List of musical genres

Recognised musical genres include the following (see the individual genre pages for more information on each genre and musical genres for information about the major groupings).

See also: List of electronic music genres

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

• A cappella - any singing performed without instrumental backing
• Aak - Chinese ritual music
• Abaimajani
• Abajeños - folk music of the Perépecha of Mexico
• Aboriginal rock - rock and roll mixed with Australian aborigine music, began in 1980s
• Abwe
• Acid house - house music using simple tone generators with tempo-controlled resonant filters
• Acid jazz - jazz mixed with soul, hip hop and funk
• Acid rock
• Acid techno
• Adult contemporary
• Afoxe
• African jazz
• Afrobeat - African rhythms mixed with American funk
• Afro-Cuban jazz - jazz mixed with merengue, salsa or other Latin forms
• Aguinaldo
• Akyn - Kazakh folk music made by travelling musicians also called akyn
• Al ala
• Aleatoric music - music the composition of which is partially left to chance
• Algerias
• Alomaco
• Alternative country - reaction against the 1990s highly-polished Nashville sound
• Alternative hip hop - reaction against gangsta rap, usually includes socially or politically aware lyrics
• 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
• Ambient - atmospheric electronic music combined with jazz, New Age and other influences
• Ambient breakbeat
• Ambient dub
• Ambient house
• Ambient techno
• Ambient trance
• American fingerstyle guitar (American primitive guitar)
• Americana country
• Anarcho-punk - 1970s mixture of punk rock with anarchist lyrics
• 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
• Antiphonal
• Apala
• Appalachian folk - in the United States, commonly referred to as simply folk music
• Areito
• Arena rock - 1970s catchy, bombastic mixture of hard rock, prog and pop music
• Arpa grande - a style of rural Mexican folk music
• Arribeño - lyrical folk music from Sierra Gorda, Mexico
• Ars Antiqua
• Ars Nova
• Ashiq - Azeri bards who sing and accompany themselves on a saz (a kind of lute)
• Asian Underground - British-based form of Indian and Western fusion
• Avant-garde jazz
• Avant-garde music - any kind of experimental music incorporated bizarre ideas, structures or instrumentation
• Axe

B

• Bachata
• Baiao
• 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
• Bal granmoun
• Balakadri
• Ballad - generic term for usually slow, romantic, despairing and catastrophic songs
• Ballad calypso
• Ballata
• 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
• Barbershop - extremely melodic a cappella vocal style
• Barndance
• Baroque music - 17th-18th century European classical music
• Bass music (Miami bass, Booty bass) - electro influenced form of hip hop dance music arising in Miami, Florida
• Batá
• Batá-rumba
• Batucada
• Bayin - Taiwanese Hakka instrumental music
• Beach music
• Bebop - 1940s jazz style with complex improvisation and a fast tempo
• 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
• Benga
• Bhajan - a northern Hindu religious song
• Bhakti
• Bhangra - originally Punjabi dance music which became popular in the UK
• Bhangragga
• Bhangramuffin
• Big band music - large orchestras which play a form of swing music
• Big Beat - 1990s electronic music based on breakbeat with other influences
• 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
• Blurcore
• Big Drum Dance
• Bigono duu
• Bocet
• Boi - Central Amazonian folk music
• Bolero
• Bomba
• 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
• Brass band
• Brazilian jazz - bossa nova and samba mixed with American jazz
• Brill Building Pop
• Britfunk
• Britpop
• British blues
• British Invasion
• Broadside ballad
• Brown-eyed soul
• Brukdown - rural Belizean creole music
• Bubblegum pop
• Bulerias
• Bumba-meu-boi
• Bunggul
• Bunraku - Japanese style originated from a kind of puppet-theater.
• Burger-highlife
• Burgundian School

