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Authenticity and Hybridity in World Music
By
Methi Satyanarayana
Advised by
Professor Dawn Neill
ANT 461, 462
Senior Project
Social Sciences Department
College of Liberal Arts
CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY
Spring, 2016

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Table of Contents
Research Proposal……………………………………………………………………….3
Annotated Bibliography………………………………………………………………....4
Outline…………………………………………………………………………………….9
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..11
The Cultural Preservation Model & The Global Culture Model……………………13
Perceived Authenticity………………………………………………….………………22
How World Music Utilizes Perceived Authenticity………………………..…………26
What Makes World Music a Hybrid?............................................................................34
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………35
Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………..36

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Senior Project Proposal
As a cellist and student of anthropology and geography I have always enjoyed listening to music
from many parts of the world. I have grown up listening to various genres of Indian music as
well as music from the western tradition. I started listening to world music as a result of my
father’s interest in the genre. I have always found it was interesting that there is an interesting
balance between maintaining authenticity while also embracing hybridity in world music. This
project will attempt to address how these concepts relate to each other within the genre of world
music and will be in the form of a 25+ page research paper. Utilizing a variety of peer-reviewed
journal articles and other sources, I will cover background information on the origins of the
genre as well as positions taken by scholars, industry personnel and musicians in the discourse of
world music and the issues surrounding hybridity and authenticity. My own hypothesis is that
some level of hybridity is always present in the genre and that perceptions of authenticity are
involved in the reception of the various degrees of hybridity in the genre. This project is
significant to my development as an educated musician and consumer of world music as well as
a student of cultural anthropology and ethnomusicology. This research is important as the genre
of world music is overall a relatively new one (the formalized term ‘world music’ only being
coined in the 1980’s) and is rapidly changing and expanding with the growth of globalization
and transnational communication. To properly gauge the future of world music we must
understand the factors involved in its hybridizing process as well as the principles that restrain
and shape it.

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Annotated Bibliography
Haynes, Jo. (2005). World music and the search for difference. Ethnicities, 5(3), 365-385.
This article discusses the role of difference (most commonly cultural) in world music and
how cultural intermediaries use difference as a tool for selling world music because of its
connection to authenticity. Specifically it mentions how world music as a genre often values a
‘uniqueness’ of a culture’s music and that this difference becomes its selling point. The article
discusses how when it comes to world music there are two types of hybridization: the sort that
occurs organically and the kind that is intentional and created by music producers. The article
was written by a published professor of Sociology from the UK and its importance to my senior
project is that it captures how authenticity is tied to music producers within the industry. Dr.
Haynes interviewed numerous world music personnel who were responsible for the creation of
the world music genre in the 1980’s and were responsible for its sale and promotion. While I
understand the need to maintain anonymity it would have been nice if we could have gotten a
little more information about where these people came from, such as which transnational
company they worked in so that we could at least get a better idea of their biases. (201 words)
Weiss, Sarah. (2014). Listening to the World but Hearing Ourselves: Hybridity and Perceptions
of Authenticity in World Music. Ethnomusicology, 58(3), 506-525.
This essay discusses the problems of perceived authenticity and discusses hybridity as a concept
in world music. The author of the article is an established American ethnomusicology professor
who comments on her observations of the westernized college students in her world music
classes. She frames the article by offering several classroom vignettes where she plays selections
of world music to her students and then breaks down their reactions and uses them to discuss the
topics of the essay. Weiss argues that the term hybridity itself is a political one, implying
hierarchy that non-western music is seen as the ‘other’ and western music as the ‘self’. However
she argues that every form of music is a hybrid and that hybridity is caused by the “the interplay
and overlap of cultural, economic, and political forces in communication processes”. This article
does a good job of tackling the notion of authenticity and hybridity with anecdotal evidence. I
plan on using Weiss’s idea that every form of music is a hybrid and focusing on World music as
a genre specifically and how all music within this genre is a product of hybridization because of
the necessary confluence of western technology and expectations about non-western places and
the creative vision of the musicians from non-western locations. (211 words)
Weiss, Sarah. (2008). Permeable Boundaries: Hybridity, Music, and the Reception of Robert
Wilson’s “I La Galigo”. Ethnomusicology, 52(2), 203-238.
Sarah Weiss covers the issue of cultural hybridity and to a lesser degree authenticity in a
discussion of the stage play “I La Galigo” which was based on the Indonesian epic by the same
name. The play was directed by an American director and the music composed by an Indonesian
composer. The actors were all Indonesian but only a small portion of the people involved in the
play were actually of the ethnic group or the region where I La Galigo originated. Weiss
analyzes the success and failures of the hybridizations used in the staging and music as well as of
the production team itself and compares and contrasts the production of I La Galigo with another
hybridized production of the Mahabharata. Sarah Weiss is an established ethnomusicologist and

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the journal that this essay was published in seems reputable. While the article was interesting and
did briefly lay out concepts of hybridization and offer some discussion on authenticity it did
focus a lot of the other elements of theater (like staging) that were not as centered around the
music itself. The discussion on hybridization of music is useful to my senior project and the
article itself is interesting because it discusses world music in a different context: musical
theater. (209 words)
Garofalo, Reebee. (1993). Whose World, What Beat: The Transnational Music Industry,
Identity, and Cultural Imperialism. The World of Music, 35(2), 16-32.
This paper discusses how ‘world beat’ or ‘world music’ is the product of multiculturalism. The
process of hybridization and mixing is not always that of the core appropriating the periphery.
Garofalo points out that many times there is mixing in the reverse direction. The paper goes on to
list several examples of this phenomenon and discusses how technology has been influential in
allowing cultural mixing. Garofalo argues that the idea that Westerners utilizing elements of
music from other parts of the world being a form of cultural imperialism is flawed because it
assumes that the mixing is one directional and that the music of countries outside of the west is
‘untainted’ with the assumption of authenticity. Garofalo offers the example of rock music to
show that even western genres that seem very definitive and western in nature actually arose
from mixing of music from many parts of the world with some influence from non-western
musics.The essay offers a section about in depth information about the various transnational
companies that dominate the world music industry. I think this essay offers a considerable
amount of useful material about the flow of musical ideas between western and non-western
locations and offers a unique viewpoint about how hybridization is more complex than simple
admixture of two separate and pure genres. (216 words)
Guilbault, Jocelyne. (1993). On Redefining the “Local” Through World Music. The World of
Music, 35(2), 33-47.
This article describes how the “local” is defined through world music by both western countries
and by developing countries. Western countries prescribe the label of “world music” to music
from other developing countries because they feel that they are losing their hegemonic control
over the music industry to smaller production and distribution scattered all over the globe. As
more and more people have access to technology ideas can be spread faster and music styles
change and develop at an increased pace. For the developing nations, defining the local can be
seen as a way to protect what makes them ‘unique’ and also giving them an in on transnational
markets. The author suggests that the global culture is simply an arena for various locals to
compete for a place in transnational markets. The ideological perspective of the article was from
the point of view of an Academic in the field of ethnomusicology and asserts that world music
cannot be understood using the core/periphery model. The article drew on much of the theory
outlined in other cited works and could have been stronger if it had more clear examples other
than that of Antillean music, however it is understandable that Guilbault focused on this genre
since that is her area of expertise. This paper is important to my senior project because it
extrapolates on how the genre of world music is used as a tool for achieving goals set by various
cultures, both western and non-western. (244 words)

