Welcome to 2002! This will be Afropop Worldwide's fifteenth year on the air waves, and given all the challenges the program has faced, that is an achievement worthy of its own celebratory toast. As I look back on those years, I think mostly about the adventures, triumphs, and great programming that have filled them. I also remember the times when fundraising flagged and it seemed the end might be near. At those darkest moments, the temptation to declare victory and bow out has crossed our minds. After all, there's an African section in every big record store. African music appears in film scores, television advertisements, even on the Letterman show. Many radio stations routinely delve into Afropop territory. None of that was true when we began in 1988.

But today, as I survey the American scene, it is actually very clear to me that the Afropop mission goes on. The vast majority of Americans still don't know who Habib Koite is--despite his Letterman appearance last year--let alone the difference between soukous and juju, or how Latin salsa, Arabic music, and the blues are related. Would they even recognize the voice of Miriam Makeba, who has sung here since the 1950s? I do meet people who have listened to and rejected the music that we live and breathe. But I meet far more who have little idea of it, and who are amazed when they experience the subtlety and spirit to be found there. Until mass audiences have been exposed to African music and its cousins around the world, until they have considered these sounds and formed an opinion about them one way or the other, we have important work to do.

During these 15 years, many record labels, promoters, and acts have folded because the existing audience for African music was too small to support their enterprises, and the task of growing that audience seemed out of reach. Perhaps they were just impatient. In America's media maelstrom, alternative messages take a long time to penetrate. And the music of 54 African countries, the Caribbean, Middle East, and South America is not easily summarized or digested. All the more reason why we must recognize the enormity of the challenge we face, and forge on with determination.

This challenge is about something deeper than expanding markets for deserving artists, and broadening America's available entertainment palette. It is about understanding who we are as a society. I sincerely believe that when we grasp the African roots of rock 'n roll or bluegrass music, we gain a deeper sense of our very identity. When we've heard rai music or Arabic classical music, we look at Arab and North African people on our city streets with more comprehension. For a whole raft of reasons, America is destined to become more diverse culturally, and the music we present on Afropop Worldwide and afropop.org can help to ease the process. So as we begin our 15th year, we can all give ourselves a congratulatory slap on the back, and get to work. We're just beginning!

Banning Eyre