World music magazines such as fROOTS, Etnoumlje, and Sing out! are largely devoted to profiles of current performers and groups whose repertoires fall within the fuzzy boundaries of world music, a nebulous marketing concept that covers almost any ethnic tradition, from sea shanties to sacred Buddhist ceremonies to Afropop. These articles go beyond the information in the artists’ press releases, often including interviews that provide biographical details and illuminate the historical roots of the music that they perform.
Occasionally these magazines publish research-based items, such as a survey of the current state of a particular genre, or articles of historical interest, such as the commercial recording of ethnic traditions in the early twentieth century.