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Whitmore, A. K. (2016). The Art of Representing the Other: Industry Personnel in the World
Music Industry. Ethnomusicology, 60(2), 329-355.
This article offers insight into the perspectives of World Music industry personnel and how and
why they make decisions about how non-western musics are presented to western audiences.
Industry personnel juggle the expectations and perspectives of musicians, scholars, journalists,
their own personal values as music lovers as well as commercial realities that shape how music is
produced and distributed to various audiences. Whitmore argues that rather than consisting of
purely oppositions, these various perspectives can either conflict with one another, merge, or
simply co-exist with one another while shifting along the oppositional axes of hybrid vs. pure,
commercial vs. altruistic, traditional vs. modern etc. The article covers how world music
producers manipulate various elements of the product (such as sound and image) to make it more
appealing to western audiences. The author spent time with world music industry personnel and
interviewed various people involved in the process. This article seems fairly unbiased but the
author specifically states in the beginning that it was meant to offer a different position to
counter the criticism of world music personnel made by scholars. It would have been stronger if
it had included more than just quotations on the topic of criticism from scholars that world music
producers were inhibiting musicians and essentializing non-western music. This article is useful
to my senior project because it shows how westerners, specifically world music industry
personnel, are involved in the creation of world music which further supports the concept that
world music is a hybridized product. (249 words)
Hernandez, D. P. (1998). Dancing with the Enemy: Cuban Popular Music, Race, Authenticity,
and the World-Music Landscape. Latin American Perspectives, 25(3), 110-125.
This article discusses how Cuban music became popular in world music circuits because of its
embrace of its African roots. In doing so it covers the topic of cultural authenticity in the world
music marketplace. Hernandez discusses how racial identity is important in the perception of
authenticity of Cuban music. Because of the desire for exotic authenticity from consumers of
world music, Cuban music is a more desirable world music choice than other music from the
Caribbean which de-emphasizes African lineage and instead markets itself as more Iberian and
therefore more commercial in flavor. Hernandez discusses how Cuban music is received by both
the world music industry and the Latino music industry and gives speculation of how the trends
would change once the American embargo on Cuba would be lifted. This source is useful since it
discusses how racialized identities are important in the reception of various non-western music
styles. Hernandez does a good job of drawing from the writings of other social scientists and
ethnomusicologists and offers a nice history of the development of Cuban music and its growth
in isolation. And the author analyzes specifically how the embargo affected the reception of
Cuban music. It would have been nice if Hernandez had gone into further detail about why other
Caribbean music marketing themselves as Iberian specifically would make them seem more
commercial since there is still music produced on the Iberian peninsula that can be considered
outside the realm of mainstream Western music. (245 words)
Shannon, J. H. (2003). Sultans of Spin: Syrian Sacred Music on the World Stage. American
Anthropologist,105(2), 266-277.

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This article discusses how sacred music is solidified as a valid sub-genre of world music by the
performance of the Sufi mawlawiyya, or “Whirling Dervish”, music and dance in international
cosmopolitan environments. The author focuses on the anecdote of a specific performance given
by a Syrian music group that gave a mawlawiyya performance in New York and discusses how
there is a disconnect between the western audience members who act in contrast with the
expectations of the Syrian performers. The western audience members were told that the music
being performed was sacred and that they should not clap but in Syria there is very little
distinction between sacred music and profane music so audience members are expected to
participate in a manner that western audiences would not for perceived sacred music. The
popularization of the idea of sacred music abroad in western world music circuits has
created/solidified the tradition of sacred music in the local spheres. This article is useful to my
project because it shows how authenticity is a constructed concept and how the industry can
manipulate it and influence music making in non-western regions. I was fairly satisfied with this
article but it could have included more commentary from the perspective of Syrian-born
musicians as I felt the article focused more on Westerners being entranced with the beauty of
Sufi music and how their admiration affected the industry and as a result legitimized sacred
music. (237 words)
Stokes, Martin. (2004). Music and the Global Order. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, 47-72.
This source gives a run through on globalization from an ethnomusicological perspective and
discusses the ways that world music as a genre fabricates myths in order to sell music to western
audiences. Stokes ends his piece by arguing for an approach to the globalization of music that
contextualizes the various musics around the globe. He is critical of the world music industry,
adopting a fairly recurring position amongst ethnomusicologists, a trend that is discussed in a
different source listed. Stokes is especially critical of the way recorded samples of non-western
music are often passed around and when included in a hit song, rarely offer a chance for the non-
western artists to fully participate in the production process or to access proper royalties. This
article is useful to my project because it discusses the role of globalization in more concrete
terms in the production and sales of world music as well as the role of the global city. It
discusses how the music itself is warped to fit the expectations of a western audience and covers
the concept of hybridity in world music discourse. Despite that this source covers the writings of
many ethnomusicologists and anthropologists but doesn’t offer much in terms of original theory.
(204 words)
Turino, Thomas. (2010). The Mbira, Worldbeat, and the International Imagination. The World of
Music, 52(1), 171-192.
This paper outlines how the mbira, a native instrument of Zimbabwe, was popularized nationally
and internationally primarily due to radio diffusion in the 60’s and the career aspirations of
musicians, most notably Thomas Mapfumo, in Zimbabwe. Thomas Turino also mentions that
ethnomusicologists furthered the popularity of mbira in worldbeat. The international
cosmopolitan audience’s predisposition to view mbira favorably inspired Mapfumo to emphasize
the instrument and it’s traditional tunes in his band. His success abroad resulted in increased
interest in the instrument back in Zimbabwe. This article was written from the perspective of a
western ethnomusicologist and music lover. He specifically argues that African nationalism did
not play a major role in the success of the mbira. Much of Turino’s insider knowledge about the

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mbira and its music culture is the result of him taking mbira classes from African mbira players
and their explanations. This source is useful to my project in that it offers anecdotal evidence of
how the world music genre shapes the music produced in the local region and also why certain
local musics are favored and successful in the international realm. The author briefly mentions
that Mapfumo is successful as a model because he is based in Zimbabwe while other indigenous-
rock bands (who follow Mapfumo’s example) are based in europe but this seems contradictory
since these bands are still popular in the worldbeat setting and led to the further creation of
indigenous-rock bands. (236 words)

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Outline
I. Introduction
A. Background
1. What is World Music?
2. History of the origins of the genre in the 1980’s
3. Are authenticity and hybridity in conflict with each other?
II. Common perceptions of World Music as two extremes
A. Focus on authenticity and cultural preservation
1. View globalization as a threat
B. Focus on cultural mixing and hybridity
C. Promotion of a cosmopolitan global identity
III. Scholarly discourse on the role of authenticity and hybridity in world music
A. Is world music a form of neo-imperialism?
1. Questioning the binaries of core and periphery
a. Questioning single directional flow of ideas
IV. My thoughts about the role of Authenticity and hybridity in world music
A. The perception of non-western authenticity is critical
1. Difference is a legitimizing factor
2. Authenticity is a circular feedback loop
a. Sufi sacred music
b. Mbira as the traditional ‘sound of Zimbabwe’
B. How world music utilizes authenticity
1. Utilizing aspects of non-western music creates a connection with the local
a. Language
i. Shakira
b. Traditional instruments/sounds
i. Thomas Mapfumo and the mbira
ii. Saskia Rao-Indian cello and Ragas
2.Songs about social issues
a. Artists who bring attention to some issue
i. Helly Luv-pop music about Kurds
ii. Tinariwen-Tuareg rock
3. Traditional songs/lyrics with a twist
I. Lior Ben-Hur-Jewish Reggae
4. A sense of locality
a. Omou Sangare based in Mali
5. Promoting a shared global experience
b. Mungal Patasar & Pantar
C. What makes something a hybrid?
1. Changing the context of the music
a. Performing in concert halls and festivals
i. WOMAD festivals
b. Western recording equipment
2. Using a mixture of traditionally non-western instruments with western
instruments

