1) What is the meaning of "ethnic music" or "world music"?

Ravi Shankar has contended that it is inappropriate to teach Indian Classical as ethnic music because of its age and complexity, and he has jokingly said that Indians should call Bach and Beethoven "ethnic music."
However, this evinces a troubling trend to me because it would elevate Indian music along with Western classical while casting down the rest of the World's musical traditions.

2) Over-inflation of India's place in the world. Raviji has contended in one of his writings that Indian and European classical music are the only true "classical" musics of the world, and he cites mainly their age and length of evolution, and to a lesser extent their refinement. For all my love of ICM, it pains me in that context to see cast aside the intricate and ancient classical musics of China, Persia/Arabia, Japan, and Indonesia. Are these too not magnificent? I believe they are. (For the record, Ravi is NOT the only person I have known to make this contention)

It is no more fair to group all world musics in as "ethnic music," but it is also undesirable I think to denigrate the great non-classical traditions of the world (African rhythm/drumming, Arabian and European folk musics with all their complexities, Georgian folk choirs, Deshi music of the various Indian states etc etc). One can't say these have the depth or sophistication of "Classical" music, but nor can we contend that the music is less valid or its expression less meaningful.

3) West-bashing. This is pandemic among YouTube commenters (and I've seen it in one or two posts here). When adding their "kya baat hai!" to a video, some YouTubers feel it necessary to say something like "this music blows Western classical out of the water! much deeper/more sophistiacted/more complicated/more refined, (take your pick)". Is it necessary in loving our ICM to throw down the music of the West? If it came to musical fisticuffs, India would take home the prizes in rhythm and possibly melody, but the West would clobber India in harmony and form, as well as ensemble playing/composition. Neither is greater and both, in their moments of brilliance, can show pathways to God. True, the religiosity of a Bach Passion is much different from that of Bhimsen-ji's Darbari Kanada, but nevertheless in both one can glimpse the face of the Almighty.

We ALL know ICM is the best

I don't see why labels such as 'ethnic' and 'world' are necessary.

Everything is 'ethnic' and 'world' to somebody and 'classical/traditional' to another.

2) Over-inflation of India's place in the world.

p.s. welcome back, Luke! When did you change your handle?

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1) What is the meaning of "ethnic music" or "world music"? Ravi Shankar has contended that it is inappropriate to teach Indian Classical as ethnic music because of its age and complexity, and he has jokingly said that Indians should call Bach and Beethoven "ethnic music."
However, this evinces a troubling trend to me because it would elevate Indian music along with Western classical while casting down the rest of the World's musical traditions. ........

Music systems that cover a range of ethnicities on some universal or other principle that overcomes ethnic and regional diffrences can qualify as a classical system.

The theory systems of each can be applied all over the world to analyse and communicate about music phenomena.

the whole topic makes me think of the history of the idea of evolution. in the early days, it was seen as linear, with 'primitive' societies 'behind' advanced ones - it was thought that there was basically one track to evolution. with time, evolutionary biology recognized that evolution occurs on multiple 'tracks' and that the only thing in common, as far as direction, is the tendency towards increased complexity.

if you want to understand anything well, go deep. if you try to understand a bit of everything, you'll likely never reach the depths of any one thing. 'ethnic' and 'world' music are just shorthand for oversimplification, a symptom of intellectual laziness that would lump together completely different cultural expressions, like Pygmy music and ICM.