List of genres of music: A-F
|
|
| Music genre |
| List of genres of music |
| Genres: A-F - Genres: G-M - Genres: N-R - Genres: S-Z |
| Local sounds - Regions and cultures |
| Blues - Country - Electronic music - Folk - Heavy metal - Hip hop - Reggae |
#
A
Aa-Ad - Af-Ak - Al - Am - An - Ap-Ax
- A cappella - any singing performed without instrumental backing
Aa-Ad
- Aak - Chinese ritual music
- Aaroubi - evolved form of al-andalous classical music which comes from Algiers
- Abaimajani
- Abajeños - folk music of the Perépecha of Mexico
- Aboriginal rock - rock and roll mixed with Australian aborigine music, began in 1980s
- Abstract hip hop
- Abwe
- Acid croft - mixture of traditional Scottish music with house influences
- Acid house - house music using simple tone generators with tempo-controlled resonant filters
- Acid groove
- Acid jazz - jazz mixed with soul, hip hop and funk
- Acid rock
- Acid techno
- Adai-adai
- Aduk-aduk
- Adult contemporary
Af-Ak
- Afoxé
- African blues
- African jazz
- Afrobeat - African rhythms mixed with American funk
- Afro-Cuban jazz - jazz mixed with merengue, salsa or other Latin forms
- Afro-Cuban rumba
- Afro-juju
- Afro-Manding blues
- Afro-reggae
- Afro-soul
- Afro-zouk
- Afroma
- Aguinaldo
- Ahouach
- Ahidus
- Air
- Akyn - Kazakh folk music made by travelling musicians also called akyn
Al
- Al-âla
- Alb-pop - Albanian pop music
- Aleatoric music - music the composition of which is partially left to chance
- Algerias
- Alomaco
- Alpine New Wave
- Alpunk
- Alternative country - reaction against the 1990s highly-polished Nashville sound
- Alternative hip hop - reaction against gangsta rap, usually includes socially or politically aware lyrics (also known as alternative rap or Bohemian hip hop)
- Alternative metal - catch-all term for heavy metal mixed with punk, funk, hip hop or other influences
- Alternative rock - broad movement reacting against the perceived sterility of 1970s pop music with generally inaccessible lyrics and accompaniment
Am
- Amanédhes
- Ambient - atmospheric electronic music combined with jazz, New Age and other influences
- Ambient acoustic
- Ambient breakbeat
- Ambient dub
- Ambient house
- Ambient groove
- Ambient techno
- Ambient trance
- American fingerstyle guitar (American primitive guitar)
- Americana
An
- Anadolu rock - Turkish rock music
- Anarcho-punk - 1970s mixture of punk rock with anarchist lyrics
- Andártika
- Andean New Age - a mixture of native Peruvian and Western musics which arose in tourist areas in Lima, Cuzco and Ollantaytambo
- Angklung - Osinger and Balinese style of gamelan performed exclusively by young boys
- Angolan merengue
- Anti-folk
- Antiphonal
Ap-Ax
- Apala
- Appalachian folk - in the United States, commonly referred to as simply folk music
- Arabesk - Turkish popular music
- Areito
- Arena rock - 1970s catchy, bombastic mixture of hard rock, prog and pop music
- Argentinean rock
- Arpa grande - a style of rural Mexican folk music
- Arribeño - lyrical folk music from Sierra Gorda, Mexico
- Ars antiqua
- Ars nova
- Art metal
- Art rock
- Ashiq - Azeri bards who sing and accompany themselves on a saz (a kind of lute)
- Ashoug
- Asian Underground - British-based form of Indian and Western fusion
- Australian pub rock
- Australian hip hop
- Australian war metal
- Avant-garde jazz
- Avant-garde music - any kind of experimental music incorporated bizarre ideas, structures or instrumentation
- Axé - pop music from Salvador, Bahia
B
Ba - Be-Bh - Bi-Bl - Bo - Br-Bu
Bac-Bal
- Bachata
- Baião
- Bakersfield sound - gritty, hard-edged reaction against 1950s pop country (Nashville sound)
