Hi Michal,

Well, Deejays are a bit of a special case. I've come to the personal conclusion that the vast majority of Deejays are what I'd consider performers--certainly talented people--but not necessarily musicians. There are of course exceptions to this, i.e. "turntablists" who make music not by sampling per se, but by using the turntable as an instrument (scratching, in a nutshell). That technique does in fact represent a cross section of specifically American subculture (at least in origin) and thereby be considered World Music, at least outside of the U.S.

Otherwise, while creating remixes or mashups and mixing records is certainly difficult (I've tried), I hesitate to call it original music... at least in the sense that there's often no real composition, often no new voice. Listening to a remix comprised only of samples and saying you've heard a new song is like reading an issue of Reader's Digest and saying you've read a new book. I'm sure many would disagree with me, but I don't often find a Gestalt in it.

To answer your other question, I do ride a Ducati (a Monster). It's my latest toy and I'm in love with it. Now if only I could get out of work and go for a ride ;)

Hi Ducati Guy. Nice to hear you appreciate Oort. Regarding your definitions-- what about Western Deejays who make remixes using ethnic sounds...do those kinds of hybrids qualify? --and do you ride a Ducati? ;)

World music has a variety of meanings to me, but I'm not a big fan of using the term based solely on an artist's geographical location. Music from anywhere in the world could just as easily be lumped into a genre like Rock or Pop -- it takes something special to make it World Music. I think World Music has two sub-genres: traditional and contemporary. Traditional would be music that holds true to a particular culture's musical roots, thus representing that culture's history and traditions. Such music can be found right in our own back yards just as likely as halfway around the world. Contemporary World Music, I would say, is when people of any given culture find a new sound -- or fusion of sounds -- to bring about something new which actually -- perhaps sometimes unintentionally -- forges a new cultural identity.

That said, I'm particularly excited to see the Oort video on the World Music site. It would certainly fall into the latter of the aforementioned categories. Do a search for it in the World Music player, folks, you won't regret it.

World music. Well, to me the simple phrase "World Music" means music that represents all the people's of the world and their interpretation of life and culture through music.

If we hear one question about World Music, it's "What iS it?" Here at Link, we think there can be more than one answer, depending on who is asking the question! What is your opinion?