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19th January, 2015
World on a CD

There are a few genres more all enveloping than world music. By its very definition, the scale of it covers the entire planet. And for someone taking their first tentative steps in its direction, it can be a hugely daunting experience.

It may come as a shock to country singers, pop stars, hip hop hustlers and rock fans that with its large foreign born population and relatively anemic domestic pop scene, Paris is the capital of world music. If world music has a founding father it would be Manu Dibaango, who came to Paris from Cameroon at age 15 and in 1972 cut the first worldwide African Smash, 'Soul Makossa' with musician s from Guadeloupe, Zaire, Cameroon and France.

The term "world music" refers to any form of music that is not part of modern mainstream Western commercial pop music or popular music, classical music traditions, and which typically originates from outside the cultural sphere of Western Europe and the English-speaking nations. It is that music that crosses borders and meets others to gel into a new sound altogether sharing musical tastes and creating a new music. The term became current in the 1980s as a marketing/classificatory device in the media and the music industry. Today it is generally used to classify any kind of "foreign" (i.e. non-Western) music.

In musical terms, "world music" can be roughly defined as music which uses distinctive ethnic scales, modes and musical inflections, and which is usually (though not always) performed on or accompanied by distinctive traditional ethnic instruments, such as the kora (African lute), the steel drum, the sitar or the didgeridoo. One could also say that "world music" has now replaced "folk music" as a shorthand description for the very broad range of recordings of traditional indigenous music and song from the so-called Third World countries

Although it primarily describes traditional music, the world music genre also includes popular music from non-Western urban communities (e.g. South African "township" music) and non-European music forms that have been influenced by other "third world" music’s (e.g. Afro – Cuban), although Western-style popular song sourced from non-English-speaking countries in Western Europe (e.g. French pop music) would not generally be considered world music.

Examples of popular forms of world music include the various forms of non-European classical music and also Indian music ( e.g. Japanese koto music, Hindustani raga music, Tibetan chants), eastern European folk music (e.g. the village music of Bulgaria) and the many forms of folk and tribal music of the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Central and South America.

The names of world music artist would go into pages. Taking a leaf from all of them we have a few of the main people who made it happen. American Ry Cooder who once had a collaboration with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt in the album 'A Meeting by the River' has had a clutch of Grammys and his music has earned him the best reviews of his long career selling in quantities previously unknown in the world music genre. In May 2005, and after 18 years since his last solo album, Ry released 'Chavez Ravine' that was labeled as a masterpiece.  The King of Algerian rai cannot be missed, Khaled, is absolutely at the peak what with his rasping voice gelling well with stuff like 'Didi' further excelling on his album 'Sahra' with hip hop dynamite Marseille. There's also Youssou N'Dour whose 1984 work 'Immigres' is one of his finest works albeit with the rootsy sound of his native Senegal. He keeps it toned down with extra emphasis on that supple voice in the super hit '7 Seconds' with Neneh Cherry. The definitive word when it comes to Pakistan's qawwali music is Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan who during his lifetime was seriously prolific firing off 125 albums before his death in 1997. He's best remembered for ' Musst Musst' that remains at a peak, with that transcendental voice riding the air higher and higher. Pop band Massive Attack gave the song ' Musst Musst' a rub when they put it in the remix mode.

Not many people would point out the Cape Verde islands on a map before their greatest musical export became the toast of Europe during the 1990s. Singing in deeply mournful Portuguese, this hard smoking grandmother, Cesaria Evora has delivered a string of near perfect albums.

After making several albums that owed as much to Western rock music as they did to the centuries old traditions of Malian homeland, Salif Keita made acoustic albums whose authenticity and timelessness had critics salivating. The musical heritage of Ethiopia comes out with ' Abyssinia Infinite' an album featuring soul chanteuse Ejigayehu Shibabaw known to her friends and world music fans as Gigi. There's also Bebel Gilberto who is born into Brazilian royalty (her father is bossa nova boss Joao Gilberto). Bebel always struggled to make her mark   and her 2000 debut effortlessly fused those deep musical roots with a sharp take on contemporary dance music.

