Genres
148 terms
Afro-Cuban jazz
A jazz subgenre integrating Afro-Cuban rhythmic structures with jazz harmony and improvisation.
Afrobeat
A genre blending West African musical traditions with American jazz and funk, pioneered by Nigerian musician Fela Kuti in the late 1960s.
Afrobeat history
A genre created by Nigerian musician Fela Kuti in the late 1960s, fusing Yoruba music, highlife, jazz, and funk into extended, politically charged compositions.
Carnatic music
The classical music tradition of South India, one of the oldest and most sophisticated musical systems in the world.
Dixieland
The earliest style of jazz, originating in New Orleans in the early 1900s, featuring collective improvisation.
Hindustani
The classical music tradition of North India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, characterized by extended improvisatory performances based on raga and tala systems.
Hindustani music
The classical music tradition of North India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, emphasising improvisation within raga frameworks.
Latin jazz
A genre combining jazz harmony and improvisation with Latin American and Caribbean rhythms.
Nashville sound
A smooth, pop-influenced style of country music that dominated the genre from the late 1950s to early 1970s, featuring lush string arrangements and polished production.
R&B
Rhythm and blues — an African-American genre combining blues, jazz, and gospel with a strong rhythmic feel.
Sufi music
Devotional music traditions within Islam that use rhythm, melody, and repetition to facilitate spiritual transcendence.
Tin Pan Alley
The songwriting and music publishing district centered on 28th Street in Manhattan, and by extension the era of American popular song it produced from the 1880s to 1950s.
acid jazz
A genre blending jazz, funk, soul, and electronic dance music that emerged in London in the late 1980s.
ambient
A genre of electronic music emphasizing tone, atmosphere, and texture over traditional rhythm or melody.
ambient music
Music that emphasises atmosphere, texture, and tone over traditional melody and rhythm.
anthem
A song of devotion or patriotism, or a ceremonial choral composition.
art pop
A loosely defined genre that applies avant-garde or experimental concepts to pop music, prioritizing artistic ambition and conceptual depth alongside accessibility.
ballad
A slow, sentimental song, or a narrative song that tells a story.
ballade
A dramatic, narrative musical composition, often for solo piano.
barcarolle
A song in the style of Venetian gondoliers, with a gentle, rocking 6/8 rhythm.
baroque
The musical period from roughly 1600 to 1750, characterised by ornate, elaborate composition.
baroque pop
A pop music style incorporating elements of Baroque-era classical music, such as orchestral strings, harpsichords, and elaborate contrapuntal arrangements.
bebop
A virtuosic, harmonically complex style of jazz that emerged in the early 1940s.
bedroom pop
A lo-fi pop genre produced in home studios, characterized by intimate vocals, DIY production aesthetics, and dreamy, casually polished arrangements.
bel canto opera
The Italian operatic style of the early 19th century emphasizing beautiful vocal tone, agile ornamentation, and long, flowing melodic lines above all other musical elements.
big band
A large jazz ensemble typically featuring 12-25 musicians organised into brass, reed, and rhythm sections.
black metal
An extreme subgenre of heavy metal characterized by shrieked vocals, tremolo-picked guitars, blast beats, and an emphasis on atmosphere and anti-establishment themes.
bluegrass
A form of American roots music featuring acoustic string instruments, fast tempos, and vocal harmonies.
blues
An African-American music genre built on blue notes, call-and-response, and 12-bar structures.
bolero
A Spanish dance in triple meter with a slow, steady tempo and gradually building intensity.
boogie-woogie
A driving piano style built on repetitive left-hand bass patterns, originating in African American communities.
bossa nova
A Brazilian genre blending samba rhythms with jazz harmonies, known for its understated style.
bossa nova history
A Brazilian genre created in the late 1950s by blending samba rhythms with cool jazz harmonies and intimate vocal delivery, revolutionizing both Brazilian and international popular music.
breakbeat
A rhythmic pattern extracted from a funk or soul record, characterised by syncopated, non-four-on-the-floor drums.
bulerias
The fastest and most virtuosic form of flamenco, featuring a complex 12-beat rhythmic cycle.
