World Music - Hybrid Examples

Hybrid Examples

Since the music industry established this term, the fuller scope of what an average music consumer defines as "world" music in today's market has grown to include various blends of ethnic music tradition, style and interpretation, and derivative world music genres have been coined to represent these hybrids, such as World fusion, Global fusion, Ethnic fusion or Worldbeat. Good examples of hybrid, world fusion are the Irish / West African meld of Afro Celt Sound System, the pan-cultural sound of Aomusic and the jazz / Finnish folk music of Värttinä, each of which bare tinges of contemporary, Western influence—an increasingly noticeable element in the expansion genres of world music. World fusion / Worldbeat / Ethnic fusion / Global fusion can also blend specific indigenous sounds with more blatant elements of Western pop. Good examples are Paul Simon's Graceland album, on which South African Mbaqanga music is heard, Peter Gabriel's work with Pakistani Sufi singer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Deep Forest project, in which vocal loops from West Africa are blended with Western, contemporary rhythmic textures and harmony structure. More recent bands who exhibit experimentation with World music Hybrid Forms include Vampire Weekend, The Very Best & Yeasayer many of which cite inspiration from the work of Paul Simon.

Depending on style and context, world music can sometimes share the New age music genre, which is a category that often includes Ambient music and textural expressions from indigenous roots sources. Good examples are Tibetan bowls, Tuvan throat singing, Gregorian chant or Native American flute music. World music blended with New age music is a sound, loosely classified as the hybrid genre, ethnic fusion. Examples of ethnic fusion are Nicholas Gunn's "Face-to-Face" from Beyond Grand Canyon, featuring authentic Native American flute combined with synthesizers, and "Four Worlds" from The Music of the Grand Canyon, featuring spoken word from Razor Saltboy of the Navajo Indian Nation.