Essays & Interviews
Whatever the intention behind the term, "World music" is essentially code for "other people's music," in which anyone who is not English-speaking and hewing closely to modern/Western/American musical standards is "other."
Sometime in 2011 I sat down at my kitchen table with my dad and a tape recorder, and started asking questions about his history as a musician and a fan of music. The depth of musical knowledge and experience he has is mind-boggling, even for me, who has been around it my whole life.
I can remember a time in my life when "country music" was on the list of music I supposed I didn't like. I've heard so many people utter what must by now be hackneyed cliché - "I like all types of music except country and opera." The logical errors and ethnocentric assumptions contained in this short statement are numerous.
But I just don’t recognize my reality, my America, in all this crap. I know that my life, and the lives of so many people I know, has nothing to do with these cartoonish characterizations. So, to battle this maddening reductionism, I want to state for the record who this real American is.