ABSTRACT
Africa is the obvious place to begin any survey of the world music scene. The world boom was to a great extent sparked by the quest of musicians like Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, and Talking Heads to reconnect their music with its roots, and for a hundred years quests for the roots ofpop have tended to lead back to Africa. Ragtime, jazz, blues, rock, salsa, reggae, hip-hop-the rhythms of Africa and the African diaspora have been the engine of virtually all modern international styles.