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a. Tabla Beat Science- mix of Indian classical with electronic, jazz,
and funk
3. Adding altruistic value to music
a. The Concert for Bangladesh
V. Conclusion
A. All of world music is a hybrid
1. Utilizing authenticity to promote the hybridized product
B. The hybridization is key in the commodification process
1. Commodification leads to sales in the global cosmopolitan market
a. The survival of the world music genre
b. The survival and growth of transnational recording companies

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Introduction
World music is the expansive and loosely defined genre that is better defined by what it is
not. It has come to mean any sort of non-western music style and often “incorporates folk,
popular, and art music genres, as well as popular musics that mix Western pop music idioms
with local and regional genres from around the world” (Weiss, 2014, p. 508-9). Artists can range
from the internationally famous that perform in music festivals around the world to the
practically unheard of indigenous musician recording tapes of traditional folk songs. The genre
can be broken up into countless sub-genres that are based in ethnic, regional, or genre
differences. In addition, World music also includes non-western forms of what are historically
popular western music styles, such as Korean Pop (Kpop). Another example is World beat,
which is a popular subgenre that is characterized by upbeat dance music with a mix of western
pop or rock and non-western indigenous sounds. However, due to the expansiveness of World
music sub-genre distinctions can sometimes blur.
The term ‘World music’ was “coined in the 1960s by Robert Brown—an
ethnomusicologist at San Diego State University and world arts entrepreneur— while he was
teaching at Wesleyan University” (Weiss, 2014, p. 508). The 60’s and 70’s saw many notable
global events such as the Vietnam War, the Cuban missile crisis, and various liberation
movements around the world, leading to an increasing western awareness of the global
environment. Yale-NUS University professor, Sarah Weiss, says “the 1960s and 1970s saw a rise
in musical pluralism in the marketplace and in academic discourse” and as a result “ in the 1980s
the commercial potential of world music developed rapidly, fuelled by the Western market’s
discovery of pop stars from around the world who would collaborate with Western pop stars (i.e.,
Paul Simon’s Graceland [1986] with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and David Byrne’s Rei Momo

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[1989] with Willie Colón, Johnny Pacheco and others)” (2014, p. 509). The creation of
transnational music companies such as Universal Music Group or Warner Music Group has
facilitated the commodification of music from around the world and has popularized it under the
genre ‘World music’ to make various musical styles accessible to global consumers.
Since its popularization in the 1980’s World music has been the topic of much
controversy, primarily over the issue of its potential role as a mode of western cultural
imperialism. And yet, much of this discourse is written with inherent assumptions about two
concepts related to world music: authenticity and hybridity. The two concepts are often described
as in conflict with one another. This paper will discuss whether authenticity and hybridization
are really in conflict with one another in a globalized environment and if not, how the
interrelationship between perceived authenticity allows for the success and ultimately sale of a
hybridized World music product.
I will begin by discussing some of the pre-existing discourse on the topic of authenticity
and hybridity in World music, particularly the question of whether or not World music is a form
of cultural-imperialism. In this discussion I will question the role of the core and periphery and
the directionality of the flow of ideas between the two entities. I will then deconstruct the
concepts of authenticity and hybridity and their coinciding philosophies of World music. And
finally I will offer my own thoughts about how I think the perception of cultural authenticity is
the mechanism for successful consumption of any form of hybridized World music. I am also
arguing that all world music that is readily available to western audiences is a hybrid in some
way and that authenticity can be a positive feedback loop that actually legitimizes the genre. I
will cover the many ways that World music utilizes authenticity, what makes World music a

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hybridized form, why authenticity supports hybridization, and how this indirectly supports the
legitimization and success of the world music genre.
The Cultural Preservation Model & the Global Culture Model
In order to deconstruct authenticity and hybridity in World music it is necessary to
understand the context of the genre and to comprehend how the genre is conceptualized by
scholars, musicians, and world music personnel etc. Since the 1980’s when the World music
genre really began to flourish, two schools of thought surrounding world music began to surface.
Sarah Weiss describes “a division between those who fear cultural grey-out caused by increasing
homogeneity and those who embrace hybridizing processes and anticipate escalating
heterogeneity because of the human propensity for indigenization” (2014, p. 512). Attitudes
towards authenticity and hybridization of music genres are ingrained in the discussion of World
music.
The first school of thought on World music is that of the cultural preservation model.
Those who follow this school of thought, primarily indigenous musicians and some World Music
producers, focus on globalization as a negative force that threatens to extinguish local ‘pure’
forms of music. This perspective embraces the genre of world music as a mode of cultural
preservation through the promotion of ‘authentic’ non-western music styles in the global stage.
Author and music scholar, Reebee Garofalo describes the forces that lead players in the World
music market to adopt this view of the genre:
First there is the inevitable drive on the part of all capitalist enterprises - in this case
transnational record companies - to expand into new markets, a process that has been that
much more encouraged in the current global fascination with market economies.
Secondly, we have technology making the world a smaller place, propelling us ever

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closer to a global culture. Given such explanations, the transnational flow of music is
often envisioned as a vertical flow from more powerful nations to less powerful ones, or
as a center-periphery model with music moving from dominant cultures to marginal
cultures, from developed countries - particularly the United States - to the rest of the
world, with accompanying images of overpowering, displacing, and/or destroying local
cultures. (1993, p. 17)
The second school of thought is one that considers globalization as the natural means to a
cosmopolitan global identity where people all over the world can engage in a global culture by
the exchange of music styles from all over the world. This perspective is often adopted by more
cosmopolitan music consumers and is even promoted by the United Nations, who believe that
music “ leaps across language barriers and unites people of quite different cultural backgrounds”
(UN Secretary-General, 2004). This school of thought prescribes to cultural mixing as a positive
effect of globalization and embraces the process of musical hybridization as an exchange of
culture between musicians from different genres and localities. These World music enthusiasts
believe in the value of moving beyond national and ethnic identities and embracing what they
believe is a universal commonality between all of humanity. Proponents of this model believe
that rather than creating cultural grey-out, increased hybridization as a result of globalization
forces will create more diversity in musical forms around the world. The products of the World
music phenomenon, according to this perspective, highlight the many ways that humanity has
embraced music as a common tool for expression.
It is important to recognize that both these perspectives are limiting and need to be
looked at with a critical lens. Proponents of the cultural preservation model see the flow of
musical ideas in terms of the core and periphery model of development proposed by Paul

