The paper examines two episodes in the production of music in South Africa. The first was by the South African Choir to England in 1891–92, a group whose performances were full of images that were both modern and local, and perceived by audiences of the times as confus‐ingly ‘civilised and uncivilised’. The second episode was the making of Paul Simon's Graceland, which involved the collaboration of the Ladysmith Black Mambazo choir and has been seen by several commentators as a prime example of both ‘world music’ and postmodern cultural production. Within the context of these examples, the paper looks critically at both the ideology and genesis of ‘world music’ and argues that the production of aesthetic difference is an intrinsic part of what in late capitalism is one vast, all‐encompassing environment of global culture. It goes on to suggest that ‘difference’ should no longer be seen as something inherent in the content of discrete cultures but rather something to be defined as an intrinsic feature of global music production.