From the Tibetan Buddhist and Native American influences in the music of Pauline Oliveros to the arresting blend of Jamaican dancehall, rap, and bhangra of Apache Indians, this ground-breaking work examines the rise of "world music" and "world beat". Musicologist Timothy D. Taylor draws on a wide variety of sources, from popular culture, interviews, liner notes, the Internet and the music itself, charting an accessible path through the issues and contradictions surrounding contemporary world music. Included in this volume are detailed discussions of such world musicians as the Kronos Quartet, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Youssou N Dour, Peter Gabriel, Johnny Clegg, Angelique Kidjo, Sheila Chandra, Apache Indian, Zap Mama and a host of others.

Exploring the dynamics behind such collaborations as Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mombazo, Taylor addresses the effects these collaborations have on the music itself with particular emphasis on music authenticity and the expectations around it. In addition to looking at the ways western pop/rock appropriates the music from other cultures, he also demonstrates how these cross-cultural collaborations bring music and musicians from other cultures to a much wider audience as well as fashion new musics and identities through their innovative combinations of sounds and styles.

Global Pop offers a fascinating and timely survey of popular music and its impact on contemporaryculture along with our ways of looking at and living in the world.