C

• Ca din tulnic
• Ca pe lunca
• Ca tru - (hat a dao) Vietnamese folk music
• Cadence
• Cadence-lypso - guitar-dominated Cadence music combined with calypso horns
• Cadence rampa
• Cai luong - Vietnamese opera
• Cakewalk
• Calenda - Trinidadian drum dance
• Calentanos - folk music of the Balsas River Basin, Mexico
• Calipso - Venezuelan calypso music
• Calypso - Trinidadian folk, and later pop, genre
• Calypso-style baila - Sri Lankan baila mixed with calypso influences
• Campillaneros
• Cańa
• Candombe
• Canon
• Cante chico
• Cante jondo
• Canterbury Scene
• Cantińas
• Cantiga - Portuguese ballad form
• Cantique
• Canto nuevo - Bolivian pop-folk music which evolved out of Chilean nueva cancion
• Cantopop - western-style pop music from Hong Kong
• Caracoles
• Carceleras
• Carimbó - dance music of Belém, Brazil
• Cariso
• Carnatic classical music
• Cartageneras
• Cassé-co
• Castilian
• Cavacha
• CCM (Contemporary Christian Music)
• Celempungan
• Celtic
• 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
• Chau van - Vietnamese trance music
• Chčo
• Chimurenga (mbira)
• Chinese rock - rock and roll from China, often with protest lyrics
• 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
• Chorinho
• Choro - Brazilian folk music
• Christian alternative
• Christian hip hop
• Christian metal
• Christmas carol
• Chylandyk - type of xoomii which sounds like the chirping of crickets
• Chumba
• Chut-kai-pang
• Chutney - popular Indo-Trinidadian music
• Chutney-soca - Chutney mixed with calypso and other influences
• Cigányzene
• Cînd ciobanu s-i a pierdut oile
• Cîntec batrînesc
• Ciobanul
• Classic female blues - early popular form of blues
• Classical music era
• Clicks n Cuts
• Close harmony
• Cocobale
• Colombianas
• Comedy rock
• Comic opera
• Comparsa
• Compas direct
• Compas meringue
• Concert overture
• Concerto
• Concerto grosso
• Congo - Panamanian dance music
• Conjunto
• Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
• Contradanza
• Cool jazz
• Cocorrido
• Combined Rhythm - music of the Dutch Antilles
• Country blues
• Country music
• Countrypolitan
• Cow punk
• Creative jazz
• Csárdás
• Cuarteto - Argentinian folk music
• Cuecas
• Cumbia - popular dance music, originally Colombian but now popular across Latin America, especially Mexico
• Cumbia panameña - Panamanian cumbia
• Cumfa

D

• Dadra
• Dance music
• Dancehall
• Dangdut
• Danza
• Danzón
• Dark ambient
• De codru
• De dragoste
• De jale
• De pahar
• Death metal
• Death rock (death punk)
• Deblas
• Décima
• Degung
• Delta blues
• Deep house
• Deep soul
• Desi - Indian folk music
• Detroit blues
• Detroit techno
• Dhamar - a type of highly-oranemented dhrupad
• Dhrupad - Hindustani vocal music performed by men singing in midieval Hindi
• Dhun
• Dirge
• Dirty South
• Disco
• Dixieland jazz (Chicago jazz)
• Dodompa - Japanese tango
• Doina
• 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
• Downtempo
• Dream pop
• Drill n bass
• Drum n bass (DNB)
• Dub
• Dutch jazz
• Dzoke - type of yang chanting

E

• Early music
• East Coast blues
• East Coast hip hop
• Easy listening
• Electric blues
• Electro
• Electroclash
• Electro hop
• Electronic body music
• Electronic luk thung - Dance-ready form of Thai pleng luk thung
• Electronic music
• Elevator music (or Muzak)
• Emeba
• Emo
• English funk
• English madrigal
• Enka - Japanese pop music, using native forms
• Eremwu eu
• Euba
• Eurodance
• Europop
• Eurotrance (traditional dance music)
• Exotica
• Experimental music
• Ezengileer - type of Tuvan xoomii said to imitate the trotting of horses

