"World" music

[Rick and Roll]

As a side comment, I brought a point up, and Jim suggested I start a thread...

It always amused me when I heard the term "World" music. To me, it implies a self-centered view. For some reason, I've always been fascinated by how other cultures have to bend to the American point of view when it comes to entertainment (or anything else for that matter). We impose our will and categorize everything without regard.

Not always a popular view...maybe I'm recoiling from having a not so tolerant family growing up and never travelling outside of North America.

My question was....

Do you all really think Clannad is World music? I always though of them as having parallels to US musical genres, just from another country. Maybe it's just me, but the term "World" and "Ethnic" seems to assume an egotistical stance from the ugly American.

Couldn't a band like Clannad be more properly categorized than lumping it into World music?

And when Peter Gabriel plays with artists from Senegal, it's world music. Huh?

Oh yeah, "Krautrock" too...

It would be really interesting to hear what these artists are categorized in their native lands.