- Bakshy - Turkmen folk music made by travelling musicians also called bakshy
- Baiáo - Dance music created by a trio of triangle, bass drum and accordion
- Baila - Sri Lankan dance music derived from African slaves held by the Portuguese
- Baisha xiyue - a song and dance suite from the Naxi of Lijiang, China
- Bajourou
- Bakou - trilling vocals that accompany Wolof wrestling
- Bagad
- Bal granmoun
- Bal-musette
- Balakadri
- Ballad - generic term for usually slow, romantic, despairing and catastrophic songs
- Ballad calypso
- Ballata
- Ballet (music)
- Balss
Bam-Bay
- Bamberas
- Bamboo band - originally from the Solomon Islands, music played by hitting bamboo tubes with sandals
- Bamboula wake
- Bambuco
- Banda - Mexican brass norteño pop music invented in the 1960s
- Bangsawan
- Bantowbol
- Barbarian Black Metal - exreme black metal about paganism and barbarism
- Barbershop music - extremely melodic a cappella vocal style
- Barndance
- Baroque music - 17th-18th century European classical music
- Baroque metal
- Bass music (Miami bass, Booty bass) - electro influenced form of hip hop dance music arising in Miami, Florida
- Bastard Pop
- Batá
- Batá-rumba
- Batucada
- Batuco
- Bayin - Taiwanese Hakka instrumental music
Be-Bh
- Beach music
- Beatboxing
- Bebop - 1940s jazz style with complex improvisation and a fast tempo
- Bedoui
- Bedoui citadinisé
- Beguine (biguine)
- Beguine moderne
- Beguine vide
- Beiguan - Taiwanese instrumental music
- Bel canto - Italian vocal style which arose in the late 16th century and which ended in the mid-19th century
- Belair
- Bend-skin
- Benga
- Bhajan - a northern Hindu religious song
- Bhakti
- Bhangra - originally Punjabi dance music which became popular in the UK
- Bhangra-wine
- Bhangragga
- Bhangramuffin
Bi-Bl
- Big band music - large orchestras which play a form of swing music
- Big Beat - 1990s electronic music based on breakbeat with other influences
- Big Hip
- Biguine - Martinican folk music
- Biguine moderne - Martinican biguine adapted to pop forms and including reggae and other influences
- Black metal - highly distorted and swift form of heavy metal
- Bloco afro
- Bluegrass - American country music mixed with Irish and Scottish influences
- Blue-eyed soul
- Blues - African-American music from the Mississippi Delta area
- Blues ballad
- Blues-rock
- Blurcore
- Big Drum Dance
- Bigono duu
- Bitpop
Bo
- Bocet
- Boi - Central Amazonian folk music
- Bolero - Spanish and Cuban dance and music
- Bomba
- Bombay pop
- Bongo - distinctive African drum and style of drumming
- Bongo wake
- Boogie rock
- Boogie woogie - style of piano-based blues popular in the 1940s US
- Boogaloo - soul and mambo fusion popular in 1960s United States
- Booty bass (Miami bass, Bass music)
- Borbangnadyr
- Borbannadir - type of Tuvan xoomii said to sound like the rapids of a river
- Border ballad
- Bossa nova
- Boy band
Br-Bu
- Brass band
- Brass Hop
- Brazilian funky
- Brazilian jazz - bossa nova and samba mixed with American jazz
- Breakbeat
- Breakbeat hardcore
- Breakcore
- Bright disco
- Brill Building Pop
- Britfunk
- Britpop
- British blues
- British folk
- British Invasion
- Broadside ballad
- Brokenbeat
- Brown-eyed soul
- Broxa (brosca)
- Brukdown - rural Belizean creole music
- Bubblegum pop - sometimes synonymous with pop music, especially that performed by teen idols; can also refer to specific styles of South African or Japanese pop
- Buiasche
- Bikutsi
- Bulerias
- Bumba-meu-boi
- Bunggul
- Bunraku - Japanese style originated from a kind of puppet-theater.
