So called world musics display a peculiar double quality of authenticity and fake. On the one hand they are assumed to sound and represent a place, a people or a culture, on the other they are relying on digitalised and producer-controlled mastering. While the real-sound recordings of music from around the world are not selling a lot of records, fused and technologically mastered products are increasingly popular and profitable. In other words, a characteristic of ‘world music' is a particular sound idiom in which existing musical and cultural practices are transformed through technological means and soundscape agency. In my view rhythm plays a major role in this negotiation. My work will draw on recent productions from Denmark (Sorten Muld, Outlandish and Natasja), interviews with producers and musicians, as well as key scholarly texts by Erlmann, Feld and Stokes.