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Krugman. Core genres or core areas of musical production, specifically popular western genres
such as rock, rap, or pop music, spread their hegemonic sounds to non-western periphery areas
where local styles of music are squelched and replaced by the western genres. Many proponents
of the cultural preservation model claim that the replacement of local music styles with western-
styled music is a form of cultural imperialism, which threatens to make many indigenous music
styles driven to extinction.
Cultural imperialism is defined as “the domination and eventual subversion of a
previously autonomous and vital culture by a more powerful one” (Bowen, 1985, p. 179). The
phenomenon is characterized by the hegemonic culture exerting “a more intense form of
influence, one that acts mainly in a single direction and becomes so pervasive that it finally
cripples or destroys the autonomy and vitality of weaker cultures in contact with it” (Bowen,
1985, p. 179). Proponents of the cultural preservation model argue that western music culture is
forcing itself on non-western markets and that the music of the indigenous is pristine and non-
changing before western contact. Garofalo describes the role of cultural imperialism in the
context of world music discourse as having:
a tendency to privilege the role of external forces, while overlooking the internal
dynamics of resistance and opposition that work against domination. In this regard, it is
assumed that post-colonial patterns of ownership continue to exist and that they
determine cultural forms and preferences. There is also a tendency to conflate economic
power and cultural effects. In addition to underestimating the power of local and national
cultures in developing countries, this tendency assumes audience passivity in the face of
dominant cultural power and neglects the active, creative dimension of popular music
consumption. Finally, the notion of cultural imperialism rests on the premise that the

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"organic" cultures of the developing world are somehow being corrupted by the
"inauthentic" and "manufactured" cultures of the West. (1993, p. 18)
The World music genre is promoted as a socially conscious genre of music where if a westerner
listens to songs marked as ‘world’ on iTunes or attends world music festivals, they are indirectly
supporting local artists in foreign countries and are helping to save rare ‘pure’ musical forms that
have not been replaced or altered by western influence.
However, to conceive the flow of musical ideas to be only single directional neglects the
reverse flow of musical thought and removes the non-western musician’s own agency in
deciding whether or not they want to embrace western musical forms in their own music making.
To claim that World music is simply just a token of cultural imperialism ignores the considerable
influence and exchange from non-western artists to western artists. Jocelyne Guilbault, a
professor of music at the University of California, Berkeley remarked that, “the ethnicization of
the mainstream forms of musics that had become almost synonymous with the so-called "global
culture" can be viewed as both a sign and recognition that their historically privileged position is
being challenged by the emergence of many other musics as well as networks of production and
distribution” (1993, p. 34).
A classic example of the reverse directional flow of musical exchange is the collaboration
between George Harrison and Pandit Ravi Shankar. Shankar, a master of the sitar, became
Harrison’s sitar teacher and friend in 1966. George Harrison produced several of Shankar’s
albums and their association brought Hindustani music into the western spotlight. At first glance
it seems that Harrison as a producer was acting from a position of western hegemonic power
where he could force Ravi Shankar into the western rock scene. But Shankar himself described
his relationship with Harrison as “a beautiful relationship,” one of “Guru and disciple and friend

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at the same time and father and son as well” (Macphail, 2016). Harrison’s position was of the
student and son and while the two of them collaborated together on several albums, Shankar
never really drifted from his identity as an Indian classical musician. Rather it was western rock
artists, such as the Rolling Stones, that began to incorporate the sitar in their music. Shankar
himself, while speaking to KRLA Beat in July 1967 said “many people, especially young people,
have started listening to sitar since George Harrison, one of the Beatles, became my disciple … It
is now the 'in' thing” (Macphail, 2016).
While the cultural preservation model over-emphasizes the power of western music over
non-western artists, the global culture model neglects the imbalance of power that is present
between westerners facilitating the production and sales of world music and the non-western
musicians themselves. While there is dialogue between non-western and western musicians it is
still quite difficult for local musicians to break into the world music market. The majority of
companies that produce and distribute World music are based in the west and they tend to cater
to western cosmopolitan world music listeners rather than to non-western listeners or musicians.
Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Miami, Aleysia K. Whitmore comments on
the World music record label World Circuit, saying, “in order to sell music, World Circuit must
build trust with audiences who lack common understandings of the music and its background, of
what sounds are touching and authentic” (2016, p. 337). She remarks that the averages listeners
of World music are Americans or western Europeans who are “generally older than thirty-five,
have disposable income, and see themselves as cultured and interested in current affairs and
international news” (Whitmore, 2016, p. 334). Jo Haynes remarks that, “more than a new sales
category, therefore, world music is often considered to be a shorthand for a set of culturally
progressive cosmopolitan values and a source of political identification that is typically

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associated with more affluent consumers and, in the UK, they are often believed to be white”
(2005, p. 366).
Despite their cosmopolitan nature, consumers from core regions have their own perceived
notions of what is authentic for the periphery and as such World music labels will end up
producing albums that fit their consumers’ idea of what is authentic rather than what is actually
popular in non-western regions. If musicians are under pressure to perform music that fits with
western notions of cultural authenticity then they are limited in how they can hybridize and
evolve as musicians. Instead they must perform to what the music label prefers. According to
Whitmore, “focusing on determining a fair market price for a performance hides the dynamics of
dependency in the industry; musicians often depend on European and American industry
personnel to gain access to Western markets, and, as a result musicians rarely feel they have the
power to publicly challenge industry actions” (2016, p. 333). The global culture model assumes
that globalization will equalize relations between core and periphery musicians but there still
remains an imbalance in power.
Clearly non-western musicians experience pressures to conform their music to certain
conceived standards that are based in the notions of authenticity and acceptable hybridization.
Defining these concepts becomes increasingly difficult as the genre expands. Both schools of
thought surrounding World music use similar definitions of authenticity and hybridity but argue
for varying types of music to fall within the genre of World music. Those who follow the cultural
preservation model of World music tend to view authenticity in terms of difference. Jo Haynes
explains that “ethnic and racial difference is therefore constituted through a discursive system
based on fixed binary categories such as 'the West and the rest' and 'us and them' along with
'traditional/roots' and 'modern'” (2005, p. 369). There is a separation between western music,

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which is seen as spoilt by the forces of modernization and “to be experiencing a 'recession of
creativity”, and the ethnic musics of periphery regions which is characterized as “ a source of
rejuvenation and an alternative to mass-produced pop for music audiences, as well as musicians”
(Haynes, 2005, p. 370). Proponents of the cultural preservation model view authenticity as a
connection to older ethnic styles of music before the time of contact with westerners and
recognize the context of the music as important. Non-western art music and indigenous music is
thought to be pure and unchanging. Authenticity in this context is tied to the cultural heritage of
an ethnic group and it is this cultural heritage that makes the music have value that western
popular music lacks.
In regards to the global culture model, authenticity is seen as secondary but still
important. The focus of this perspective is hybridization and dialogue between musicians of
different genres, however cultural authenticity is still what makes something qualify as World
music. The music must contain some ethnic elements to make it qualify as culturally relevant to
one or more non-western cultures. The blending of ‘authentic’ ethnic music with western music
or the blending of several non-western forms results in a derived shared musical experience
which supposedly should appeal to listeners all over the world.
White western artists often embrace this model as it allows them to experiment with non-
European sounds and genres. Unfortunately, this dialogue between the east and the west “can
have a distorting effect on the meanings of world music by propagating a familiar paradigm of
white appropriation of indigenous musical forms and thus asymmetrical power relationships
based on exploitative exchange” (Haynes, 2005, p.366). From her interviews with world
musicians, Jo Haynes notes that “some interviewees testify to there being double standards for
artists from western contexts, such as Paul Simon, who are free to combine their music with

