Musical Genres

Music is part of our lives and for many people it is deemed to be soul food. There are different types of music and genres, and every person can vary in their likes, so today I want to talk to you about the kinds of music and genres (most popular of them).

I'm Chris Nolasce and this is "Musical Genres".

We all like music, we all have that song that takes us up and high, regardless it is a hit of the moment or a 5 or 10-year-old song, for us it is the best. Now for many of us, music is what we feel like, it is a kind of living and a way to speak with people who can understand this kind of language. So, when you listen to someone say a kind of music of genre is the best but you are not agreed, just silence and live that moment.

17 different types of music and musical genres

There's a great variety of musical genres, since music has evolved over time and each culture has developed its own musical styles. But... what types of music are there? Which are the most important?

Below you can find a list of the most relevant and popular types of music in our society.

1. Classical music

Classical music is a stream that began approximately in 1750 and ends in around 1820, in Europe. Nowadays this type of music is associated with serious people, because it is a cultured style, typical of a very formal, refined and elitist environment.

2. Blues

The Blues is one of the most important and influential musical genres of recent times. It originated in the late 19th century when African slaves were transported to the United States. Its lyrics have a melancholy air in which you can appreciate personal anguish or social problems. It is the combination of African and Western music that led to the genre that we know as "Blues".

3. Jazz

At the end of the 19th century, most African-American musicians played only Blues, but some also played classical music and learned European harmony. Some even mixed the European harmony with the rhythms and the scales of the Blues, and it was thanks to this mixture that the "Jazz" appeared.

4. Rhythm and Blues (R&B)

While Jazz was becoming more and more popular in the 1930s and 1940s, another new genre was beginning to develop. Many African-Americans were professional blues musicians, but carving out a professional future in music and earning money was not easy. So many formed small bands and looked for work in bars and pubs.

If they wanted to work, the musicians were to manage to attract the audience, and many young people of the time, those who frequented these places, thought the blues was passé. The bands were forced to create a new style, which would be called "rhythm and blues" or "R&B".

5. Rock and Roll

In the early fifties, another musician called "rock and roll" was in fashion. This style was created by musicians who could play both R & B and Western Swing, a popular style of dance country music. It used the same instruments as the R & B of that era (electric guitar, bass and drums), and it had a blues and R & B feel, but the melodies were more like country music.

6. Gospel

Gospel music is a musical genre born in African-American churches in the mid-twentieth century, thanks to the fusion of the spiritual songs of the black slaves who embraced the Christian faith, and the traditional hymns of white music. The gospel music is a type of music of congregational use, with a simple music but with marked rhythms.

7. Soul

Soul music is a popular Afro-American music genre that influenced notably in many later genres. For example: funk music. dance, hip hop and contemporary R & B.

It was developed in the USA. in the late 1950s, gospel music and other styles. While the gospel was a more joyful type of music, with a choir moving by touching the palms, soul was deeper slower music. "Soul" means soul in English.

8. Rock

In the 60's, rock and roll was losing its best artists. Elvis Presley was in the military, Little Richard had left rock and roll, and Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens had died in a plane crash. But many young people were still listening to their records, and some began to explore the origins of music.

9. Country

Country music was one of the first genres of modern American popular music. It developed in the southeastern states of the United States as a blend of folk music from the British Isles, church music and African-American blues. Its characteristic instrumentation includes acoustic guitar, mandolin, violin or banjo.

10. Funk

In the 60s some soul artists like James Brown developed a more rhythmic style called funk. This genre was the starting point for many new styles of dance music such as disco music, The funk is characterized by very powerful bass lines and an energizing rhythm. Funk music has a "groove" and distinctive riffs that invite you to get up to dance.

11. Disco

In the early 1970s, nightclubs called nightclubs were employing DJs to sing songs for the dance floor because it was cheaper than hiring a band. They started putting funk and soul songs more moved, but in the middle of the 70 began to commercialize subjects easier to dance, destined to this public.

12. Techno

Another genre of dance music called techno was developed in Detroit in the early 1980's when DJs from clubs started doing electronic dance themes. They used drum machines to create rhythms and electronic synthesizers with keyboards to add chords and melodies.

13. Pop

Pop music is not really any musical genre. Pop music means popular, and as its name implies, it is music for the masses. It includes different types of musical genres and has more to do with the audience to which the songs are intended. For example, Michael Jackson, known as king of pop, composed and interpreted themes from different genres: soul, funk, disco, rock, R & B, etc. His is the best selling album in history, called "Thriller".

14. Reggae

Reggae music originated in Jamaica, influenced mainly by ska and rocksteady, but also by other styles such as blues or jazz. In general, the lyrics of reggae songs are linked with social criticism, although some songs approach different themes. Bob Marley is his greatest exponent.

15. Hip Hop

Hip hop was developed in the late 1970s, and was created in the slums of New York City by African-American teenagers. Along with this style, other artistic movements were born as breakdancing and graffiti. Many of these young people were unemployed, but some found work as DJs.

16. Drum and Bass

The literal translation of drum and base is "drums and bass", because it is characterized by the rapid rhythms of the drum (usually between 160 and 180 bpm) and the marked bass lines. At present, it is considered an "underground" musical style, but its influence has been very remarkable in the pop culture of many countries like the United Kingdom.

17. Flamenco

Flamenco is the traditional Spanish music, born in the south of Spain and is closely related to the gypsy culture. However, the roots of flamenco are found in the cultural mestizaje that occurred in Andalusia at the time of its creation: native, Muslim, Gypsy, Castilian and Jewish; propitiated its distinctive sound.