2007年VOA标准英语-Term 'World Music' Celebrates 20 Years

By Tendai Maphosa
London
29 May 2007

The term "world music" is being used to loosely describe non-Western music that was previously¹ described as "folk music" or "ethnic² music". Reporting for VOA from London, Tendai Maphosa reports world music also includes modern, cutting edge pop music styles from various regions of the world.

Twenty years ago a group of British record company executives got together in London and coined the term "world music" to describe music other than mainstream³ western pop. They were frustrated⁴ by the fact that a growing number of people interested in music "from out there," as some describe it, could not find it because record stores did not know how to file and categorize it.

The editor of fRoots magazine, Ian Anderson, told VOA that World Music was, and still is, no more than a bin⁵ in a record shop.

"All it ever was was a way of creating opportunities [that] could be heard by people," he said. "Nobody ever suggested there was a thing called "World Music." In fact at the first meeting we tried to find the term that included the most things and excluded the least, so Tropical because that missed out ... Ethnic was boring or World Beat because that left out stuff that did not have drums."

Anderson added none of those responsible for creating the term ever imagined world music would become such accepted currency in most parts of the West. He said artists who otherwise were not given any respect in their own countries are now looked at differently after touring or doing the World Music Festival circuit. And having a World Music section in most record stores has resulted in higher sales.

An unidentified Nigerian man plays African drums at a show to mark 2006 World Music Day in Lagos, Nigeria

The term has also been adopted by the BBC to recognize the efforts of local musicians around the world. Its sixth-annual Awards for World Music honored the best local music from five geographical⁶ categories: Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa, and Europe.

For example, Canadian-based Somali rapper K'Naan was honored as newcomer of the year. K'Naan was born in Mogadishu and escaped from Somalia to Canada with his family.

The winner of the Asia-Pacific category was India's slide-guitar maestro Debashish Bhattacharya. He said world music has given him a platform to promote his art.

"I have [a] different variety of inspiration in my life, but this is a special inspiration when I am working to bring Indian raga music into the world genre⁷ since ... the last 15 years," he said.

But not everyone agrees with the use of the term. Some musicians say music is music, and their records should be filed along with western music not separated.

Former Talking Heads front man David Byrne launched one of the most scathing⁸ attacks on the term in a 1999 article headlined "I Hate World Music." He accused its creators of "ghettoizing" the music.

Anderson dismisses the musicians who resent the use of the term, saying it has not harmed the careers of good musicians. As for Byrne, his record label Luaka Bop now uses the term on its Web site, so he may have changed his mind.

French singer Agnes Jaoui (2ndR) performs after being awarded Best World Music Album of the Year during 22nd "Victoires de la Musique" (French Music Awards) ceremony in Paris, 10 March 2007

But the term is hardly used or even known in most of the places where the music it describes originates.

Yusuf Mahmoud, who promotes a festival of traditional Zanzibari music, and Hildegard Kiel, who runs a music school on the island, are trying to revive interest in Zanzibari traditional music, which was falling out of favor as people preferred western music.

"The term 'world music' seems to be something, which is kind of understood perhaps in different ways by the foreign visitors to the island, particularly from Europe and also maybe North America, but for Tanzanian people I can honestly say the term 'world music' means nothing," Mahmoud said.

Mahmoud and Kiel were also among those given awards by the BBC's Radio 3, as was the late Malian king of the desert blues⁹, Ali Farka Toure, who won two Grammies before he died of cancer in 2006.

1 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

4 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

6 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

7 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

8 scathing   

adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词)

参考例句：

• a scathing attack on the new management 针对新的管理层的猛烈抨击
• Her speech was a scathing indictment of the government's record on crime. 她的演讲强烈指责了政府在犯罪问题上的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。