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other indigenous or traditional forms without any commercial penalty” (2005, p. 375). Western
artists are still given more freedom to experiment with sounds than their non-western
counterparts who, even when hybridizing, are under pressure to maintain ties to their cultural
character.
Hybridization, like authenticity is a concept that is often loosely defined. Sarah Weiss
quotes Nestor Garcia Canclini who “argues for the use of the terms hybrid and hybridization “for
the purposes of naming the mixing of ethnic or religious elements as well as the products of
advanced technologies and modern or postmodern social processes”” (Weiss, 2014, p. 509).
When it comes to the issue of hybridization, those who follow the cultural preservation model
value retention of older styles of ethnic music and believe that the world music genre should
avoid too much mixing of sub-genres to retain the ‘original’ sound of an ethnic group. In
addition since the measures of difference are usually “boundaries are often interpreted as
corresponding to statements of the politics of difference, whether of nation, community or, most
significantly, race” it becomes easier to market music based on region or ethnic group which
allows for audiences to experience a specially curated sound that becomes representative of the
culture of the associated ethnic group (Haynes, 2005, p. 366). However, “once blurred or
hybridized, the normative and descriptive function of difference within world music becomes
more complex” and cultural preservationists would argue that complicating difference takes
away from the focus on preserving the iconic sound of the specific ethnic group’s music
(Haynes, 2005, p. 366). Cultural preservationists see the mixing of western popular music styles
with non-western music as an example of the west’s overpowering fragile periphery music.
In contrast, proponents of the global culture model believe that hybridization is the result
of mixing two or more genres of music to create a product that is either reminiscent of one of it’s

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parent genres or has an entirely different sound to it. There are countless examples of sub-genres,
among them Global Fusion,Worldbeat and crossover musics. Proponents of this model see
increased hybridization as a natural result of globalization and that this hybridization will result
in more musical variety as opposed to cultural grey-out. Haynes remarks that “the optimistic
version of world music is that creativity always involves cultural borrowing and that 'changes in
musical tradition don't mean the loss of cultural identity but articulates the way it changes with
circumstance” (2005, p. 376).
However, too often when hybridizing “the archetypal and ahistorical boundary between
'western' music as modern in contrast to 'traditional' music as therefore, 'non-western' is
reinscribed” (Haynes, 2005, p. 374). According to the global culture model, when it comes to
preserving ‘authenticity’ in World music hybrids there does seem to be some differentiation
between natural and unnatural hybridization. Haynes remarks, “music formed from empathetic
borrowings and appropriations between cultures are therefore perceived as more 'real', as
opposed to deliberate and 'artificial' industry-constructed hybridities designed to intentionally
shock by mixing musical practices and sounds for the sake of creating something novel” (2005,
p. 376). Audiences can respond positively or negatively to either variety of hybridized music,
making the success of hybridized forms somewhat hard to predict.
Unfortunately the global cultural model weakens when it comes to CDs and
performances since there tends to be a trend towards conforming to “normative relationships that
are assumed between culture, race and nation” (Haynes, 2005, p. 376). One of Haynes’
interviewees who is the editor of a World music magazine and dictionary commented:
I would never say you're Cuban you've got to be playing Cuban music, musicians of
course are free to do whatever they like. I don't always like the fusions that occur because

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I think actually people playing in a tradition outside of their own on the whole tend to do
it less well than playing their own stuff and very often you can hear that.. . You've got a
much harder time in a way if you're playing from another tradition, it's obvious if you've
got a CD or a concert by a white sitar player and an Indian sitar player, which one you are
going to go and hear. Most people are going to listen to the Indian player and
so I think people have a hard time who are trying to play other music. (2005, p. 376).
Non-western world musicians are often marketed as experts in a style of music, often with strong
connections to their cultural roots rather than as musicians capable of overlapping into numerous
genres, which is often the treatment for many mainstream western artists.
Perceived Authenticity
Clearly, the two popularized schools of thought surrounding the World music genre are
inadequate in explaining how authenticity and hybridization are related and defined. One cannot
simply reduce the relationship between the two to a simple oppositional one. There are also holes
in the definitions of the two concepts, increasingly so as the world music genre expands and
changes.
It seems that authenticity is not a definite quality that someone or something has or does
not have, but rather it is the perception of authenticity than is present or not. The perception of
authenticity is the key to the success of all world music sub-genres. The perception of
authenticity is related to a connection with the cultural character of the music and the musician.
To be perceived as authentic, the music can either remain true to antiquated local forms of music,
which are more often than not the products of cultural mixing between non-western cultures
themselves, or if the music is more of a mixture of several musical forms there must be aspects
of the music that tie it to the acceptable caricature of the various non-western cultural identities

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of the music. Perceived authenticity is a relatively fluid quality and can change over time. Just as
Jazz music, the baby of multiple musical traditions, was normalized to have its own ‘authentic’
feel to it, world music sub-genres can find perceived authenticity based on the attitudes of their
audience.
Another interesting aspect of perceived authenticity is that it often acts as a positive
feedback loop, where the musical preferences of western World music listeners based on
perceived notions of what is authentic to a culture actually influences local musicians to tailor
their music to fit with their audiences which causes the musician and associated music style to
rise to international popularity. In effect this establishes that genre as representative of the music
of the entire culture, country, or ethnic group. As a result the music experiences a revival and
becomes increasingly more popular within the non-western country itself, furthering the
westerner’s opinion that the music genre is truly authentic.
An example of this phenomenon is Sufi sacred music from Syria. The “mawlawiyya rite
is not commonly practiced in Syrian mosques today and few Syrians listen to this variety of
music, either at home or in mosques” (Shannon, 2003, p. 267). And yet if someone utters the
word ‘sufism’ the first thing that comes to mind are the Whirling Dervishes. When
anthropologist Jonathan H. Shannon attended a concert of the Syrian ensemble al-Kindi in New
York City, he observed that concert goers were told to not applaud since the music to be
performed was ‘sacred music’ (Shannon, 2003, p. 267). He thought that this seemed odd since
“Aleppine performers and audiences do not usually distinguish between sacred and nonsacred
performance genres in this manner, even in the context of the mosque or Sufi lodge (zaiwiya), in
which audience participation is pretty much mandatory and one finds similar responses to what
happens in tarab performances” which are often characterized by vocalized expressions of

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appreciation in Arabic (Shannon, 2003, p. 267). After the show, the performers asked Shannon if
their performance had been poor since no one in the audience had cheered. It seems that the
American audience was initiated in Syrian musical etiquette. But as a result of their instructions
they reacted to the knowledge that the being music performed was sacred and therefore special
and thus responded in the way westerners are enculturated to respond to sacred music--with
silence. Shannon says “World music entrepreneurs and agents market and promote sacred music
as a purer style distinct from other (nonsacred) styles of world music, which tend to celebrate
hybridity” (2003, p. 270).
Because of the perception of authenticity and therefore importance of the Sufi sacred
music Americans have indirectly and artificially created Syrian sacred music within Syria. The
anecdote about al-Kindi “reveals how the authentic local spiritual traditions are in fact produced
within the same sets of discourses and representational practices of the world music market”
(Shannon, 2003, p. 270). The popularization of Sufi music in the west is why “elements of the
mawlawiyya spiritual-musical tradition can today be found performed on stages and in
restaurants in Syria, across the Arab world, and now abroad on international stages where it is
presented for global consumption as world music”(Shannon, 2003, p. 267). The sacralization of
music makes it more marketable to western audiences and therefore “to a large extent,
performers and their agents willingly go along with the "sacralization" of their musical
traditions” in order to draw attention to themselves (Shannon, 2003, p. 271).
Another example of this positive feedback loop is how “the 22-key Zezuru mbira (known
in the literature as mbira zdavadzimu) has become synonymous with Zimbabwean music in the
international imagination” (Turino, 2010, p. 171). The mbira is from the lamellophone family of
musical instruments and its sound is produced when the semi-flexible keys, which are often