Just when you thought he was floundering in the dark, the boundary crossing Renaissance man, Nitin Sawhney, ups the ante with a magic potion of his infectious grooves and his best to date guest vocalist on his albums. Swahney's latest album 'Philtre' is unquestionably his finest work to date. Two of the best tracks 'Mausam' (featuring Reena Bhardwaj) and 'Dead man' (a homage to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Coen brothers) harness the playfulness of Bollywood and the blues without losing the integrity or passion of either. The man is also involved in a series of classical projects, and recently added ' Hollywood Film Scorer' tops his CV.

From the early 1970s to the mid '80s, African music seeped its way in to the consciousness of the West, with acts like Youssou N'Dour and Salif Keita becoming international stars. The reddest of red letter day for all discerning world music fans are surely always over that sun kissed weekend in July when the Womad Festival descends upon its regular site on the banks of the Thames in Reading. The past years have seen Rizwan – Muazzam Qawwali, tango terrors Bajofondo Tango Club, Malian blues-rockers Amadou and Mariam, roots reggae rebels Culture, the blindly energetic Afro Celt Sound System, Brazilian beat merchants Bossacucanova, Colombian diva Toto la Momposina, Guinean born guitarist and composer Kante Manfila and   Israeli singer Yasmin Levy who sings in Ladino, the name given to the language spoken by the Jewish community expelled from the Andalucia region of Spain in 1492, and many many more.

For many years now, the blind husband and wife partnership have delivered their straight to the heart West African take on rhythm and blues via a series of near perfect albums that have kept those who have heard them in raptures. Success for Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia has kept this Malian couple, namely Mariam's vocals and Amadou's spiraling guitar in the right grooves. The Spanish multilingual maverick, Shakira, maturing process in the glare of international fame continues to impress with her last album 'Oral Fixation' and more recently her single 'Hips Don't' Lie'. The willingness to explore new horizons has made this bombshell a most sought after singer.

Lastly we have Bhangra, an omnivorous brand of Punjabi folk music incorporating elements of techno, jungle house, rock and dancehall reggae which is today one of the hottest beats from Britain , a product of the growing East Indian community. Traditional bhangra was played at harvest festivals. the main instruments were drums, hand claps and vocals. In the late 70's bhangra was picked up by the younger generation of Brit born Indians who found the relentless beat of the double headed dholak drum adapted easily to Western pop forms.

In India world music has a very small market. Visit any big music store and chances are you will not find a big selection or for that matter a full section dedicated to world music. A department store executive who did not wished to be named clarified the reason for this. "The World music genre can be compared to the jazz section. Both are slow sellers and shelf stickers who remain there until something new comes up. It is a very sad phenomenon, as most people who come to our store go for Bollywood remixes and Indi – pop selection and also the international repertoire." But that aside there was once a boom in the industry when Khaled came out with his smart singing song 'Didi' that sold a few lakh copies and was lapped by the Indian janta. The 70s also saw African tunesmith Osibisa chanting the then rage 'Oja E Oja' or even Morte Kante's anthemic 'Yeke Yeke'. Engima forms also a slice of world music, not missing the blissful Deep Forest that has some very good tunes that were sellers for some time.

What then could be the solution to the problem of World Music not making an impact in India? An executive from a record company reveals the answer. "There is a very small market of world music to really serious music lovers, but if you come to think of it's the genre is in its infancy. There has to be awareness created of the good albums that are available abroad. Record companies have to make the effort to promote the album and artist just as they would promote any other artist. Presently the situation is not so, as releasing a World music album is probably the last in the minds of the record company, as his investment in the artist will not yield sales. In western countries there are world music festivals, live shows and in store meetings with fans. Foreign artists must visit India more often to promote their albums and I am sure there will be a market for World music. People here are interested, but a lot needs to be done to get the ball rolling. It will take some time, but it will happen”.

- By Verus Ferreira

-- Photo of Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt by Verus Ferreira

 


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