From traditional music to world music

The term traditional music refers to music rooted in a culture, passed down from generation to generation, usually orally, and evolving over time. Traditional music generally has a strong identity component.

After the recordings of a few pioneers (ethnomusicologists Constantin Brailoiu, Alan Lomax, and closer to home Marcel Cellier) who travelled to more or less distant countries with microphones in an attempt to capture the essence of local music, over the past few decades we have witnessed an unprecedented blending of genres. The evolution of the record industry, as well as extensive travel and migration, have profoundly altered the musical landscape, with the possible exception of so-called classical music. Today, it’s increasingly difficult to know which genre a piece of music belongs to. Is it ethnic music, because we hear an exotic instrument? Is it jazz? Reggae? Many musicians claim to belong to several cultures, and travel feeds encounters and influences, as well as the process of re-creation. The terms “world music” or “musiques du monde” seem more appropriate. At La Phonothèque, we offer you a wide range of albums illustrating this evolution, with the possibility of making a selection by country.

Let’s get away from it all and listen to an album of African music that will have us in trance, spellbound, magical or spiritual, or let ourselves be won over by the sensuality of Argentine tango, or seduced by the fado diva Amalia Rodrigues. And why not Celtic, Klezmer or Gypsy music? And do you know Ravi Shankar, the famous sitarist?

If you’re interested in world music, you’ll find a wealth of documents on the subject in our collections.

“Whether ethnic, traditional, folkloric, primitive or world, this urban or rural, learned or popular, religious or secular music undoubtedly expresses the living and evolving part of a common heritage, a link that unites peoples across borders” Catherine Trautmann, former French Minister of Culture.

Documentation :

• Les ” musiques du monde “. Imaginaires contradictoires de la globalisation”, Denis-Constant Martin ed, Sur la piste des OPNI. Éditions Karthala, 2002, pp. 397-430
• Marcel Cellier, ethnomusicologist and music producer from the canton of Vaud

Angélique Kidjo in Marciac

Suzanne Kaufmann, Head of Phonothèque, Riponne site