I have always been a fan of the local library.  Whether I am living in a big city on the coast or smaller city in the Midwest, I have always found a surprising array of world music recordings.

Most recently I decided to visit my neighborhood library branch to pick up a selection of World Music recordings.  World Music should have it’s own section at your local library; if not you may have to search a bit for global music titles filed in folk, classical, pop or jazz.

On my last trip I stopped myself once I had 12 World Music CDs in my cart.  I ended up with 4 compilations and 8 CDs by a variety of popular world musicians or groups.  I definitely could have gobbled up more from the libraries collection, however I think this mix of twelve gives us a good basis for discussion on the different types of recordings you’ll find along with a look at the geographical landscape of world music.

To blanket label all the music I found as “world music” would be like lumping rock, country, folk, jazz, bluegrass, gospel and rap in one category of “American music.”  When you pick up a batch of world music you are getting classical, folk, tribal, religious, dance, pop, jazz and more.  You’ll find that different record labels or series of releases often tackle one genre of world music.

A look at the compilation CDs in my basket reveals everything from field recordings of Pygmy tribes; to John Storm Roberts’ field recordings in the Caribbean dating back to the early 1970’s; to a “greatest hits” collections featuring musicians from Rio De Janero, to a recent sampling of female vocalists from France, Czech Republic, Algeria, Croatia.

Here is the low down on the individual artist CDs that I picked up.  First off, these recordings span from 1994 – 2004.  Second, the library collection represented a wide array of geographical locales from Brazil to the Ivory Coast to the U.S to Spain to India to Japan to Eastern Europe and South America.  Stylistically we have everything from traditional folk music to jazz to samba to funk to pop.

Many of the artists I found are popular within their genre:

• Youssour N’dour is a key player in the pop music scene on the Ivory Coast;
• Ozomatli blend elements of street and Hispanic cultures as well as snippits of other beats from across the globe;
• Joao Gilberto is a long standing voice in the Brazillian music scene; 
• Taraf de Haidouks capture the spirit of Eastern Europe using folk instrumentation; 
  
• Jin Jin/Firefly meld Japanese and American folk in such a way that you’d think they were cousins; 
• Robbie Robertson’s recordings fall more into the new age or downtempo realm than native American Indian traditional music; 
• Diego “El Cigala” is an extraordinary Flamenco style vocalist from Spain.  When his vocals collide with the arrangements of Bebo Valdes the result is jazz fantastico; and lastly,
• Ravi Shankar has been on the world music radar for a long time with his traditional Indian ragas.

So how does someone learn more about these artists?  Start with liner notes on the recordings you picked up.  If you’re looking for more information check record label websites.  You can also do a web search for the artists and see what you come up with.  Many have their own sites.  I have also found rare recordings, out takes and TV and film appearances through websites online.  Magazines like Global Rhythms or guides such as The Rough Guide to World Music are also helpful in deciphering geographies and styles of world music that are out there.

The World In Your Backyard Exercise:
1. Visit your local library. 
2. Find the World Music are of the CD section. 
If there is not a specific section try the pop, jazz and folk areas looking for names that are distinctly non-American.  You can also look for specific labels like Real World, Putmayo, Nonesuch Explorer, Rough Guide/World Music Network, Luaka Bop to name a few.
3. Pick  8-10 CDs that look interesting to you.  The nice thing about the library is that if you get home and don’t like a CD you are not at a loss.
4. Sample through the CDs listening to :15-:30 seconds of each track to get a sense of each CD.
5. Pick one of the recordings that intrigued you most and put that on to listen to. 
Read lyrics and liner notes while you listen.  Often time lyrics are translated in to English, sometimes this is not the case.  If you have English lyrics available, note content of the songs – are they religious, political, biographical.
6. Note the different rhythms.  Note how the language is used against the musical setting.
7. Note how you feel when listening to a particular CD.
8. Return CDs and repeat.

Note: If you find world music artists that you enjoy I highly encourage you to support that artists by purchasing their CDs and recommending their music to others.  The same goes with world music labels.  Often times a world music label focuses on a certain sound and thus you may find yourself drawn to several artists on that label.

Recordings Mentioned in this Article:*

CD Compilations
Various: The Caribbean: Island Songs and Dances (Nonesuch Explorer Series, 1972)
Various: Mbuti Pygmies of the Ituri Rainforest (Smithsonian Folkways, 1992)
Various: The Rough Guide to the Music of Brazil: Rio De Janeiro (World Music Network, 2005)
Various: Women of the World Acoustic (Putmayo World Music, 2007)

CDs by Individual World Music Artists and Groups
Robbie Robertson & The Red Road Ensemble: Music for the Native Americans /Native American Indian (Capitol, 1994)
Taraf de Hadouks: Taraf de Hadouks / Turkey-Bulgaria-Serbia (Nonesuch, 1999)
Joao Gilberto: Joao voz  y violao / Brazil (Verve, 2000)
Takashi Hirayashu and Bob Brozman: Jin Jin/Firefly / Japan-USA (World Music Network, 2000)
Ravi Shankar: Full Circle / India (Angel, 2001)
Bebo & Cigala: Lagrimas Negras / Cuba-Spain (Calle 54-BMG, 2003)
Ozomatli: Street Signs / Mexico-USA (Concord Records, 2004)
Youssou N’Dour: Egypt /Ivory Coast (Nonesuch, 2004)

This article copyright ©2008 Matthew Edward Hundley. Used with permission.

Originally published: Critique Magazine