Rhythms of the World

In recent years world music - a convenient term that embraces everything from salsa to the blues - has moved out of the specialist music shops and into the megastores. Artists like Salif Keita, Youssou N'Dour and the Gypsy Kings are now well-known to popular music-lovers in search of a change from the standard top-20 sound. The personalities, traditions and issues behind the explosion in world music are highlighted in this book. Among the writers are Robin Deneslow of the "Guardian", who talks about blues stars like Robert Gray and Geoff Healey, David Toop of "The Face", who offers a fresh perspective on world music with an analysis of the western preoccupation with "exotica", Jenny Cathcart on West African music, Adam Sweeting on "new country" and Chris Stapleton, who provides a glossary of world music terms and a portrait of Paris as a European centre for African musicians.