F

• Fado
• Falak - Tajik folk music
• Fandango
• Farruca
• Filk
• Filmi - Indian film music
• Filmi-ghazal - filmi based on Hindustani ghazaal
• Fjatpangarri
• Flamenco
• Foaie verde
• Forró - extremely popular music of Northeastern Brazil
• Free funk
• Free jazz
• Free music
• Freestyle
• Frevo
• Fricote - Dance music from Salvador, Brazil
• Fugue
• Fuji
• Fulia - Afro-Venezuelan percussion music
• Funk
• Funk metal
• Funky breaks
• Funky highlife
• Fusion bhangra (New Wave bhangra)
• Fusion jazz
• Futurepop

G

• G-funk
• Gabber
• Gagá
• Gagaku - Japanese classical music derived from ancient court traditions
• Gaikyoku
• Gaita - Afro-Venezuelan form of percussion music
• Gallant
• Gambang kromong - popular, highly-evolved form of kroncong, originally adapted for the theater
• Gamelan - diverse Indonesian classical music
• Gamelan bebonangan - Balinese cymbal-based processional gamelan
• Gamelan degung - a form of popular Sundanese gamelan
• Gamelan gambang - Balinese spiritual gamelan played for cremations
• Gamelan gambuh - Balinese form of gamelan
• Gamelan gong gede - ceremonial gamelan from the temple of Bator
• Gamelan gong kebjar
• Gamelan salendro - gamelan dance music from Sunda, known as lower-class music
• Gamelan selunding - possibly the oldest style of gamelan, played only in the village of Tenganan in Bali
• Gamelan semar pegulingan - sensual form of gamelan from Bali
• Gandrung - Osinger music performed at weddings and other celebrations
• Gangsta rap - American form of hip hop music which focuses on underground lifestyles and illegal activities
• Gar - Tibetan classical music
• Garage
• Garage rock
• Garage techno
• Garrotin
• Gavotte
• Gayap - Afro-Trinidadian call-and-response work song
• Gelugpa chanting - form of Tibetan Buddhist chanting, very austere and restrained
• Gender wayang
• Ghazal - vocal form originally Persian but since spread to Central Asia, Iran, Turkey and India
• Ghazal-song - a modernized version of ghazal influenced by filmi
• Ghetto house - form of Miami bass influenced by house music which arose in Chicago
• Ghettotech - form of Miami bass which developed in 1990s Detroit
• Girl group
• Glam rock
• Glitch
• Gnawa
• Go go
• Goa
• Golden Period of Karnatic classical music - music composed by the legendary Trimurti
• Goombay - Bahamanian percussion music
• Goshu ondo - a form of popularized Okinawan folk music
• Gospel music
• Gothenburg sound
• Goth metal
• Gothic rock
• Granadinas
• Gregorian chant
• Grindcore
• Group Sounds - Japanese pop music from the 1960s, which included Appalachian folk music and psychedelic rock
• Grunge
• Grupera - a mixture of Mexican ranchera, norteño and cumbia
• Guaguanbo
• Guajira
• Gunchei
• Gunka - military marches with Japanese influences, created during the Meiji Restoration
• Guoyue - invented conservatoire style of national Chinese music
• Gwo ka - Guadeloupan percussion music
• Gwo ka moderne - modernized gwo ka
• Gypsy jazz
• Gyu ke - form of Tibetan Tantric chanting