- Burger-highlife
- Burgundian School
C
Ca - Cc-Ce - Ch - Ci-Cl - Co - Cr-Cu
Cad-Cam
- Ca din tulnic
- Ca pe lunca
- Ca tru - (hat a dao) Vietnamese folk music
- Cabaret
- Cadence
- Cadence-lypso - guitar-dominated Cadence music combined with calypso horns
- Cadence rampa
- Café-aman
- Cai luong - Vietnamese opera
- Cajun music
- Cakewalk
- Calenda - Trinidadian drum dance
- Calentanos - folk music of the Balsas River Basin, Mexico
- Calgia - tradition urban ensemble music from Macedonia
- Calipso - Venezuelan calypso music
- Calypso - Trinidadian folk, and later pop, genre
- Calypso-style baila - Sri Lankan baila mixed with calypso influences
- Campursari - Indonesian modern folk music, a fusion of dangdut, langgam, and pop music
- Campillaneros
Can-Car
- Caña
- Candombe
- Canon
- Cante chico
- Cante jondo
- Canterbury Scene
- Cantiñas
- Cantiga - Portuguese ballad form
- Cantique
- Canto livre - Portuguese modernized fado
- Canto nuevo - Bolivian pop-folk music which evolved out of Chilean nueva cancion
- Canto popular - Uruguayan singer-songwriter nativist music
- Cantopop - western-style pop music from Hong Kong
- Canzone napoletana - urban songs from Naples
- Capoeira music
- Caracoles
- Carceleras
- Cardas
- Caribbean
- Carimbó - dance music of Belém, Brazil
- Cariso
- Carnatic music
- Carol
- Cartageneras
Cas-Cav
Cc-Ce
Cha-Chi
- Cha-cha-cha
- Chakacha
- Chamamé - Argentinian folk music
- Chamber jazz
- Chamber pop
- Chamber music
- Champeta - Colombian musical form derived from African communities in Cartagena
- Changuí
- Chanson
- Charanga
- Charanga-vallenato - 1980s mixture of salsa, charanga and vallenata
- Charikawi
- Chastushki - humorous Russian folk songs
- Chau van - Vietnamese trance music
- Chemical breaks
- Chèo
- Chill-Out
- Chicago house
- Chicken scratch - Arizona-based Native American music
- Chimurenga (mbira)
- Chinese music
- Chinese rock - rock and roll from China, often with protest lyrics
- Chip music
Cho-Chr
- Chongak - Korean aristocratic chamber music
- Chouval bwa
- Chowtal
- Chicago blues
- Chicago jazz (Dixieland jazz)
- Chicago soul
- Chicha - a Peruvian fusion of rock and roll, cumbia and huayno
- Cho-kantrum - the most traditional form of Cambodian kantrum
- Choctaw Social Dance
- Chorinho
- Choro - Brazilian folk music
- Christian alternative
- Christmas carol (see also List of Christmas carols)
- Christian hip hop
- Christian metal
- Christian rock
- Chylandyk - type of xoomii which sounds like the chirping of crickets
Chu
- Chumba
- Chut-kai-pang
- Chutney - popular Indo-Trinidadian music
- Chutney-bhangra
- Chutney-hip hop
- Chutney-soca - Chutney mixed with calypso and other influences
Ci-Cl
- Cigányzene
- Cînd ciobanu s-i a pierdut oile
- Cîntec batrînesc
- Ciobanul
- Circus metal
- Classic female blues - early popular form of blues
- Classic metal
- Classical music era
- Clicks n Cuts
- Close harmony
Coc-Cor
- Cocobale
- Coimbra fado - a form of refined fado from Coimbra, Portugal
- Colombianas
- Comedy rock
- Comic opera
- Comparsa
- Compas direct
- Compas meringue
- Concert overture
- Concerto
- Concerto grosso
- Congo - Panamanian dance music
- Congolese sound
- Conjunto
- Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
- Contonbley
- Contradanza
- Cool jazz
- Cocorrido
- Coladeira
- Coldwave (or industrial rock)
- Combined Rhythm - music of the Dutch Antilles
- Corsican polyphonic song
- Cothoza mfana
Cou-Cow
- Country blues
- Country music
- Country rock
- Countrypolitan
- Couple de sonneurs - Breton dance music
- Cow punk
Cr-Cu
- Crapcore
- Creative jazz
- Creole
- Crossover music
- Crunk
- Crust punk
- Csárdás
- Cuarteto - Argentinian folk music
- Cueca
- Cumbia - popular dance music, originally Colombian but now popular across Latin America, especially Mexico
- Cumbia panameña - Panamanian cumbia
- Cumfa
- Cybercore
- Cumbia villera - Argentinian type of cumbia which contains marginal lyrics
D
Da
- Dabka - Palestinian dance music for weddings
- Dadra
- Daina - Latvian sung poetry
- Daino - Lithuanian traditional music
