A World of Music was a Canadian

Television in Canada

Television in Canada officially began with the opening of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, are strongly influenced by the American media, perhaps...

 musical variety television series which aired on CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 in 1966.

Premise

This series was hosted by folk singers Malka and Joso who presented music in various languages from various cultures.

Guests included Ian and Sylvia

Ian and Sylvia

Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker. They began performing together in 1959, married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975.-Early lives:...

, Miriam Makeba

Miriam Makeba

Miriam Makeba , nicknamed Mama Africa, was a Grammy Award winning South African singer and civil rights activist....

, Odetta

Odetta

Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...

, Jan Rubes

Jan Rubes

Jan Ladislav Rubeš CM was a Czech-Canadian bass opera singer and actor.-Life and career:Rubeš was born in Volyně, Czechoslovakia, the son of Ružena and Jan Rubeš. Not too long after World War II, he graduated from the Prague Conservatoire and joined the Prague Opera House as a bass singer...

, Sonny Terry

Sonny Terry

Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.-Career:Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia...

 with Brownie McGhee

Brownie McGhee

Walter Brown McGhee was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.-Life and career:...

 and Yma Sumac

Yma Súmac

Yma Sumac was a noted Peruvian soprano. In the 1950s, she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music. She became an international success based on her extreme vocal range, which was said to be "well over four octaves" and was sometimes claimed to span even five octaves at her peak.Yma...

.

Production

Mark Warren produced the series with Alex Barris

Alex Barris

Alex Paul Barris, CM was an American-born Canadian television actor and writer. He was a writer and panelist for the game show Front Page Challenge. He was born in New York City. He was 81 when he died due to complications from a stroke he suffered a year earlier.Alex Barris left behind a wife and...

 as chief writer. Episodes were broadcast in colour starting October 1966.

Rudy Toth was series musical director with choreography by Andy Body.

Scheduling

The half-hour series aired Saturdays from approximately 10:30 p.m., following Hockey Night in Canada

Hockey Night in Canada

Hockey Night in Canada is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League...

. The series ran from 17 September to 10 December 1966.

Demise

A World of Music was a replacement for the popular Juliette series. Its post-hockey ratings were considerably lower than the previous series and the ethnic content received hostility from some viewers. Alex Barris later attempted to reduce the multicultural approach on the series, a move which caused division between the production staff and the cast. After thirteen weeks, the show was cancelled.