In memoirs released immediately following his death it is claimed that the term 'world music' was just a term fabricated in an attempt to make boring music played on hand-made traditional instruments appear more exciting. He realised there was a niche-market and with this label he would be able to fleece rich westeners out of their hard-earned cash.
83 year-old percussion player Ravi Kumar, who claims to have been in on the scheme said 'The Beatles had just given the Maharishi (Mahesh Yogi) 10 Rolls Royces to add to his collection and we thought we'd get in on the action. The next thing we knew there were journalists and film crews everywhere - people were virtually throwing money at us, what could we do ? So we coined the term world music and started recording. Soon we were as rich as The beatles' he chortled 'they had expensive tastes and liked to party whilst we were simple country people'.
In a further twist, Gordon Sumner has cancelled all forthcoming gigs and could not be contacted at the luxury yurt in The Cotswolds which he shares with his wife, lawyers and accountants.