- Dalauna
- Dance (music) - dance (form of musical composition)
- Dance music - any rhythmic music intended for dancing
- Dance pop - comtemporary form of dance music with pop music structures
- Dancehall
- Dangdut - popular Indonesian dance music with influences from Arabic and Indian music
- Danube New Wave - mixture of Viennese schrammelmusik and American blues and rock and roll
- Danza
- Danzón
- Dark ambient
- Dark trance
- Darkwave
De-Dh
- De codru
- De dragoste
- De jale
- De pahar
- Death industrial
- Death metal
- Death rock (also known as death punk)
- Death techno
- Deblas
- Deboche - Brazilian fusion of electric frevo and ijexá
- Décima
- Degung
- Delta blues
- Deep house
- Deep soul
- Desi - Indian folk music
- Detroit blues
- Detroit techno
- Dhamar - a type of highly-oranemented dhrupad
- Dhimotiká - traditional Greek songs
- Dhrupad - Hindustani vocal music performed by men singing in midieval Hindi
- Dhun
Di-Dr
- Dialect rock - rock music sung in various Swiss-German dialects
- Digital hardcore
- Dirge
- Dirty South (also known as Southern rap)
- Disco
- Disco house
- Dixieland jazz (Chicago jazz)
- Djambadon
- Dodompa - Japanese tango
- Doina
- Dombola
- Dondang sayang - slow folk music that mixes Malaysian forms with Portuguese, India, Chinese and Arabic music
- Donegal fiddle tradition
- Donjiang - Chinese Naxi form of folk music, related to silk and bamboo music from Chinca
- Doo wop
- Doom metal
- Dopé
- Downtempo
- Dream pop
- Drill and bass
- Drum and bass (DNB)
Du-Dz
- Dub
- Dub techno
- Dundun - Yoruban drum music
- Dunedin Sound - early 1980s alternative rock sound based out of Dunedin, New Zealand and Flying Nun Records
- Dutch jazz
- Dutch trance
- Dziesma
- Dzoke - type of yang chanting
E
Ea-En
- Early music
- East Coast blues
- East Coast hip hop
- Eastern Tradition of Sephardic music
- Easy listening
- Pasillo
- Yaraví
- Elafrolaïkó
- Electric blues
- Electro
- Electro hop
- Electroclash
- Electrofunk
- Electronic art music
- Electronic body music (EBM, also known as industrial dance)
- Electronic luk thung - Dance-ready form of Thai pleng luk thung
- Electronic music
- Electronica
- Electropop
- Elektro
- Elevator music (or Muzak)
- Emeba
- Emo
- Endecasillabo - Central Italian 11-syllabic song form
- English funk
- English madrigal
- Enka - Japanese pop music, using native forms
- Éntekhno
Ep-Ez
- Epic metal
- Eremwu eu
- Euba
- Eurodance
- Europop
- Eurotrance (traditional dance music)
- Exotica
- Experimental music
- Experimental noise
- Experimental rock
- Ezengileer - type of Tuvan xoomii said to imitate the trotting of horses
F
Fa-Fr
- Fado - Portuguese roots-based popular music
- Falak - Tajik folk music
- fandango - Spanish dance music
- Farruca - a genre of flamenco
- Filk - modern, science fiction-oriented music
- Film scores
- Filmi - Indian film music
- Filmi-ghazal - filmi based on Hindustani ghazaal
- Finger-style
- Fjatpangarri - Aboriginal Australian music local to Yirrbala
- Flamenco - dance music of Spanish Gypsies
- Foaie verde - classical form of Romanian Gypsy doina
- Fofa
- Folk metal
- Folk music
- Folk rock
- Folktronica
- Fonn Mall
- Forró - extremely popular music of Northeastern Brazil
- Franco-country
- Free improvisation - freeform musical improvisation
- Free jazz - improvised 1960s jazz
- Free music
- Freestyle house - a cross-culture mix of hip-hop/electro/house/pop
- Freetekno
- Frevo - folk music from Recife, Brazil
- Fricote - dance music from Salvador, Brazil
Fu
- Fuji - Yoruban vocal and percussion music
- Fulia - Afro-Venezuelan percussion music
- Funacola
- Funana
- Funk - a bass-heavy outgrowth of soul music
- Funk metal - 1980s combination of funk, heavy metal and punk rock
- Funky breaks - a type of breaks electronic music
- Funky highlife - fusion of funk and Ghanaian highlife
- Fusion bhangra (New Wave bhangra) - bhangra combined with rock and roll, reggae, hip hop, ragga and funk
- Fusion jazz - mixture of rock and jazz
- Future jazz
- Futurepop - outgrowth of synthpop, EBM and darkwave