H

• Habanera - Africanized danzón
• Haiducesti
• Hair metal
• Half calypso (semi-tone calypso)
• Hakka
• Hambo
• Hapa haole - a mixture of traditional Hawaiian music and English lyrics
• Happy hardcore
• Haqibah
• Hardcore hip hop
• Hardcore punk
• Hardcore techno
• Hard bop (hard bebop)
• Hard rock
• Hard trance
• Harmonica blues
• Hat cheo - an ancient form of Vietnamese stage opera
• Hát a dŕo - (ca tru) Vietnamese folk music
• Hát cai luong - Vietnamese popular opera
• Hat chau van - a popular spiritual folk music of Vietnam
• Hát tuông (Hát bôi) - Vietnamese operatic music
• Hawaiian steel guitar - (kila kila) invented by Joseph Kekuku, who slid a solid object across slacked guitar strings
• Hazzanut
• Heavy compas
• Heavy metal
• Hesher
• Hi-Nrg
• Highlands
• Highlife
• Highlife fusion
• Hiplife
• Hip hop
• Hip house
• Hindustani classical music
• Hiva usu - unaccompanied vocal Christian music of Tonga
• Honky tonk
• Honkyoku
• Hora lunga
• Hornpipes
• Hot rod music
• House music
• Hua'er
• Huasteco - folk music from Huasteco, Mexico
• Huaynos - Andean dance music now most widespread in Peru
• Hula
• Humppa
• Hunguhungu
• Hyangak - Korean court music
• Hymn

I

• Ibo
• Illbient
• Impressionist music
• Incidental music
• Indie rock
• Indipop
• Indo jazz - jazz mixed with forms of Indian music
• Indo rock
• Industrial music
• Industrial metal
• Industrial rock
• Instrumental rock
• Intelligent dance music (IDM)
• International Latin - pop ballads from various Latin countries, especially Colombia
• Intuit (music)
• Iscathamiya
• Itsmeños - folk music of the Zapotecs of Mexico

J

• J-pop - Japanese bubblegum pop
• Jaipongan - unpredictably rhythmic dance music from Sunda, Indonesia
• Jaliscienses - Folk music of Jalisco, Mexico, and the origin of mariachi
• Jam band
• Jamrieng samai
• Jangle pop
• Japanese pops - Japanese pop music using Western structures
• Jarana
• Jariang - Cambodian folk narratives
• Jarochos - folk music from [[Veracruz, Mexico
• Jazz
• Jazz from night
• Jazz fusion
• Jazz groove
• Jazz rap
• Jenkka
• Jibaro
• Jig
• Jing ping
• Jit
• Jive
• Joged - flirtatious dance from west Bali
• Joged bumbung - a popular form of joged
• Joik
• Jota
• Jug band
• Juke joint blues
• Juju
• Jump blues
• Jungle
• Junkanoo
• Juré

K

• Kabuki - lively and popular form of Japanese theater and music
• Kadans
• Kagok - Korean aristocratic vocal music accompanied by strings, wind and percussion instruments
• Kagyupa chanting - form of Tibetan Buddhist chanting
• Kaiso
• Kalinda (kalenda, ti kannot)
• Kansas City blues
• Kantrum
• Kargyraa
• Karma
• Kaseko - Surinamese folk music
• Katcharsee - lively, celebratory Okinawan folk music
• Kattajjaq - competitive Inuit throat singing
• Kawachi ondo - a form of modernized Okinawan folk music
• Kayokyoku - traditionally-structured Japanese pop music
• Ke-kwe
• Kebyar - swift, modern dance music
• Kecak - Balinese "monkeychant"
• Kecapi suling - instrumental, improvisation-based music from Java
• Kélé
• Kertok - Malaysian xylophone music played in small ensembles
• Ketjak
• Khap
• Khplam wai - a type of mor lam with a slow tempo which originated in Luang Prabang, Laos
• Khene
• Khrung sai - type of Thai classical music
• Khyal - Hindustani vocal music that is informal, partially improvised and very popular
• Khoomei
• Kinko
• Kirtan
• Kiwi rock
• Klasik
• Klezmer
• Kliningan
• Komagaku
• Konpa
• Kpanlogo
• Krautrock
• Krill Krill
• Kriti (krithi) - a Hindui hymn
• Kroncong - popular Indonesian music associated with the independence movement
• Kumina - music (and religion) of the Bongo Nation of Jamaica
• Kun-borrk
• Kundiman - traditional Filipino songs adapted to Western song structure
• Kutumba wake
• Kwassa kwassa
• Kwela

