Major Labels Nosing Around ‘World Music’ : Sales figures are still low, but record industry sees it as ‘next big thing’; Billboard starting world music chart

World Music--often championed as the most vital new direction in pop music--is finally beginning to be taken seriously by the American record business.

Don’t expect a stampede of South African, Brazilian or Pakistani artists to crash the pop Top 10 soon. The current sales figures are minuscule compared to big pop sellers--in the 10,000 range for a hot item.

Still, major labels, responding to growing media interest and expanding European sales, are increasingly signing the pop artists from around the world whose records have traditionally been the province of such smaller American companies as Shanachie, subsidiary labels like Is land’s Mango, and import specialists like GlobeStyle.

One significant sign of increased industry interest: the debut of a regular world music sales chart in the May 19 issue of Billboard, which hit newsstands this weekend.

“We’re going for hard-core world music--everything from reggae artists like Black Uhuru and Yellowman to African titles and even the Bulgarian Voices,” said Eric Lowenhar, the compiler of the world music chart for the trade publication.

“This music has been around for a long time and it wasn’t selling enough to make the pop charts, but enough to be charted. We’re trying to keep away from the Ziggy Marleys or the lambada stuff getting exposure on the pop charts.”

The initial Billboard chart features artists working in a wide range of international styles. The artists in the first 15 positions includes Spain’s Gipsy Kings, reggae’s Black Uhuru, the Bulgarian Voices, Pakistan’s Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, South Africa’s Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba, and the Cajun group Beausoleil.

Paul Simon’s 1986 “Graceland” album featuring South African musicians was the catalyst for the current surge, and the advocacy of such prominent rock figures as David Byrne and Peter Gabriel kept the momentum going. The pop chart success of the Gipsy Kings’ “Bambaleo” and Kaoma’s “Lambada,” and world music’s increasing influence on the European pop scene sent another commercial signal.

Observers began tabbing world music as another “next big thing” soon after the international success of “Graceland.”

“It has the potential to be the next big thing but it’s not going to be the next big thing to happen overnight,” cautioned Jerry Rappaport, manager of New York-based Mango Records, whose label is represented on the Billboard chart by Zimbabwe’s Thomas Mapfumo and the “Groove Yard” reggae compilation. Another Mango artist from Africa, Mali’s Salif Keita, is scheduled to appear at the Music Machine on Thursday.

Continued Rappaport: “Anyone looking for mega-sales on this music right out of the box is fooling themselves. This is truly development stuff in the pure sense of the term.”

As world music has developed and asserted itself over the last few years, the term has come to embrace the vast spectrum of styles that have developed outside the American/European pop mainstream. It includes reggae and African music, zouk and soca from the Caribbean, rai music from Algeria (spearheaded by singer Cheb Khaled and his collaborator Safy Boutella) and Pakistan’s Qawwali style, and American roots forms like Cajun and zydeco. Surprisingly, the Latin pop/salsa field hasn’t yet been included under the world music banner.

The geographic net keeps spreading. The “Wild Orchid” sound-track album groups Brazil’s Margareth Menezes, soca singer David Rudder, Israeli dance-rock diva Ofra Haza and the German/Arabic group Dissidenten.

The Real World label formed by Peter Gabriel and the World of Music and Dance organization (WOMAD) in England has released albums by artists from Tanzania, Egypt and Cuba. The label’s next release, due this summer, features artists from Pakistan, China and Mozambique. Samples of world music artists have become common in the dance/rap world since Haza’s voice graced a popular re-mix of Eric B. & Rakim’s “Paid in Full” in 1987.

“I got a call the other day from someone who said the really hip aerobics instructors want world-beat music like soca and zouk for their workout tapes,” said Randall Grass, vice president of promotion for New Jersey-based Shanachie Records. “Where it was Madonna three years ago or Donna Summer five years ago, now it’s soca or lambada--tropical beats.”

Brazilian music currently has the highest profile. David Byrne’s South American-inspired “Rei Momo” album and the lambada media splash have triggered a tidal wave of Brazilian compilations. Many veteran observers cite the recent glut of world music releases as a potential danger.

“So many people are jumping on the bandwagon and a good deal of inferior records are being released in this country,” said Rappaport, who previously ran the international section at Tower Records’ Greenwich Village store.

“Somebody who hears something on public radio or in a club and goes to a record store is presented with a bin full of African records now,” he continued. “If they buy something of dubious quality, they may never go back and try something again.”

But just being able to hear any world music can still be a problem. College and public radio stations are the chief outlets in this country, since commercial radio steers clear of music that isn’t sung in English. The recent trend toward a more global perspective may bring that language barrier down.

“Rock had a lot to do with that,” Gabriel said. “The end of the ‘60s was the first time people of different cultures around the world had a common interest. It was a generation of rebellion throughout the world and we developed music as a universal language very much one way--from Europe and the U.S.A. going out.

“We expected people in other countries to absorb our music written and sung in English, and yet rejected theirs because it was in another language. Hopefully, we’re beginning to reverse that process because the monopoly position the English language has occupied should be changed.”

A second problem is finding the music in stores. Specialty shops in most major U.S. cities feature a wide selection, but the large chains that dominate record retailing in the heartland often won’t stock world music releases.

“A lot of the major chains use our charts to buy from, so I’m hoping that if they see we’re doing a world music chart, they’ll at least bring it into the stores,” said Billboard’s Lowenhar. “I hope it will expose the music to a greater audience and that people will try things out on the charts.”

Said Grass, who initiated a “World Beat/Ethno Pop” logo for some Shanachie releases: “There’s already a difference, in that three or four years ago you’d come in with some of this stuff and (the reaction) was like, ‘Whadda you talking about?’ Now, you can say this is like Ofra Haza or Alpha Blondy and they’ll say ‘Great’ because they’ve seen the sales on selected items.”

Jim Swindel, senior vice president/general manager of Virgin Records, estimated that most of the label’s Real World and Earthworks releases have sold between 2,000 and 10,000 copies.

“The larger the (distribution) system, the tougher it is to deal with product like this,” said Swindel. “We are distributed through WEA (Warner-Elektra-Atlantic) and it still doesn’t garner all of their time or major attention. . . . Nor should it. In the same breath, the people that are selling my Paula Abdul record are walking in to sell the ‘Rai Rebels’ (compilation) record.”

But companies who have their sights set on realistic sales levels can tap into a committed, venturesome audience.

“This whole world music interest can be fueled by that hard core of active listeners who by no means have been saturated by the music,” said Grass. “There’s a lot of growth within that hard core and certain things like the Gipsy Kings or Ofra Haza jumped out. Our Najma record sold 10,000 copies in six months with minimal press, minimal airplay and no tour. And nobody had ever heard of her before.”

The big question is whether the major labels have the patience to endure the low initial sales that companies like Shanachie, Rounder, Rykodisc and Hannibal are accustomed to. World music fans are confident that the artists will survive changing label attitudes and the inevitable pressure to court a wider audience by diluting their music.

“Good music will always demand an audience and get an audience,” said Mango’s Rappaport. “When people set out to have something cross over, it never does. Music that will cross over is just so strong that, even if it’s different than what people are used to hearing, it will make it on its own merits.”

Added Gabriel: “Everybody I know that has started to listen to music from other cultures has found one or two things they really love. It’s a major event for them to have discovered these people.

“We’re still in the very beginning. It’s not going to have enormous sales now, but in the same way that reggae is now a solid part of our musical culture, these different traditions should become part of the core.”