Is it not time we called time on World Music? This middle class fraud has rambled on like an old jalopy for the best part of 25 years and yet has failed to fire the imagination of anyone except white middle class journalists and DJs who tirelessly peddle this "music" to an uninterested public. What is world music? It is anything you want it to be. That being the case, there is no such thing as world music, and the quicker we learn this, the quicker we can dismiss this sham. Why should someone into folk music from the British Isles like music from Zimbabwe? Why should someone who likes music from Bali like reggae music? The old argument that we hear time and time again is that in a multi ethnic society, we must open our ears to all types of music and that if you do not, then you are narrow minded – and by implication, racist. The guilt buttons are pushed and the liberal knee jerk reactions come into play. It is a ludicrous argument. Music is music and that is that, you either like it or not. If you do not like music from Zimbabwe, and I do not, does that mean I do not like the people? What if you are Irish and you don't like the Dubliners – does that mean you are a self-loathing Irishman?   


World music is a mish-mash, a false genre, that has no real constituency. It does not exist as a separate musical form or as a loose umbrella. It is an illusion. What constitutes world music shifts from one person to another. It is interesting to note that interest in world music does not extend beyond the shores of "white " countries. If you go to Africa, Bali, or wherever, these people could not give a toss about world music, even if they turn up for the world music festivals – only if they are paid, of course. And good for them. They should not tolerate white men patronising them for a single moment.