Ali Farka Touré
Smithsonian Folkways World Music Collection
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Baaba Maal

International

In the Western world, "World music" refers either to music that doesn't fall into the North American and British pop or folk traditions or to hybrids of various indigenous musics. Certain styles -- such as Jamaican reggae or Latin pop -- grew large enough to be classified as their own genre, but everything else, from traditional Chinese music to African folk, is classified as world music. Worldbeat is something different than world music, since it's usually the result of Western hybrids and fusions, yet it still falls under the world music umbrella because it borrows styles, sounds and instrumentation from various indigenous musics.

International Artists Highlights grid list

Ali Farka Touré
Ali Farka Touré
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Baaba Maal
Baaba Maal
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Värttinä
Värttinä
King Sunny Ade
King Sunny Ade
The Chieftains
The Chieftains
Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti
Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour
Paco de Lucía
Paco de Lucía
Ebenezer Obey
Ebenezer Obey
Klezmer Conservatory Band
Klezmer Conservatory Band
Ali Akbar Khan
Ali Akbar Khan
Astor Piazzolla
Astor Piazzolla
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ofra Haza
Ofra Haza
Kanda Bongo Man
Kanda Bongo Man
Zakir Hussain
Zakir Hussain
The Bhundu Boys
The Bhundu Boys
Oumou Sangaré
Oumou Sangaré
L. Subramaniam
L. Subramaniam
Cheb Khaled
Cheb Khaled
Johnny Clegg
Johnny Clegg
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
Mahotella Queens
Mahotella Queens
Arrow
Arrow
Hariprasad Chaurasia
Hariprasad Chaurasia
The Jolly Boys
The Jolly Boys
Boukman Eksperyans
Boukman Eksperyans
Mahlathini
Mahlathini
Joseph Spence
Joseph Spence
Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart
Jo-El Sonnier
Jo-El Sonnier
BeauSoleil
BeauSoleil
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy
Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba
Zachary Richard
Zachary Richard
Clannad
Clannad
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Boozoo Chavis
Boozoo Chavis
The Balfa Brothers
The Balfa Brothers
Laurindo Almeida
Laurindo Almeida
Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Beny Moré
Beny Moré
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
Enya
Enya

International subgenres and styles [+]