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made of metal, are plucked with the thumbs to produce a pleasing sound similar to a muted
xylophone. Expert of southern African ethnomusicology, Thomas Turino explains that it “has a
delicate metallic sound which is sustained by bottle cap or shell buzzers attached to the
soundboard and resonator” (2010, p. 172).
The mbira had humble origins and “as recently as the 1930s, the mbira was a small
specialist tradition localized among the Zezuru, a Shona group living in the area surrounding the
colonial capital of Harare (then Salisbury)” (Turino, 2010, p. 171). The mbira became a more
widely heard instrument in the 1960’s in Zimbabwe “due to the colonial state-controlled radio of
the 1960s” but it experienced a dramatic rise to popularity in the 1980’s and 1990s due to the
eminence of the Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo, who incorporated the mbira into his
electric guitar band (Turino, 2010, p. 172). Mapfumo became a sensation amongst western world
music circles and this popularity brought local attention to the mbira, an instrument that had
previously only been a regional variety of lamellophone. Like with the sacred importance of Sufi
sacred music the mbira is another example of how “often foreign interest in a local tradition that
causes it to be selected and popularized as a paramount national musical idiom at home” (Turino,
2010, p. 172).
It was the appeal of Mapfumo’s tasteful use of the mbira that launched his international
career and brought attention to the instrument as a symbol of Zimbabwean music even though
prior to the 1960’s the instrument was practically dying out in Zimbabwe. The perception of
Zimbabwean authenticity and traditionalism as exhibited by the mbira in Mapfumo’s music
convinced Western world music audiences that this indeed was the ‘true’ sound of Zimbabwe
which acted as a positive feedback loop in bringing the instrument back from near extinction.

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How World Music Utilizes Perceived Authenticity
It is the perception of authenticity that makes Sufi sacred music and the mbira have value
to world music consumers. Now that I have defined the concept of perceived authenticity I can
deconstruct the many ways the genre of World music utilizes perceived authenticity to produce
successful musical products. World music aims to create a connection between listener and the
non-western world. It does so by maintaining aspects of non-western music that are perceived by
the listener as ‘authentic’ in the final product.
Perhaps one of the most obvious aspects of music that can be utilized to make a product
seem more ‘authentic’ is the language of the lyrics of a song. Lyrics sung in non-western
languages tend to strike listeners as more authentic because they further away from mainstream
western music. Shakira, the Grammy award winning pop star from Colombia, is a perfect
example of how world musicians can utilize language to their advantage, especially using the
notion of perceived authenticity. Shakira sings most of her songs in Spanish and originally rose
to prominence as a Latin pop genre singer. Her third album “Pies Descalzos, meaning "bare
feet," sold more than 3 million copies” (Biography.com, n.d.). Shakira’s music is popular for her
sexy dance moves and impressive vocals and these qualities, plus the accessibility of her music
to other Latin Americans made her incredibly popular in the Latin music charts. She went on to
win a Grammy for best Latin-pop album for Shakira: MTV Unplugged (Biography.com, n.d.).
Her popularity in Latin-music circles attracted attention from other places in the world.
Shakira is the “highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful
female Latin singer after Gloria Estefan” (Biography.com, n.d). The fact that Shakira started out
as a Spanish-language singer is one of the qualities that makes her unique and seem more
authentic to her Colombian roots. It was only after she had already released several popular

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albums entirely in Spanish did she move to the United States and begin to incorporate English
into her music making in an attempt to make more American fans. Her first English-language
album, Laundry Service, maintains the same sort of vibrant guitar-heavy sound that made her
popular in previous Spanish language albums but is in a language that is accessible to non-
Spanish speaking listeners. The album, “reached No. 3 on the charts, selling more than 200,000
copies in its first week of release” (Biography.com, n.d.). Indeed, while Shakira is incredibly
talented in English and Spanish, it is her legacy as a Colombian Spanish-speaking pop star that
gave her the initial push of popularity. Gaining popularity in Latin markets while singing
primarily in the official language of Colombia separated her enough from most other American
pop stars to make Shakira’s Spanish lyrics seem as exotic and sensual as her dance moves to
American audiences so that by the time she actually did release an English album she was
already recognized as a Latin pop star as opposed to just an American one.
The perceived authenticity of Shakira’s music lay primarily in her Spanish lyrics but
other World music artists emphasize the use of traditional non-western instruments in their music
to be perceived as authentic to World music audiences. Thomas Mapfumo’s success over other
young Zimbabwean musicians vying for fame in the 1970s was that he managed to find a sense
of originality through utilizing ‘traditional’ sounds and songs of the mbira in his music. A prime
example is “ "Ngoma Yarira" of 1974, his first commercial 45 rpm recording based on a classical
mbira piece ("Karigamombe"), performed by his guitar band and featuring indigenous Shona
vocal style” (Turino, 2010, p. 178). By highlighting a non-western instrument in his band he set
himself up to have the ‘local sound’ that world music listeners were searching for.
But why was the mbira the Zimbabwean indigenous instrument that rose to prominence
instead of one of the other more numerous indigenous instruments of the country? Turino says

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“among indigenous traditions, lamellophone music was most like the popular songs accompanied
by melody and harmony instruments such as the guitar that dominate the airwaves
internationally” (2010, p. 176). The sound of the mbira was pleasing to a western audience and
because it had the capacity to play more complex melodies rather than dance-drums that “depend
more on the vibrancy of the dance than on musical elaboration for their interest, the intricate
melodic quality of lamellophone music was probably deemed more suitable” (Turino, 2010, p.
176). Turino argues that,
The harmonic progressions that emerge from guitar arrangements of classical mbira
pieces are also familiar and particularly effective in the context of cosmopolitan popular
music conventions. The continual shifting between major and minor chords and the
ambiguous tonal center is a device also found in North American and British popular
music (e.g., Sting's "Every Breath You Take," various songs by Madonna). This
ambiguity between major and minor tonalities in mbira music helps create a moving,
mysterious effect that supports the romantic imagery of foreign places.
The mbira was the perfect instrument to take world music listeners on what they perceived as an
aural journey through Zimbabwe whenever they listened to a Thomas Mapfumo tune.
The search for an ‘authentic sound’ often drives Western World music artists to learn
traditional instruments or sometimes even alter their western instruments to emulate non-western
instruments. Saskia Rao-de Haas is one of these western musicians who have ventured beyond
the realm of western classical music to embrace traditional Indian Hindustani music. Saskia is a
virtuoso cellist from the Netherlands who plays a hybridized instrument that she calls the ‘Indian
cello’ that is designed to produce sounds that emulate a Sarangi, a traditional Indian instrument
that is played with a bow similarly to how a cello is played. In addition to having five strings that

