Exploring Music in the Modern World

African popular music, commonly referred to as “Afropop,” is often different in local contexts than what is commonly marketed in the international arena. Many readers may be surprised to find Western idioms, primarily jazz, as the fundamental aspect of many local genres. International audiences attending a world-music performance have come to expect something “ethnic,” suggesting the inclusion of traditional instruments, overt polyrhythmic performance, and a predominance of African dialects. Those artists who achieve the greatest notoriety successfully blend a modern sound with elements from such identifiable indigenous musical roots (Erlmann: 19).

During the 1940s, mbube groups experimented ...