L

• La la
• Laiki
• Lais
• Lam
• Lam saravane - Laotian ensemble music from a town of the same name in southern Laos
• Lam sing
• Lambada - Bolivian and Brazilian dance music which arose from sayas and became internationally popular in the 1980s
• Lancer
• Langgam jawa - type of kroncong mixed with gamelan, popular around Solo
• Laremuna wadauman
• Latin jazz - jazz mixed with Latin musical forms like bossa nova or salsa
• Lavlu
• Lavway
• Le leagan
• Letka
• Letka-jenkka
• Lhamo - form of Tibetan opera
• Light music - Nepalese pop music, blending traditional styles, Western pop and Indian filmi
• Line dance
• Llanera - Venezuelan music
• Llanto - a flamenco-influenced genre of Panamanian folk music
• Lo-fi
• Long-song - traditional Mongolian slow songs
• Louisiana blues
• Lounge music
• Lovers rock
• Lu - unaccompanied Tibetan folk music
• Lubbock country music
• Lucknavi thumri - a type of thumri from Lucknow
• Luhya omutibo
• Luk grung - Popular Thai music from the early 20th century
• Lullaby
• Lundu

M

• M-Base
• Madchester
• Madrigal
• Mafioso hip hop
• Maglaal (tuuli)
• Magnificat
• Mahori - type of Thai classical music
• Makossa
• Malagueńas
• Mambo
• Manaschi - Kyrgyz folk music made by travelling musicians also called manaschi
• Mandarin pop - early Taiwanese pop sung in Mandarin and popular with young listeners
• Manding swing
• Mangulina
• Manikay
• Manila sound - Early 1970s development in Pinoy rock which mixed Tagalog and English lyrics
• Manouche
• Manzuma
• Marabi
• Maracatú - African and Portuguese music popular around Recife, Brazil
• Marching music
• Marga - Indian classical music
• Mariachi - pop form of son jalisciense
• Marimba
• Marrabenta
• Mass
• Martinetes
• Matamuerte
• Math rock
• Mazurka
• Mbalax
• Mbaqanga (township jive)
• Mbira (Chimurenga)
• Mbube
• Meditation
• Mejorana
• Memphis soul
• Mento
• Merengue
• Merengue-bomba - Puerto Rican fusion of bomba and merengue
• Méringue
• MGB (musica popular Brasileira)
• Miami bass (booty bass) (Bass music)
• Microhouse
• Milo jazz
• Mini compas
• Mini jazz
• Minimalism
• Minuet
• Medieval music
• Melhoun
• Memphis blues
• Merengue
• Merengue típico moderno
• Meringue
• Merseybeat
• Mexican son - a broad group of Mexican folk music
• Miami Sound - a popular form of salsa music
• Milongas
• Min'yo - Japanese folk music
• Mineras
• Mini-jazz - Caribbean jazz
• Minimalist music
• Minstrel show
• Mirabras
• Mod
• Modinha
• Modern classical music
• Mor lam - Laotian ensemble music for vocals with accompaniment
• Mor lam sing - popular form of Laotian traditional music developed by Laotians in Thailand
• Morna
• Motown
• Mozambique
• MPB (música popular brasileira) - catch-all term for multiple varieties of Brazilian pop music
• Mugam - classical music of Azerbaijan, featuring sung poetry and instrumental passages
• Muntuno
• Musette
• Music drama
• Música campesina - Cuban rural music
• Música criolla - a coastal Peruvian music from the early 20th century, consisting of a variety of Western fusions
• Música de la interior - indigenous folk music from Colombia
• Música llanera - harp-based form of folk music from Los Llanos, Colombia
• Música nordestina - Northeast Brazilian popular music, centered around Recife
• Música tropical - a form of Colombian salsa music
• Musique concrete
• Muzak (or elevator music)