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are much thicker than normal, the Indian cello also has eight resonating strings that are attached
to the body of the cello which have “a special bridge as is common in many Indian string-
instruments with Javari, a kind of extra tinkle and resonance of the string as is common in sitar
and tampura” (Saskiarao.com, n.d.). These resonating strings made the cello have a more
satisfactory ‘Indian sound’ to them because they emulated the sounds produced from the
emulating strings found in several Indian indigenous instruments.
In addition to creating a new hybrid cello, Saskia has had to invent new fingering
techniques to emulate a more ‘authentic’ sound while also maintaining the use of traditional
Indian Sarangi techniques. On her website she describes how she describes this give and take of
technique styles as
I invented a technique in which I use two fingers so close to each other that move
together as one. Other left hand techniques are the slow andolan and the faster
embellishments like murki and zamzama. In alap I follow the Dhrupad alap, as in the
Maihar gharana style of playing.
The Indian cello is obviously never going to sound exactly the same as an indigenous Indian
instrument but Saskia has gone to great lengths to fill in the gaps that the instrument leaves with
technique to produce an enjoyable Indian classical music product, one that attempts to achieve
the closest possible replication of an ‘authentic Indian sound’ by trying to emulate Indian
classical instruments. In emulating the sound of Indian instruments, Saskia has created a degree
of separation between herself and other western classical musicians and has instead utilized
aspects of non-western music to establish a meaningful connection to Indian culture.
Another way that World music utilizes perceived authenticity is by bringing attention to a
social issue through the music. The role of the musician is especially important in this sense

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because the artist becomes a symbol of the cause they are appealing to a global audience for.
Helly Luv has become the face of the Kurdish Peshmergas in the world music scene. She is a
twenty-eight year old Iranian-Kurdish pop singer who sings about the Kurdish military group
that has been fighting and holding off ISIS in Iraq. Due to the fact that the Iraqi government does
not want to encourage a Kurdish independence movement the flow of new arms to the
Peshmerga troops is extremely limited. To this date the Kurds are the largest ethnic group
without their own country. Helly Luv dons military gear in her music videos, portraying her
commitment to the Peshmerga and its cause. She appears strong and ready to fight with her
voice. The singer even said that “as an artist my weapon is not guns, my weapon is my music”
(nbcnews.com, 2015). Her latest song Revolution was filmed on the frontlines of battle with ISIS
in Iraq and features actual Peshmerga troops. The music video features realistic scenes of
gunfire, houses being bombed, and people fleeing from the ensuing violence. These images set
the stage, implying the severity of a possible future where ISIS is allowed to take over. After
several moments a defiant flaming red-haired Helly Luv directly confronts a tank wearing gold
stilettos and carrying a sign that reads ‘Stop the Violence’. She sings “Burning we got the fire,
Power you can't deny us” as valiant Peshmerga troops advance forward in a battle against ISIS
on the frontlines (Helly Luv, 2015). The Kurds are fighting to keep ISIS out of their autonomous
territory and have appealed to many powerful western nations, including the United States for
weapons to properly arm the Peshmergas. However considering the tense and complicated
political situation in the Middle East, countries that are allies with nations who have large
Kurdish minorities are not eager to send aid even though the Peshmergas have been the only real
success story against ISIS. Helly Luv, in Revolution, is appealing to America and Europe to send
help to the Peshmergas. Her emotional appeal is strong as she sings:

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Long live to every nation.
Rise up cause we're so much stronger as one.
Breaking the silence as loud as a gun.
Brothers and sisters we all come from one.
Different religions we share the same blood (Helly Luv, 2015).
The message the she sends is that all nations should be concerned about the growing power of
ISIS and that it can only be defeated if all countries band together and support the Peshmergas
who are the best bet to maintaining peace in the region. Even though her music is entirely sung
in English, Revolution has a decidedly local and therefore authentic flavor because it concerns
issues that are important to the people of Kurdistan and Iraq. American and European listeners
who might not have a direct connection to the Peshmerga otherwise can find one through the
music of Helly Luv.
Another example of messages about social issues granting perceived authenticity to
World music is that of the loosely formed Tuareg rock collaborative that is called Tinariwen. The
Tuareg are an ethnic group found in Mali that “have been fighting for an independent homeland
for decades and in the '80s, the Tuareg rebelled against the nation of Mali” (nprmusic, 2007).
Tinariwen is a group of musicians that retired from being rebel fighters to pursue music instead.
Their music is a mix of traditional Tuareg music and electric guitar. One of the members of
Tinariwen, Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, commented that the use of electric guitar reflects “One of
the goals of the rebellion was to bring modern things to the desert, to upgrade our lives” and that
the “electric guitar was one of those things we could bring. We found that there was a very
natural fit with the guitar and our way of traditionally singing that was just very beautiful and
very pleasing" (nprmusic, 2007).

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The Tuareg people experienced much hardship since the time of French colonialism.
Their traditional nomadic pastoralist way of life was not compatible with the desires of the
French and the later Malian government, who wanted to confine the Tuareg people to smaller
territories. After Mali gained independence from the French in 1960, the Tuareg people saw the
newly formed Malian government as a new colonizer who sought to destroy their way of life.
The lead singer of Tinariwen, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, reminisces about the tragic outcome of the
first Tuareg rebellion in 1963 in his song Soixante Trois,
’63 has gone, but will return
Those days have left their traces
They murdered the old folk and a child just born
They swooped down to the pastures and wiped out the cattle…
’63 has gone, but will return. (Romig, 2012).
Tinariwen’s songs reflect on the cruelty of the Malian government and more poignantly states
that the government wanted to wipe out the core of the Tuareg culture—it’s cattle. Ibrahim Ag
Alhabib’s lyrics draw attention to the plight of the Tuareg people and make a political statement
about Mali to anyone who listens to Tinariwen’s music.
Following the first uprising, the Tuareg people then went on to seek employment in
Libya after a series of droughts and resulting famines in the 70’s and 80’s. In the 1980’s, “when
Qaddafi offered military training to the Tuaregs, thousands answered his call, and the founding
members of Tinariwen were among them” (Romig, 2012). When they came back to Mali in the
90’s another uprising was staged and Tinariwen’s music became the battle music of the Tuareg
rebels and “their songs didn’t just lionize the uprising, they fuelled it: cassettes of Tinariwen’s
music were passed from hand to hand across the desert in what their former manager, Andy

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Morgan, called the “ghetto-blaster grapevine” (Romig, 2012). In the song “Tamatant Tilay”
(“Death Is Here”), Tinariwen rallies the Tuareg rebels with the lyrics”
Let the blood boil if it is really in your veins
At the break of day, take your arms and take the hilltops
We kill our enemies and become like eagles
We’ll liberate all those who live in the plains. (Romig, 2012).
Political music, like this song, draws attention to a social cause when the music becomes
popularized in world music circuits. Listeners are drawn to the romanticized notion of desert
rebels who “are trying to get food and water to their families and fellow-refugees as famine
threatens” (Romig, 2012). The music is political and is therefore personal to the people living in
Mali, particularly the Tuareg. The lyrics rallied the Tuareg together in their fight against the
government and the combination of public attention to international conflicts, the poignancy of
the lyrics, and popularity of the music itself makes Tinariwen’s brand of rebel music perceived
as authentic to World music listeners, who feel like they are connecting with the Tuareg via their
music.
While the rebellion movement of the Tuareg people and the Malian government has
ended, tensions are still high. Alhousseyni said that “We [the Tuareg] don't want to just blend
into the general population. Our culture is very distinct and must be able to preserve its distinct
identity” (nprmusic, 2007). Tinariwen’s pleasing brand of Tuareg rock has brought them to
music festivals around the world and they have been featured in world music CDs. Their
popularity has brought attention to the Tuareg peoples’ desire for autonomy and to their culture.
And the fact that they represent the social message of rebellion and preserving Tuareg culture
has made them increasingly popular with Western audiences.

