For devotees of world music, Original Music is the Holy Grail; a catalog of mouth-watering descriptions of hard-to-find music from all over. And they take the word “original” seriously. They do not carry revivalist folk material, but equally no artificial lines are drawn between “classical,” “popular,” or “ethnic” music.
What they do carry is a staggering variety of styles from around the world: relatively familiar ones such as soukous, makossa, salsa, zouk, and soca; but they don’t rest there. John Storm Roberts, Original’s co-owner and author of “Black Music Of Two Worlds,” is a dedicated seeker-out of the varied styles to be found