cantata
A vocal composition with instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements.
cante jondo
The oldest and most emotionally intense form of flamenco singing, expressing deep human suffering.
carnatic
One of the two main traditions of Indian classical music, originating in South India, characterized by elaborate vocal ornamentation and rhythmic complexity.
chamber music
Music composed for a small ensemble, typically one player per part.
chamber pop
A genre blending indie pop songwriting with orchestral or chamber music instrumentation, creating lush, elaborate arrangements around accessible melodies.
chart topper
A song or album that reaches number one on a commercial music chart.
chillwave
A microgenre of electronic music characterized by hazy, nostalgic synth textures, lo-fi production, and dreamy vocals evoking a sun-bleached 1980s aesthetic.
choir
An organised group of singers who perform together, typically divided into soprano, alto, tenor, and bass sections.
choral
Relating to or performed by a choir or chorus.
chorale
A hymn tune harmonised in four parts, especially associated with the Lutheran tradition.
city pop
A Japanese pop music genre of the late 1970s and 1980s that blended funk, disco, AOR, and jazz fusion with sophisticated studio production and glamorous urban themes.
classical
The musical period from roughly 1750 to 1820, or a broad term for Western art music in general.
cool jazz
A relaxed, understated style of jazz that emerged in the late 1940s as a contrast to the intensity of bebop.
corrido
A Mexican narrative ballad form dating to the 19th century, traditionally telling stories of heroes, outlaws, battles, and social injustice.
country music
An American roots genre built on folk, blues, and gospel traditions, originating in the rural South.
cumbia
A musical genre and dance originating in Colombia that blends Indigenous, African, and Spanish elements, now one of the most widespread popular music forms in Latin America.
death metal
An extreme subgenre of heavy metal characterized by guttural vocals, heavily distorted guitars, blast beat drumming, and dark lyrical themes.
dream pop
A subgenre of alternative rock and post-punk emphasizing atmosphere, breathy vocals, and lush guitar textures drenched in reverb and delay effects.
drone music
A genre and technique built on sustained tones that persist throughout a piece, creating a meditative, hypnotic, or overwhelming sonic experience.
drum and bass
A genre of electronic music characterized by fast breakbeats (160–180 BPM) and heavy bass lines, originating in the UK rave scene of the early 1990s.
dubstep
A genre of electronic dance music characterized by syncopated rhythms, sub-bass frequencies, and the distinctive "wobble bass" sound.
duende
A heightened state of artistic emotion and authenticity in flamenco, when a performer transcends technique.
electroacoustic
Music that combines electronic sound processing with acoustic instruments or recorded sounds.
enka
A Japanese popular music genre featuring melancholic, ballad-style singing with distinctive vocal ornamentation (kobushi), considered the Japanese equivalent of country music or fado.
ensemble
A group of musicians who perform together.
etude
A study piece designed to develop a specific technical skill, often performed in concert.
expressionism
An early 20th-century musical movement emphasizing extreme emotional states through dissonance, atonality, and distorted forms.
fado
A Portuguese music genre characterized by mournful melodies, poetic lyrics, and the concept of saudade — a deep emotional longing — typically accompanied by Portuguese guitar.
fandango
A lively Spanish dance in triple meter, accompanied by guitar and castanets.
field holler
An unaccompanied, solo vocal form from the African American tradition, sung in fields during labor, characterized by long, melismatic phrases and free rhythm — a direct precursor to the blues.
flamenco
A passionate Spanish art form combining guitar, singing, dance, and handclaps.
folk music
Traditional music passed down orally within a community, reflecting its culture and history.
free jazz
A radically experimental style that abandons fixed chord progressions, melodies, and sometimes rhythm.
funk
An African-American music genre built on syncopated bass lines, tight rhythms, and a heavy groove.
fusion
A genre blending jazz improvisation with rock, funk, and electronic elements.
gagaku
The ancient court music of Japan, one of the oldest continuously performed orchestral music traditions in the world.
gagaku history
The ancient court music of Japan, dating back over 1,200 years, making it one of the oldest continuously performed orchestral traditions in the world.
