World music or global music are coverall names for folk music or ethnic music (Greek ethnos means a group, tribe, herd or people) from non-western cultures which western ears can recognise and appreciate. In the 80s, the concept designated the work of musicians who added elements of ethnic music from Africa, the Middle East, Asia or Latin America to the commercial pop and rock music they were making. These days, musical genres have broached geographical frontiers so often there are hardly any barriers left.
The term world music is also used of musicians who flit freely between the genres, all the while retaining the traits of the original folk music. Folk and world are not unrelated. But, as with news, distance means a lot. Ordinary Scots bagpipe music is world music in Papua New Guinea, and vice versa. ((Ofte vil traditionel etnisk music udført tæt på det originale udtryk betegnes som folk eller etnisk music.)) World music is sometimes used loosely to mean music that combines various genres.