N

• Nagauta - Japanese style of shamisen-playing
• Naghmehs
• Naked funk
• Nangma - Tibetan dance music
• Nanguan - Taiwanese instrumental music
• Narcocorrido
• Nashville Sound
• Nederpop
• Neo-classicism
• Neo-ska
• Neo-swing
• Neue Deutsche Welle
• Newbeat
• New Age music
• New Jack Swing
• New Orleans blues
• New Orleans contemporary brass band
• New Orleans jazz
• New Romantic
• New Taiwanese Song - modern Taiwanese pop music which combines ballads, rock and roll and hip hop
• New Wave bhangra (Fusion bhangra)
• New Wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM)
• New Wave
• New York blues
• Nhac dan toc cai bien - modernized forms of Vietnamese folk music which arose in the 1950s
• Nhac tai tu - Vietnamese chamber music which accompanies cai luong
• Nha Nac
• No Wave
• Noh - highly-stylized Japanese theater and music style
• Noise music
• Noise pop
• Noise rock
• Nongak - Korean folk music played by 20-30 performers on different kinds of percussion instruments
• Norae Undong - Korean rock music with socially aware lyrics
• Norteño (Tex-Mex) - Modernized corridos pop music of Mexico
• Northern soul
• Nota
• Nu breaks
• Nu jazz
• Nu metal
• Nu soul (neo soul)
• Nueva cancion - Chilean pop-folk music which influenced by native Chilean and Bolivian forms
• Nyingmapa chanting - form of highly rhythmic and elaborate Tibetan Buddhist chanting

O

• Oi
• Old school hip hop
• Old time country
• Oltului
• On ikki muqam - Uighur classical suite in 12 parts
• Oom pah band
• Opera
• Oratorical calypso
• Oratorio
• Orchestra
• Organum
• Oriental Foxtrot
• Outlaw country
• Outsider music

P

• P-Funk
• Padams
• Paisley Underground
• Palm wine
• Palos
• Panambih - tembang sunda that uses metered poetry
• Panchai baja - Nepalese wedding music
• P'ansori - Korean folk music played by a singer and a drummer
• Parranda - Afro-Venezuelan form of music
• El pasillo
• Payada de contrapunto
• Pambiche (Merengue estilo yanqui)
• Pan music
• Paranda - Garifuna music of Belize
• Parang
• Partido alto
• El pasacalle
• Paseo
• Pasillo
• Perico ripiao (Merengue típico cibaeńo)
• Petenera
• Petro
• Philadelphia soul
• Phleng luk tung
• Piano blues
• Piedmont blues
• Pinoy rock - rock and roll sung in Tagalog from the Philippines
• Pinpeat orchestra
• Piphat - ancient form of Thai classical musical ensemble
• Pirekaus - traditional love songs of the Purépecha of Mexico
• Piyyutim
• Plainchant
• Plena
• Pleng phua cheewit - Thai protest rock
• Pleng Thai sakorn - a Thai interpretation of Western classical music
• Polka
• Polo
• Pols
• Polskor
• Pop melayu
• Pop mop - Mongolian pop music
• Pop music
• Pop sunda - Sundanese mixture of gamelan degung and pop music structures
• Porro - Colombian big band music
• Post-rock
• Post-romanticism
• Power metal
• Power pop
• Pow-wow - Native American mance music
• Ppongtchak - Korean pop music developed during the Japanese occupation
• Program symphony
• Progressive electronic music
• Progressive house
• Progressive metal
• Progressive bluegrass
• Progressive rock
• Psychedelic music
• Psychobilly
• Psych-pop
• Psy-trance
• Australian pub rock
• UK pub rock
• Punjabi thumri - a type of thumri from Punjab
• Punk-pop, a.k.a. Pop-punk
• Punk rock
• Punta
• Punta rock - 1970s Belizean music

