What is world music and why does it exist?

World music is often very difficult to define and it relates to the argument about what is local or global music. These categories over link and it is very difficult to define whether a band or artist is either local or global. Jocelyne Guilbault argues that World music was once thought of as any thing that came from outside the

“Anglo-American sources, and mainly from tropical countries”

(Guilbault, world music, pg 176) she later states that this has now expanded to some of Europe. She later states that

“….world music is usually described the as blending of modern and traditional
musics”

(Guilbault, world music, pg 177) Despite this it has been argued that countries such as America and England have become damaging to world music as they are increasingly selling it, in many music shops World music has its own section. This is because these other countries now have the technology to develop and sell music which then finds its way to places like America. Some argue this is taking it away from its local routes, however others argue that this is a positive thing as more people will get to experience it, and it will always have its local routes.