MABELs and ANABELs
Back in June I linked to pieces from the Observer Music Monthly covering what they hesitatingly referred to as World Music. They, and others, seem to be aware of the term’s usefulness, but regard it as being far too wide-reaching to do justice to the artists it seeks to encompass.
The Believer, in their 2008 Music Issue, present the terms MABEL and ANABEL to refer, respectively, to “Musicians of American, British or [Western] European Language” and “Artists Not of American, British or [Western] European Language”. It isn’t any more specific than “World Music” but does, in their words, go some way to reducing the ‘us vs. them’ mentality.
The CD that comes with the issue contains pairings of tracks that shows off one ‘MABEL’ alongside an ‘ANABEL’ counterpart, and works quite nicely. You can read the cover notes online.