Localmusic

'Local Music, Not From Here' - The Discourse of World Music examined through three Zimbabwean case studies: The Bhundu Boys, Virginia Mukwesha and Sunduza


Johannes Brusila

Finnish Society for Ethnomusicology Publ. 10, Helsinki 2003
(ISSN 0785-2746, ISBN 951-96171-6-7)

Ever since the launch of the marketing category world music in 1987, the term and the whole cultural and industrial phenomenon have been much debated. 'Local music, not from here (wherever here is)' is a definition of world music which is often referred to, despite, or probably precisely because of its vague all-encompassing character. This definition, however, raises several complex questions. Not all music of the world is actually called world music, so how and by whom are the distinctions made between what is and what is not appreciated as world music? What relevance does the category have for those musicians whose music is called world music and how does it affect them, or how do they affect it?

This book is an analysis of the discursive formation and practice of world music examined through three Zimbabwean case studies: The Bhundu Boys, Virginia Mukwesha and Sunduza. The general focus of the study positions it in the framework of ethnomusicology and popular music studies, with contributions from cultural, media and post-colonial studies.