Q

• Quan ho - Vietnamese vocal music which originated in the Red River Delta
• Qasidah - Epic religious poetry accompanied by percussion and chanting
• Qasidah modern - Qasidah updated for mainstream audiences
• Qawwali - Sufi religious music since updated for mainstream audiences, originally developed in Pakistan
• Quadrille
• Queercore
• Quiet Storm

R

• Rada
• Ragas
• Raggamuffin (Ragga)
• Ragga-zouk - a fusion of reggae, dub music and zouk
• Ragtime music
• Rai
• Rake-and-scrape - Bahamanian instrumental music
• Ramkbach
• Ramvong
• Ranchera - pop mariachi from 1950s film soundtracks
• Rapcore
• Rapso
• Rara
• Rasiya
• Reel
• Reggae
• Reggae highlife
• Reggaeton
• Rembetiko
• Renaissance music
• Rhapsody
• Rhyming spiritual - Bahamanian hymns
• Rhythm and blues (R&B)
• Ricercar
• Riot grrl
• Rock
• Rock opera
• Rock and roll
• Rock en espanol
• Rock nacional - Argentinian rock
• Rockabilly
• Rocksteady
• Rococo
• Rodeo music
• Romantic period in music
• Romeras
• Rondeaux
• Ronggeng - a folk music from Malacca, Malaysia
• Roots reggae
• Roots rock
• Roots rock reggae
• Ruem trosh - Cambodian traditional music
• Rumba
• Rumba gitana
• Runo

S

• Sadcore
• Saetas
• Saibara
• Sakyapa chanting - form of Tibetan Buddhist chanting
• Salsa - fusion of multiple Cuban- and Puerto Rican-derived pop genres from immigrants in New York City
• Salsa erotica - lyrically explicit form of salsa romantica
• Salsa gorda
• Salsa romantica - a soft, romantic form of salsa music
• Salve
• Samba - form of Brazilian popular music
• Samba breque - a genre ofsamba with a choppy, reggae-like rhythm
• Samba-canção - modern samba dance music
• Samba da garrafa - modern incarnation of samba do pagode
• Samba de enredo - Samba played during Carnaval celebrations
• Samba do pagode - popular dance-oriented samba
• Samba reggae - samba and reggae fusion
• Sambai
• Sangeo - Afro-Venezuelan form of percussion music
• Sanjo - Korean instrumental folk music
• Sanjuanitos
• Sarandunga
• Sato kagura
• Sayas - Bolivian dance music which was popularized as lambada in the 1980s
• Sazdohol
• Scandinavian metal (Viking metal)
• Schottisch
• Schranz
• Sea shantie
• Second Viennese School
• Seis
• Semi-tone calypso (Half calypso)
• Serialism
• Serrana
• Set dance
• Sevillana
• Shabab
• Shabad
• Shan'ge - Taiwanese Hakka mountain songs
• Shango
• Shape-note singing
• Shlager
• Shibuya-kei
• Shidaiqu - Hong Kong-based form of traditional music updated for pop audiences and sung in Mandarin
• Shima uta - a form of Okinawan dance music
• Shin-min'yo - a modernized form of min'yo, or folk music
• Shoegazing
• Shoka - Japanese songs written during the Meiji Restoration to bring Western music to Japanese schools
• Shomyo - Japanese Buddhist chanting
• Showtunes
• Sica
• Siguiriyas
• Silat - Malaysian mixture of music, dance and martial arts
• Sinawi - Korean religious music meant for dancing; it is improvised and reminiscent of jazz
• Singer-songwriter
• Single tone calypso
• Sizhu - folk ensembles from southern China
• Ska
• Skacore (third wave of ska)
• Skald
• Ska punk
• Skiffle
• Slack-key guitar (kihoalu) - Hawaiian form invented by retuning open strings on a guitar
• Slängpolska
• Slide
• Slow airs
• Slowcore
• Sludge metal
• Smooth jazz
• Soca
• Soft rock
• Solea (soleares)
• Son
• Son-batá (batá rock)
• Son montuno - Cuban folk music
• Sonata
• Songo - a mixture of changuí and son montuno
• Songo-salsa - a mixture of songo, hip hop and salsa
• Soukous
• Soul jazz
• Soul music
• Southern hip hop
• Southern rock
• Southern soul
• Space rock
• Spectralism
• Speed garage
• Speed metal
• Spirituals
• Square dance
• St. Louis blues
• St. Louis soul
• Steelband
• Stoner metal
• Straight edge
• Strathspeys
• Street songs - bawdy adolescent chants of unknown authorship
• Stride
• String - 1980s Thai pop music
• String quartet
• Suite
• Suomi rock
• Surf rock
• Swahili sound
• Sway
• Swamp blues
• Swamp pop
• Swing music
• Sygyt - type of xoomii (Tuvan throat singing), likened to the sound of whistling
• Symphonic black metal
• Symphonic poem
• Symphony
• Synth pop

