Music and Globalization: Critical Encounters Edited by: Bob W. White "World music" emerged as a commercial and musical category in the 1980s, but in some sense music has always been global. Through the metaphor of encounters, Music and Globalization explores the dynamics that enable or hinder cross-cultural communication through music. In the stories told by the contributors, we meet well-known players such as David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Ry Cooder, Fela Kuti, and Gilberto Gil, but also lesser-known characters such as the Senegalese Afro-Cuban singer Laba Sosseh and Raramuri fiddle players from northwest Mexico. This collection demonstrates that careful historical and ethnographic analysis of global music can shed light on the cultural and political dimensions of globalization. It also shows how we as consumers play an important role in determining how cultural commodities are produced and promoted. Bob W. White is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Montreal and author of Rumba Rules: The Politics of Dance Music in Mobutu's Zaire.