Rock and pop music has always been dominated by songs in English, recorded by bands from Britain and the US. But there’s always been music from other countries, in many languages.
In the 1980s, the industry found a marketing label for those global sounds – “world” music. We could hear and buy music from just about anywhere.
Before that, such music was rarely heard in the West. But every so often, a “foreign” record would break through. Latin dance numbers, African tunes, Indian infused 60s pop.
For many people, their first taste of world music came in 1964, when the dance sequence from the film Zorba the Greek became a global hit. It was written and recorded in one epic night by Mikis Theodorakis to meet a movie deadline.
Zorba’s Dance was a number one hit all over the world. Mikis Theodorakis was a composer, conductor, and political leader. He died in September.
Listen to the story of Zorba and other early world music hits.