gamelan music
The traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali, featuring tuned metallophones, gongs, drums, and flutes in interlocking patterns of extraordinary rhythmic complexity.
gharana
A lineage-based school of music in Hindustani classical tradition, each with its distinctive style.
gospel
African-American sacred music combining Christian lyrics with emotional, powerful singing.
gospel music
African-American sacred music combining Christian lyrics with powerful emotional singing.
gregorian chant
Monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the medieval Catholic Church.
griot
A West African hereditary musician, storyteller, and oral historian who preserves cultural knowledge through song.
grunge
A rock subgenre that emerged from Seattle in the late 1980s, combining heavy metal riffs with punk attitude and introspective, often anguished lyrics.
hard bop
A style of jazz from the mid-1950s that blended bebop complexity with blues, gospel, and R&B influences.
highlife
A West African popular music genre originating in Ghana and Nigeria, blending local melodies and rhythms with Western instrumentation, particularly brass and guitars.
hip-hop
A cultural movement and music genre originating in 1970s New York, built on rapping, DJing, sampling, and beatmaking.
house
A genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago in the early 1980s, built on a four-on-the-floor beat with soulful elements.
hymn
A song of praise or devotion, typically sung in religious worship.
impressionism
A late 19th and early 20th-century musical style emphasizing atmosphere, color, and fluid harmony over traditional structure.
impromptu
A free-form composition suggesting improvisation, typically for solo piano.
jazz
An American music genre characterized by improvisation, swing rhythms, and blue notes.
jùjú music
A Nigerian popular music genre blending Yoruba percussion, call-and-response vocals, and electric guitars, developed from the 1920s through the 1980s.
klezmer
A musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe, featuring expressive, vocal-like clarinet playing, and rhythms drawn from dance and celebratory occasions.
krautrock
An experimental rock genre that emerged in West Germany in the late 1960s, blending psychedelia, electronic music, and avant-garde influences.
lied
A German art song for voice and piano, typically setting a poem to music.
lo-fi
A music aesthetic embracing low-fidelity recording quality as a deliberate artistic choice, valuing rawness and imperfection over polished production.
madrigal
A secular vocal composition for multiple voices, popular in the Renaissance.
mariachi
A form of Mexican folk music performed by ensembles of violins, trumpets, guitars, and the distinctive vihuela and guitarrón, synonymous with Mexican cultural identity.
mazurka
A Polish folk dance in triple meter with accents on the second or third beat.
minimalism
A musical style characterized by repetitive patterns, steady pulse, consonant harmony, and gradual transformation of musical material.
modal jazz
A style of jazz that bases improvisation on scales (modes) rather than rapidly changing chord progressions.
musette
A style of French accordion music associated with Parisian dance halls (bals-musette), featuring a characteristic vibrato produced by slightly detuned reeds.
musical
A theatrical form combining spoken dialogue, songs, and dance to tell a story.
musique concrète
A form of electroacoustic music that uses recorded sounds as raw material, manipulated through editing and processing.
neoclassicism
A 20th-century musical movement that drew on the forms, textures, and aesthetic ideals of earlier periods, particularly the Baroque and Classical eras.
new wave
A broad genre of post-punk-influenced pop music from the late 1970s and 1980s, characterized by synthesizers, angular guitars, and an art-school aesthetic.
nocturne
A dreamy, lyrical composition inspired by the night, popularized by Chopin.
noise rock
A genre that incorporates extreme dissonance, feedback, unconventional song structures, and abrasive textures into a rock framework.
opera
A dramatic art form combining singing, orchestral music, acting, and often dance.
oratorio
A large-scale musical work for orchestra, choir, and soloists, usually on a sacred text.
orchestra
A large ensemble of instruments organised into sections: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
polka
A lively Central European dance in fast duple meter.
pop music
Popular music characterised by catchy melodies, simple structures, and broad commercial appeal.
post-rock
A genre that uses rock instrumentation — guitars, bass, drums — in non-traditional ways, emphasizing texture, dynamics, and atmosphere over conventional song structures.
power trio
A rock band format consisting of guitar, bass, and drums, with the guitarist also singing.
