World fusion music is a subcategory of world music, blending musical traditions from around the world, and possibly mixing them with modern music such as jazz or rock. The term was coined in 1978 by Matthew Montfort, leader of Ancient Future, and has since become a standard term used in the music industry. In his book, "Ancient Traditions – Future Possibilities," Montfort defines world fusion music as "music that combines ideas from many of the earth's traditions." As such, it is more of a process than a genre.

Some of the early pioneers of world fusion are artists like Ancient Future, Diga Rhythm Band, Zakir Hussain, Shakti and 3 Mustaphas 3. Today there are also artists that identify their music as world fusion that are generally more electronic-oriented such as Transglobal Underground, Alan Steward, Nitin Sawhney and Talvin Singh.