1. In the beginning … Myth and meaning in world music

‘In the beginning … Myth and meaning in world music’ looks at world music’s real and imagined beginnings. These origins are documented in European missionaries’ observations of indigenous peoples and represented by the first musicians in religious and philosophical writings. Ideas about music in different cultures may be irreconcilable, and some have no word for music at all. Ethnomusicologists like Charles Seeger explored the problem of using words to describe music, although words may not properly convey it. Today’s world music stars bring the past into the present through performance, reliving the moment of encounter and discovery in collaborations spanning the globe.