programme music
Instrumental music that tells a story or depicts a scene, as opposed to absolute music.
progressive rock
A rock genre that emerged in the late 1960s, characterized by extended compositions, complex arrangements, and the incorporation of classical and jazz elements.
punk
A raw, aggressive rock subgenre that emerged in the 1970s, emphasising simplicity, energy, and DIY attitude.
qawwali
A form of Sufi devotional music originating in South Asia, characterized by call-and-response singing, hand clapping, and ecstatic intensity.
qawwali music
A form of Sufi devotional music from South Asia, featuring ecstatic group singing, rhythmic hand-clapping, and intensifying repetition intended to induce spiritual transcendence.
ragtime
An American musical style with syncopated melody over a steady bass, popular around 1900.
ragtime history
A pre-jazz American genre of the 1890s–1910s characterized by syncopated ("ragged") melodies over a steady march-like bass, pioneered by African American pianist-composers.
ranchera
A genre of Mexican popular music closely associated with mariachi, featuring passionate vocal delivery and themes of love, patriotism, and rural life.
rap
A vocal technique and genre where lyrics are rhythmically spoken rather than sung.
rebetiko
A Greek urban folk music genre of the early 20th century, often called the "Greek blues," associated with the marginalized underclass of port cities.
reggae
A Jamaican music genre with offbeat rhythms, heavy bass, and roots in ska and rocksteady.
requiem
A musical composition honoring the dead, based on the Catholic Mass for the Dead.
rhapsody
A one-movement work with dramatic, free-flowing sections, often based on folk themes.
rock
A broad genre of popular music originating in the 1950s, built on electric guitars, bass, drums, and vocals.
romantic
The musical period from roughly 1820 to 1900, emphasising emotion, individualism, and expanded forms.
romantic period
The era of Western music from roughly 1820 to 1900, characterised by emotional expression and expanded orchestral forces.
samba
A lively Brazilian dance and music genre in duple meter with syncopated rhythms.
serenade
A light, often outdoor composition, originally performed in the evening.
shoegaze
A subgenre of alternative rock characterized by swirling layers of distorted guitar, ethereal vocals buried in the mix, and an emphasis on texture over clarity.
solea
The most profound and emotionally deep form of flamenco, considered the mother of all flamenco styles.
soul
An African-American music genre combining gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz.
soul jazz
A jazz subgenre combining hard bop with gospel, blues, and R&B, emphasising groove and emotional directness.
standard
A jazz composition that has become part of the commonly performed repertoire.
strathspey
A Scottish dance form in 4/4 time characterized by a distinctive dotted rhythm (the "Scotch snap") that gives it a vigorous, accented character distinct from the reel.
string quartet
A chamber ensemble of two violins, a viola, and a cello, or music written for it.
swing
A rhythmic feel where pairs of notes are played with a long-short lilt rather than evenly.
synth-pop
A genre of electronic pop music built primarily around synthesizers, drum machines, and sequencers, emerging from the new wave movement in the early 1980s.
tango
An Argentine dance and music genre in duple meter, known for its dramatic, passionate character.
tarantella
A fast, whirling Southern Italian folk dance in 6/8 time.
techno
A genre of electronic dance music originating in Detroit in the mid-1980s, characterized by repetitive beats, synthesized sounds, and a futuristic aesthetic.
tone poem
An orchestral work that tells a story or depicts a scene in a single continuous movement.
trap music
A hip-hop subgenre characterised by booming 808 bass, rapid hi-hat patterns, and dark atmospheric production.
trip-hop
A genre blending downtempo electronic beats with hip-hop sampling, atmospheric textures, and often melancholic vocals, originating in early-1990s Bristol, England.
unplugged
A performance or recording using only acoustic instruments, without electronic amplification.
vaporwave
A microgenre and internet art movement that emerged around 2010, sampling and slowing down 1980s and 1990s corporate music, smooth jazz, and elevator muzak to create a surreal, nostalgic aesthetic.
waltz
A dance and musical form in triple meter with a strong first beat.
world music
A broad category encompassing traditional and popular music from non-Western cultures.