Wikipedia:WikiProject World music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This WikiProject deals with articles relating to a specific area or people. This includes articles like Music of Sweden, Music of Tanzania, Inuit music, Shinto music, Roma music and Esperanto music; all member articles should be listed at list of cultural and regional genres of music.
| World Music-related projects | |
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| Genres - General music standards - Genres - Countering systemic bias - Composers | |
| Status | |
| Phase 1 complete; an article exists on every country in the world. Musicboxes utilized on select pages. | |
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It is important to remember that the "music of" a specific country can refer to numerous fields (using Music of Ireland as an example):
- Traditional Irish folk music
- Popular Irish music of any kind
- Music that played a role in Irish churches
- The music of Roma, Englishmen and any other minorities which may be in Ireland
- The music of Irish people living abroad
- Irish styles of music played by non-Irish abroad
- Non-Irish styles of music performed by Irish people (e.g. Irish hip hop, Irish rock)
- Music of classical symphonies and compositions played by or composed by people from Ireland
- Music of recent immigrant communities in Ireland, if of a significant presence
These are obviously quite diverse subjects, though not every article will have something to say on each subject. It is, however, important that Wikipedia not endorse the idea that a particular style of folk, pop or classical music is "the music of Ireland, or the most important, pure, true kind of Irish music. We are, of course, free to point out that certain Irish musicians are much more popular than others, more critically acclaimed, or sharing more characteristics with pre-modern Irish folk traditions.
If there are disputes over how traditional or not a particular style or artist is, Wikipedia's neutral point-of-view policy should be followed, meaning that specific commentators opinions on the subject should be explained and attributed. Wikipedia itself does not make a claim as to the definition of what constitutes the music of a particular location. We can, of course, describe a style as "folk" or "traditional", however this should only be done without qualification if it unambiguously meets the strictest definition (i.e. music played exclusively for live audiences by often amateur musicians, using compositions and techniques mostly passed down orally); other forms of music should be called "pop-folk", "traditionally styled" or some other term, unless the context makes it quite clear exactly what is being referred to.
It is also part of this project's purview to ensure that articles like rock and roll do not ignore rock music from non-US/UK perspectives. Obviously, rock came from the United States and was then revolutionized by a wave of British performers, and the article should explain that, it has also had very relevant effects on numerous countries around the world that should be documented.
All WikiProject:World music articles should be or move towards becoming overview articles. In order to keep from defining what is and is not proper music of the country in question, we give a summary of the different fields, with links to specific articles that deal with subjects more in depth.
Each "music of" article acts an overview of numerous articles on more specific subjects. Therefore, an Infobox can be used to help promote the links and keep the articles organized. However, since each country has different sub-subjects associated with it, there is no absolute rule for how infoboxes should look. Don't be afraid to experiment with different formats for infoboxes, and don't forget that the primary goal is to put links to all the subarticles in one convenient location, not to display much information, correct falsehoods or any other purpose. There are numerous variant musicboxes in use. Generally speaking, infoboxes should go on "music of' articles and any articles for regions or groups within the country in question; for example, African American music, American roots music and Music of California. In some cases, variants might be used -- Music of the United States uses a musicbox which is different than those used for Music of Hawaii, Music of Puerto Rico, Music of Louisiana and Music of Texas, each of which have their own varieties. Music of the United Kingdom and Music of Canada both have three different boxes; one of the UK boxes (such as at Music of the Cayman Islands) is a variant of the Caribbean musicbox, which has different varieties at Music of Jamaica and Music of Martinique and Guadeloupe, among others. So, don't be afraid to change the infobox around -- just make an effort to keep the boxes a fairly standard appearance and shape. All the varieties of infoboxes in use can be see at Wikipedia:WikiProject World music/Musicboxes.
