Much of the music that is popular today cannot really be classified as completely Western or Non- Western. Since colonial times, when European cultures came into contact with many Non-Western cultures, musicians on all sides have been experimenting with music that is a blend of "the best of both worlds." Many musical styles have been invented that mixWestern and Non-Western traditions.
Perhaps the oldest and most widely popular of these styles are the ones that join European and African musical traditions. These include various Latin (from Central and South America, some of which also include Native American influences) and Caribbean traditions, and from North America, many different kinds of jazz and blues. Most American popular musics also grew out of this blending of traditions.
But the process of inventing new ways of fusing Western and Non-Western music continues today in countries all over the world. The term World Music is often used as a catch-all category referring to almost any music with widespread popularity that clearly does not sound like North American popular music. This includes older blended traditions such as rumba and samba, newer but well-established blended genres such as reggae and Afrobeat, and groups with unique experimental sounds borrowing from more than one tradition. Folk and traditional music from around the world is also sometimes included, but the most popular genres in this category tend to be those, such as
Flamenco, Hungarian folk, and Celtic music, that are easy for Western-trained ears to understand. African-American traditions are so basic to popular music that they are generally not included in World music, but other North American traditions, such as Native American and Cajun traditions, sometimes are.
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