Music genre
From ArticleWorld
The term music genre is used to define a number of musical compositions that share similar style or “basic musical language” (according to van der Merwe, 1989). It is also considered a special category of music or genre. Another mean of categorization comes from the geographical location the music originated from. One may also find several subgenres, especially when comparing songs that fit in a certain geographical category.
Categories
It is hard to label one song as a part of a specific music genre. This is because most songs have elements from two or more categories, making it difficult to choose one that is defining. Many genres originated as a combination of more elements present in other genres. An artist or band is usually considered as singing or playing one genre. This labeling is again difficult to maintain as one artist may easily be involved in production and singing of more than one musical category. A popular belief amongst music listeners is that songs are considered as a part of a certain musical genre for commercial purposes.
Music genres
Although many music genres exist, they are all summarized as a part of some generally accepted categories:
- Classical – usually considered European classical music it is a category that reaches many different and yet related subgenres
- Gospel – a genre that is built of songs with religious lyrics
- Jazz – a music genre that evolved from folk blues, European music and ragtime
- Latin American – also known as simply Latino; it originated in the African-American community in the United States of America
- Rhythm and Blues (R&B) – this is the name used for popular music tradition originated in the American black community.
- Rock – this genre can refer to almost any popular track recorded since 1950. It is one of the most popular music genres in the world today and includes the most subcategories of all categories.
- Country music – it emerged as a genre after 1930 in the USA.
- Electronic music
- Electronic dance music
- Electronica
- Melodic Music
- Reggae
- Punk Rock
- Hip-Hop (Rap music)
- Contemporary African music