A great topic came up at Dutty Artz and Mudd Up! that should be read by anyone who is dj’ing, composing or sampling music from other parts of the world.

In this young new global underground dance whatever scene we’re in I think that we really need to make sure that if we’re gonna engage in a style that we’re doing it on all levels, not just formal (wow this beat pattern is great, I’m gonna put my euro synth bass on it and call it ‘global-fusion’) but on the levels of slang, culture, meaning, people, relationships, beef and history. And some may say: “But it’s too much work to learn all these languages, and I’m on the other side of the world and blee blah bleh” well then I’d say either make some friends who can teach you or maybe you should focus in on something that you can understand and try to develop some depth in it. Basically, not being a tourist is hard work but I think, worth it. – Matt Shadetek

I have tried to always respect the music of other cultures, especially when I know little about it. Whenever I would use a recording that wasn’t my own, I would actually spend the time to look into the recording source and especially lyrics. I find it completely disrepectful when I hear devotional or Islamic prayer songs mixed with beats for no apparent reason. I heard a mix from a DJ that was pretty ignorant as it was using Lebanese music and samples from Israeli Wall singing. I don’t think this person was aware of it at all. This type of thing happens from stereotyping in popular music and just regresses on down.