Category to be renamed best global
music album, described as ‘a more relevant, modern, and inclusive term’ by Recording Academy
The
Grammys are changing the name of their “best world music” album category to “best global music” album, to avoid “connotations of colonialism”.
In a statement, the Recording Academy said the change came “as we continue to embrace a truly global mindset … Over the summer we held discussions with artists, ethnomusicologists, and linguists from around the world who determined that there was an opportunity to update the best world music album category toward a more relevant, modern, and inclusive term ... The change symbolises a departure from the connotations of colonialism, folk, and ‘non-American’ that the former term embodied while adapting to current listening trends and cultural evolution among the diverse communities it may represent.”