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In addition to singing about social causes, World musicians utilize the perceived
authenticity in traditional songs and lyrics to make their music a success. Lior Ben-Hur is a
Jerusalem-born reggae musician who “in 2012 released an eclectic World music album under the
name Sol Tevél. The album sheds new light with contemporary interpretations on old Jewish
texts, ideals and mysticism” (liorbenhur.com, 2015). The appeal of this album was that the lyrics
were sung in Hebrew and that many of the songs were re-imagined versions of traditional Jewish
tunes and prayer-chants. Oseh Shalom is one of these traditional Jewish prayers that is often
sung to music. Ben-Hur’s rendition is uplifting with rich choral harmonization and the strum of a
guitar against keyboard. The music only reinforces the peaceful message in the prayer.
Traditional lyrics or tunes establish authenticity with connections to cultural richness but
the perception of authenticity can also be instilled by simply having the artist maintain a strong
connection with their homeland. This sense of locality makes the listener feel like the artist is
truly invested in their community and that their music is definitely representative of the feelings
of the people. Omou Sangare, is a Malian artist who specializes in Wassoulou women’s music
and who when compared to another similar artist in Sarah Weiss’s classroom was thought to be
more ‘authentic Malian’ because “Sangare retains her base in Mali and, at least in the musical
example students heard, continues to reference Malian “traditional” music genres directly.
Subsequently, in the ears, and more particularly the minds, of the students polled, Tama’s music
was regularly determined to be less authentic than Sangare’s, despite employing similar musical
styles, instruments, melodies, and studio production” (Weiss, 2014, p. 520). Omou Sangare’s
style of music is thought to be “spiritually powerful,[as] it is used as part of the rituals performed
to protect rural Mande communities” (Weiss, 2014, p. 518). Not only does her music engage
with local communities in this way but “rather than base herself in France or the United States

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and launch an international career, Sangare chose to stay in Mali and use her status as a pop star
to work for the empowerment of women and children in Mali and in West Africa in general”
(Weiss, 2014, p. 519). Her commitment to the people of Mali makes her an especially attractive
artist to western audiences who appreciate the idea of a musician singing for the welfare of their
people.
Sometimes World music bands will try to amplify the perceived authenticity of their
music by combining genres from two or more ‘authentic’ World music genres. This process of
hybridization maintains elements of all included cultures and celebrates the juxtaposition and
cultural mixing of the music to promote a more ‘authentic’ shared experience within the greater
global culture. A fantastic example of this is Mungal Patasar & his band Pantar. Mungal Patasar
is a Trinidadian sitar player of Indian descent and his band Pantar (a word created by combining
the ‘pan-’ from steel pan drum and the ‘-tar’ from sitar, the two main instruments of the band) is
comprised of other Trinidadians of different descents. My favorite song of the band, Dreadlocks,
is a jovial reggae instrumental tune. The steel pan drum and sitar complement each other in a
unique but incredibly pleasing way and the sound transcends ethnic differences. Ultimately the
music is a perfect expression of the Caribbean, a multicultural society created by the forces of
European imperialism. The music of Mungal Patasar & Pantar is less an example of a
conversation between Indian and Caribbean culture but more an example of how Trinidadians
embrace the many origins of their collective identity, a message that Mungal Patasar sent when
he “created a unique genre of world music that draws on all the elements of the musical culture
of the Caribbean” (Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, 2015).
Perceived authenticity is necessary for the success of a genre to be considered World
music. Authenticity itself is nearly impossible to define since music is constantly changing as is

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the context of its reception. But what truly matters is the perception of what is or is not authentic.
Sub-genres that maintain connections to non-western cultures in the form of language,
instrumentation, relevant subject matter, spiritual and spatial connections, and reflect the history
of cultural exchange in a region tend to have increased perceived authenticity and will generally
be more successful in world music circuits than those that lack these connections.
What Makes World Music a Hybrid?
A musical hybrid can be created in a variety of ways, the easiest being to simply change
the context of the music. Much of popular World music is performed in music festivals and
concert halls. WOMAD is the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival that is held in numerous
locations around the world. The people behind WOMAD “aim to excite, to create, to inform and
to highlight awareness of the worth and potential of a multicultural society” (WOMAD, n.d.).
WOMAD features a variety of artists from different regions around the world, a fact that in and
of itself creates an artificial setting for the music to be heard in. The festival environment is a
stewing pot where people of different religions and races come together to enjoy a product that is
affected by its surroundings. To perform ceremonial or sacred music in a festival or concert hall
removes its original context and therefore some of its symbolic power and instead substitutes in
an element of western artificiality and construction.
In addition, when world music is enjoyed through the use of CDs, tapes, or through a
medium such as YouTube via music videos, the context is once again altered and there is a
reliance on western recording equipment and technology. Any music that is recorded in a
western studio and is mixed, and even if the mixing was done to replicate a more ‘authentic’
unmanicured sound it is a product of the interaction between the core and periphery.

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Hybridization can also be utilized in World music through the mixture of traditionally
non-western instruments with western instruments. An example of this is the band Tabla Beat
Science that mixes Indian classical music with electronic music, jazz and funk sounds. The
sound of their song Magnetic Dub has the sounds of an Indian tabla bowl drum and traditional
Indian-style violin plus a western electric Bass guitar while the improvises in the Hindustani
style.
Adding altruistic value to music through the creation of charities and benefit concerts is
inherently creating a hybridized product because of the presence of Western interests and non-
western interests in the music. Benefit concerts, which can feature artists from all over the world
often, take place in major cities around the world. The strength of a benefit concert is in the fame
of the musicians who play for it. So while benefit concerts can have non-western bands present
the majority of the spotlight is usually on the most famous western performers who attend. The
Concert for Bangladesh was held in 1971 as a collaboration between George Harrison and Ravi
Shankar to raise money for relief for the people of Bangladesh after they were experiencing
problems related to the effects of war and famine. It was the first concert ever to raise money for
a humanitarian cause on such a large scale. Artists such as Bob Dylan and Ravi Shankar got to
share the stage and following the concert event a highly popular album and documentary were
released and have become classics of the genre.
The process of hybridization is important to understand because it is the process by which
World music changes and expands as a genre. It seems that because the World music genre is
entrenched in the effects of globalization it is inherently a hybridized product that relies on
perceived authenticity to promote it in the global market. The process of hybridization is the key
to the commodification process in that hybrids can be packaged with different sub-genre labels

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and these sub-genres can be commoditized in the world music market. An interesting and
pleasing product will lead to sales from the cosmopolitan consumer of world music, whose tastes
are dictated by notions of perceived authenticity. Increased sales lead to the survival and
popularity of the World music genre and ultimately the growth of transnational music
companies. The issues of authenticity and hybridity are related to our enjoyment of the genre but
also the availability and production of further music.
Conclusion
Music is an ever-changing form of art and world music is especially vibrant in its
development as a genre due to its birth as a product of the forces of globalization. Technological
advancements from western countries have allowed artists to spread their music and in effect
their hopes and feelings to other parts of the world. But it is this western impact that has made
world music a hybrid product rather than a static and ‘pristine’ non-western commodity. The
interaction between perceived authenticity and hybridization is one that reflects the growth of
global capitalism. Hybridization and perceived authenticity are simply market forces that can
fluctuate and influence one another. If World music artists are able to come off as more authentic
to their listeners they have more freedom to hybridize and create new blends of sub-genres.
Artists tread a fine line between exploration and maintaining an ‘authentic sound’ while western
consumers of the genre expect a sound that is already the product of the interaction of western
and non-western forces. The analysis of World music must now take a more reflexive
perspective that accounts for how western and non-western perspectives of authenticity and
beliefs about hybridization are the factors that control the World music market.

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