and vague because is impossible to include the whole sounds of the entire world in a single musical gender.

With it another problem appears- is world music conformed only by the musicians from not western lands? That's another reality problem, in some countries like Mexico and the rest of Latin America the boundaries  between western and not western are blurred, in the big cities feel like a sort of tropical west but away from them, in indigenous communities the feeling is not the same.

This phenomenon is common in other latitudes then the musicians from the cities who experiment with rare and old sounds can not be taken as world music performers?  What about American or European composers? They play great music that can be labeled as world music, therefore the element "not western " must be taken apart from the definition because is a term that divides the world into two and our planet and humans who live in it are much more complex and diverse than two camps.

That is what world music is! It's a generic term for a diversity of sounds and voices that arise to make themselves present in this chaotic world. Doesn't matter where are you from, if you have a alternative song that shows a sound-picture of you and your people and somehow that song reminds your land and the ancestries within is very sure that you have a piece of world music.

Of course, making world music is not so easy, if we want a real and strong label we need standards and ethical rules that will be analyzed in the next entry.

See ya and thanks!

(if you agree or disagree please let me know!)