In the Mood to Bust Some World Music Myths!

I'm in a mood. See, I found myself in a social situation with people I'd just met, and the topic of work came up. I was asked what I do for a living, and I explained that, among some other consulting and freelance work, I write a website about world music. One woman started laughing. "I'm sorry," she explained, "you just don't seem like 'the type.'" I calmly explained that yes, I write about world music, and yes, many different people listen to world music, and invited her to poke around my site sometime. Secretly, though, I wanted to just ask her where her prejudiced ideas came from, and why I look like I couldn't possibly listen to world music. Was it my high-heeled shoes, or the fact that I have (let's face it) obvious highlights, not dreadlocks, or was it just that I didn't have a djembe strapped to my back? Since when does world music -- the umbrella definition for the genres of music that most people in the world listen to -- have a "type" of listener? The only near-absolute constant that I know of about world music listeners in the Western world is that we revel in diversity and multiculturalism. But how can you tell that about a person just by their clothes?

This isn't the first time I've gotten annoyed about this very subject, though. In fact, one of the first pieces I wrote when I came to work here at About.com was a little ditty called "Top 10 World Music Myths." It's been revised and updated a few times since, but the gist is the same -- world music isn't any one thing, and the people who listen to it aren't, either -- and now I'm inviting you to jump right in and vent, as well! Tell us what world music myths drive you crazy! Let it all out -- many of us are in the same boat!