1984-1986Western pop and rock scenes / South Africa

Worldbeat

A loose but useful label for pop and rock that opens itself to global musical languages, especially in the 1980s crossover era.

Origins and context

The label is used for Western pop and rock projects that incorporate musical ideas, instruments, and collaborations from non-Western traditions, especially in the mid-1980s crossover around South African, West African, and Brazilian sounds.

Western pop and rock scenesSouth Africa

History

AllMusic describes worldbeat as a sensibility rather than one fixed style, and places its Western commercial visibility in the mid-1980s, when artists such as Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon began folding ethnic sounds and collaborations into pop and rock recordings. That same period helped widen the audience for world music in the West, with albums like Simon’s Graceland and his later Rhythm of the Saints often cited as touchstones for the crossover impulse behind the label.