Country United States Last awarded 2015 Presented by The Recording Academy Category of Grammy Awards | First awarded 1992 Official website grammy.com Instituted 1992 | |
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Awarded for Quality world music albums People also search for Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album Winners & Nominees Sing Me HomeYo-Yo Ma - Silk Road Ensemble, Sing Me Home, Winner, Dois Amigos - Um Século de Música: Multishow LiveGilberto Gil - Caetano Veloso, Dois Amigos - Um Século de Música: Multishow Live, Nominee, Land Of GoldAnoushka Shankar, Land Of Gold, Nominee, Celtic Woman: DestinyCeltic Woman, Celtic Woman: Destiny, Nominee, Walking in the Footsteps of Our FathersLadysmith Black Mambazo, Walking in the Footsteps of Our Fathers, Nominee, SingsAngélique Kidjo, Sings, Winner, Music From Inala: A Zulu BalletLadysmith Black Mambazo - Ella Spira - The Inala Ensemble, Music From Inala: A Zulu Ballet, Nominee, HomeAnoushka Shankar, Home, Nominee, Gilbertos Samba Ao VivoGilberto Gil, Gilbertos Samba Ao Vivo, Nominee, Zomba Prison ProjectZomba Prison Project, Zomba Prison Project, Nominee, EveAngélique Kidjo, Eve, Winner, Traces of YouAnoushka Shankar, Traces of You, Nominee, MagicSérgio Mendes, Magic, Nominee, Our World In SongDaniel Ho - Wu Man - Luis Conte, Our World In Song, Nominee, Toumani & SidikiSidiki Diabaté Sr - Toumani Diabaté, Toumani & Sidiki, Nominee, Live: Singing for Peace Around The WorldLadysmith Black Mambazo, Live: Singing for Peace Around The World, Winner, Savor FlamencoGipsy Kings, Savor Flamenco, Winner, The Living Room Sessions Part 2Ravi Shankar, The Living Room Sessions Part 2, Nominee, No Place for My DreamFemi Kuti, No Place for My Dream, Nominee, The Living Room Sessions Part 1Ravi Shankar - Barry Phillips, The Living Room Sessions Part 1, Winner, On A Gentle Island BreezeDaniel Ho, On A Gentle Island Breeze, Nominee, TravellerAnoushka Shankar, Traveller, Nominee, FolilaAmadou & Mariam, Folila, Nominee, JabulaniHugh Masekela, Jabulani, Nominee | ||
The Grammy Award for Best World Music Album is an honor presented to recording artists for quality albums in the world music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
The award for Best World Music Album, reserved for international performers exhibiting "non-European, indigenous traditions", was first presented to Mickey Hart in 1992 for the album Planet Drum. In 1996, Academy trustees attempted to solve the problem of "compressing 75% or more of the world's music into a single award category" by broadening the definition of "world music" to include non-Western classical music. Beginning in 2001, award recipients included the producers, engineers, and/or mixers associated with the nominated work in addition to the recording artists. Following the 45th Grammy Awards (2003), the award was split into two separate categories for Best Traditional World Music Album and Best Contemporary World Music Album. In 2012, the two categories were merged back to Best World Music Album.
Ry Cooder and Ravi Shankar are the only performing artist to win the award more than once: Cooder won in 1994 with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and in 1995 with Ali Farka Touré; Shankar won in 2002 and posthumously in 2013. Brazilian artists have been presented with the award more than any other nationality, though it has been presented to musicians or groups from the United States three times, from India twice, and from France, Ireland, Mali and Panama once. Cape Verdean singer Cesária Évora, Gipsy Kings, and sitarist Anoushka Shankar share the record for the most nominations, with five each (none have yet won the award).
Recipients
^[I] Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.