What is world music?

Firstly we’re given local music which can be native to its country of origin or a representation of the culture in which it is produced. Or Global music, a phenomenon that sees the likes of Michael Jackson being sold as a trans-national product but can also manifest itself as local/indigenous music being bought up by major music labels who then market it globally. From globalisation we are given the idea of cultural imperialism- that dominant states will enforce their culture onto dependent nations meaning that Anglo-American pop music becomes established as the accepted global music ‘blueprint’. The introduction of global music to dependent states traditionally focused on local music has been argued to cause the phasing out of indigenous music however case studies have proved that musical ‘cloning’ is not happening but rather both global and local sounds are being amalgamated into a new type of world music that transcends nationality.