World music is when the world plays music.
principle — attributed to Mark Johnson
Johnson's reframe of the world-music category is structural. World music is when the world plays music together. Each culture has a different way of seeing the world, plays the notes differently, uses different instruments. The combination produces beautiful music together. The dynamic in cross-cultural recordings is that people play less and listen more, unlike in studios where people play more and often listen less. When you have many cultures and languages in the same recording, you find a way to make it better rather than just playing your own instrument. Everyone becomes more humble. The reframe makes the category mean what its name suggests rather than serving as a marketing label for music produced in non-Western countries.
For arts leaders, cross-cultural conveners, and music industry professionals thinking about category language. The observation is most useful as a corrective when world music is being used as a marketing label rather than as an operational description.
world-music, definition, cultures-together, listening-more