By Sergio Elmir, host of Dos Mundos, for CBC Music
Hard to believe, but it’s been more than 25 years since the term "world music" was created to sell non-Western music to Western audiences. In that time, our world has become more interconnected through technology, and at the same time people travel and migrate great distances, sometimes rediscovering their roots as a result of immigrating to a new land.
But how do musicians engaged in world music feel about the impact technology and travel have on the music? For some answers to that question, I turned to some emerging artists in Canada’s world music scene and asked what they think the biggest change has been, and where world music today is going.
Poirier (DJ/producer, Ninja Tune)
“Tools have improved and changed. Lots of people now own a computer, and with one you're able to produce music from A to Z. Electronic music is world music nowadays. The reverse is true, too, world music can be electronic music as well. It's an open field. There's a musical shift and musicians and producers are not scared to try different things. The lines, the definitions of music genre[s] are becoming blurry and through that fog of noise, we can discern a symphony of multiple voices and background.”
Alex Bordokas (percussionist/singer, Maracatu Mar Aberto Sound System/Uma Nota)
“Well in the last 10 years it certainly has gotten a lot bigger, and at the same time more compartmentalized as there are more 'heads' for all the different world styles. There are also more discerning tastes among the people. And with the internet and electronic music producers mixing sounds and the rest, our access to music is unparalleled. People want something fresh yet familiar, raw and wonderful with a definitive school in one style, but with a world of influence in sound and flow.”
Ian "Pho" Swain (DJ/producer, Bonjay)
“I think that as people gradually become more connected to the rest of the globe — the majority of the world owns a mobile phone now — the illusion of world music purity will break down. I appreciate the artistry and virtuosity of a lot of world music, but as far as the stories it tells, I want to hear more about how artists adapt their cultures and traditions and meanings for today's world. To me, that's way more interesting than seeing the traditions of the past presented as if they exist in a set-in-stone 'pure' state. The truth is that music and culture are always in flux.”
Lido Pimienta (singer/visual artist)
“Even though my roots are from Colombia and I am very much South American, I find my role as a new Canadian to be of a discoverer of music made in this country. Music with no labels or categories or names, a more electronic-sounding, experimental and playful music. I guess the way traditional music gets exploited and constantly recycled and reused by producers, DJs and bands around the world makes me just swim against that current and find my own voice.”
Mark Marczyk (singer/violinist, Lemon Bucket Orkestra)
“There’s starting to be a big change and that’s a change that Lemon Bucket Orkestra, and myself in particular, are trying to instigate. And that is to get people involved with their communities and with other communities at a grass roots level and at the street level to get people interested in celebrating traditional culture. The hope is that people get engaged in that idea and understand that they can celebrate their culture outside of cultural centres or drum classes or dance classes once a week. People can actually come out into the street and show off what they do and people are interested in seeing that, especially in Canada.”
Related:
World music fusions 2.0, beyond ‘worldbeat’
K'Naan and the Weeknd: evolving African identities in Canada