What, exactly, is world music, asks Andrew Taylor, and “does it help us to assign categories that cannot be defined? Of course, most would answer that ‘world music’ is non-European music, or compositions, cultural expressions, and performances from cultures other than the traditional performing arts fare. It’s music from the Middle East, China, Africa, Israel, Nepal, and so on. And we categorize it because it makes it easier to talk about it, program it, and present it to an audience – we can have a ‘world music’ series and everyone will know what we mean. The problem is, such categories seem to cause more problems than they solve – both from a business and aesthetic perspective.”