Grammys rename 'World Music' category over "connotations of colonialism"

The Recording Academy have revealed that the Grammy Award for 'Best World Music Album' has been renamed to 'Best Global Music Album' – over "connotations of colonialism".

“As we continue to embrace a truly global mindset, we update our language to reflect a more appropriate categorisation that seeks to engage and celebrate the current scope of music from around the world," the Recording Academy said in a statement published by Billboard.

“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.”

According to the Grammys' current category rules, the category previously named 'Best World Music Album' recognises "excellence in albums of world music, including recordings of international non-Western classical music, international non-American and non-British traditional folk music, international cross-cultural music based on the previously mentioned genres as well as international recordings of world beat, world jazz (with a higher percentage of world than jazz music), world pop, and cross-cultural music."

The Chieftains won the Grammy Award for 'Best World Music Album' in 1997, for Santiago.

The 2021 Grammy nominations are set to be announced on November 24.