T

• Taarab
• Tai tu - Vietnamese chamber music
• Taiwanese pop - early Taiwanese pop music influenced by enka and popular with older listeners
• Tala
• Tamborito - Panamanian dance music
• Tambu
• Tamburitza
• Tamil tiruppukazh
• Tango - Argentinian dance music that became internationally popular in the 1920s
• Tango-canción - the first wildly popular form of tango in Argentina
• Tango flamenco
• Tanguk - a form of Korean court music that includes elements of Chinese music
• Tappa
• Tarabu
• Tarana - form of vocal music from northern India using highly rythmic nonsense syllables
• Tarannum
• Tarantella
• Taranto
• Tawshih
• Tech house
• Techno
• Techno-tribal
• Tembang sunda - Sundanese sung free verse poetry
• Teen pop
• Tejano
• Tembang Sunda
• Texas blues
• Tex-Mex - American term for that which is known as norteño in Mexico
• Thrash metal
• Thumri - a type of popular Hindustani vocal music
• Tibetan pop - pop music heavily influenced by Chinese forms, emerging in the 1980s
• Tientos
• Tillana - form of vocal music from southern India using highly rhythmic nonsense syllables
• Tin Pan Alley
• Togaku
• Tonas
• Toshe - Tibetan dance music
• T'ong guitar - acoustic guitar pop music of Korea
• Township jive (Mbaqanga)
• Toziych
• Trance
• Tribal house
• Trip-hop
• Troll metal
• Tropicalia

• Truck-driving country
• Tumba
• Tuuli (Maglaal)
• Tuvan throat-singing
• Twee pop
• Two tone (second wave of ska)

U

• Ufie
• UK garage
• Umui - Okinawann religious songs
• Underground music
• UPA
• Urban Cowboy
• Urtin duu

V

• Vakodrazana
• Vakojazzana
• Vallenato - accordion-based Colombian folk music
• Vallenato-protesta
• Vaudeville
• Verbunkos
• Verismo
• Viennese-style classical music
• Villancicos
• Virelais
• Vuelie
• Vocal house

W

• Waltz
• Wangga
• Warabe uta
• Wassoulou
• West Coast hip hop
• Western blues
• Western swing
• Wong shadow - 1960s Thai pop music
• Work song
• Worldbeat
• World music

X

• Xi'an drum music - popular around Xi'an, China, ensembles of percussion and wind instruments
• Xoomii (khoomii, hoomii) - a type of Tuvann throat singing

Y

• Yang - form of Tibetan Buddhist chanting
• Yanvalou
• El yarabi
• Yodeling
• Young Brigade
• Yukar

Z

• Zairean sound
• Zapin - derived from ancient Arabic music, zapin is popular throughout Malaysia
• Zarzuela - a form of Spanish operetta
• Zen (music)
• Zikir Barat - Sufi vocal music from Malaysia
• Zouk - Antillean dance music
• Zouk chouv
• Zouk funk - a fusion of zouk and funk
• Zout
• Zydeco