List of genres of music (A-M)

See also: List of genres of music (N-Z), List of cities that have been the birthplace of a genre of music

A

• 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
• 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 jazz - jazz mixed with soul, hip hop and funk
• Acid rock
• Acid techno
• Adult contemporary

Af-Ak

• Afoxe
• 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-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
• 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 techno
• Ambient trance
• American fingerstyle guitar (American primitive guitar)
• Americana country

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
• 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
• 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)
• Ashoug
• 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

Bac-Bal

• 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
• Bajourou
• 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
• 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
• Batuco
• Bayin - Taiwanese Hakka instrumental music

Be-Bh

• Beach music
• 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
• 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

Bo

• Bocet
• Boi - Central Amazonian folk music
• Bolero - Spanish and Cuban dance and music
• 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

Br-Bu

• 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
• Broxa (brosca)
• Brukdown - rural Belizean creole music
• Bubblegum pop
• Buiasche
• Bikutsi
• Bulerias
• Bumba-meu-boi
• Bunggul
• Bunraku - Japanese style originated from a kind of puppet-theater.
• Burger-highlife
• Burgundian School

C

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
• 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
• Cantopop - western-style pop music from Hong Kong
• Canzone napoletana - urban songs from Naples
• Caracoles
• Carceleras
• Cardas
• Carimbó - dance music of Belém, Brazil
• Cariso
• Carnatic classical music
• Carol
• Cartageneras

Cas-Cav

• Cassé-co
• Castilian
• Cavacha

Cc-Ce

• CCM (Contemporary Christian Music)
• Celempungan
• Celtic

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
• Chèo
• Chill-Out
• Chicken scratch - Arizona-based Native American music
• Chimurenga (mbira)
• Chinese rock - rock and roll from China, often with protest lyrics

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
• Christian hip hop
• Christian metal
• Christmas carol (see also List of Christmas carols)
• 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
• Classic female blues - early popular form of blues
• 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
• Combined Rhythm - music of the Dutch Antilles
• Corsican polyphonic song

Cou-Cow

• Country blues
• Country music
• Countrypolitan
• Couple de sonneurs - Breton dance music
• Cow punk

Cr-Cu

• 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

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
• 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
• Darkwave

De-Dh

• 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
• 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
• Dirge
• Dirty South
• Disco
• 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 n bass
• Drum n bass (DNB)

Du-Dz

• Dub
• Dundun - Yoruban drum music
• Dunedin Sound - early 1980s alternative rock sound based out of Dunedin, New Zealand and Flying Nun Records
• Dutch jazz
• 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
• Elafrolaïkó
• 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
• Endecasillabo - Central Italian 11-syllabic song form
• English funk
• English madrigal
• Enka - Japanese pop music, using native forms
• Éntekhno

Er-Ez

• 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

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
• 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
• Fonn Mall
• Forró - extremely popular music of Northeastern Brazil
• Free improvisation - freeform musical improvisation
• Free jazz - improvised 1960s jazz
• Free music
• Freestyle music - funky, electronic hip hop
• 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
• Futurepop - outgrowth of synthpop, EBM and darkwave

G

• G-funk

Gab-Gal

• Gabber
• Gagá
• Gagaku - Japanese classical music derived from ancient court traditions
• Gaikyoku
• Gaita - Afro-Venezuelan form of percussion music
• Gallant

Gam-Gan

• Gamad - Malay-style ballad
• Gambang kromong - popular, highly-evolved form of kroncong, originally adapted for the theater
• Gamelan - diverse Indonesian classical music, making use of a vast array of melodic percussion
• 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 kebyar - an energetic form of gamelan, especially played in Bali
• 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
• Gammeldan
• Gandrung - Osing music performed at weddings and other celebrations
• Gangsta rap - American form of hip hop music which focuses on underground lifestyles and illegal activities

Gar-Gay

• Gar - Tibetan classical music
• Garage
• Garage rock
• Garage techno
• Garrotin
• Gavotte
• Gayap - Afro-Trinidadian call-and-response work song
• Gbébé

Ge-Gn

• Gelugpa chanting - form of Tibetan Buddhist chanting, very austere and restrained
• Gender wayang
• Gending - a distinct gamelan music from southern Sumatra
• Gharbi
• Gharnati
• 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-Gr

• Go go
• Goa
• Golden Period of Karnatic classical music - music composed by the legendary Trimurti
• Goombay - Bahamanian percussion music
• Goregrind
• Goshu ondo - a form of popularized Okinawan folk music
• Gospel music
• Gospel-soca
• 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

Gu-Gy

• Guaguanbo
• Guajira
• Guitarradas
• Gumbe
• Gunchei
• Gunka - military marches with Japanese influences, created during the Meiji Restoration
• Guoyue - invented conservatoire style of national Chinese music
• Gwerz
• Gwo ka - Guadeloupan percussion music
• Gwo ka moderne - modernized gwo ka
• Gypsy jazz
• Gyu ke - form of Tibetan Tantric chanting

H

Hab-Has

• Habanera - Africanized danzón
• Haiducesti
• Hair metal
• Hajnali - Hungarian-Trannsylvanian wedding songs
• 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
• Hasaposérviko

Hat-Haz

• Hat cheo - an ancient form of Vietnamese stage opera
• Hát a dào - (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
• Hawzi - evolved form of al-andalous classical music which developed in Tlemcen
• Hazzanut

He-Ho

• Heavy compas
• Heavy metal
• Hesher
• Hi-NRG
• Highlands
• Highlife
• Highlife fusion
• Hillybilly music
• Hiplife
• Hip hop
• Hip house
• Hindustani classical music
• Hiragasy
• Hiva usu - unaccompanied vocal Christian music of Tonga
• Honky tonk
• Honkyoku
• Hora lunga
• Hornpipes
• Hot rod music
• House music

Hu-Hy

• Hua'er
• Huasteco - folk music from Huasteco, Mexico
• Huaynos - Andean dance music now most widespread in Peru
• Hula
• Humppa
• Hunguhungu
• Hyangak - Korean court music
• Hypnofolkadelia - see Acid croft
• Hymn

I

• Ibo
• Igbo-highlife
• Ilahije
• Illbient
• Impressionist music
• Incidental music
• Indie rock
• Indipop
• Indo jazz - jazz mixed with forms of Indian music
• Indo rock
• Indoyíftika
• 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
• Izvorna Bosanska muzika - modernized folk music from Drina, Bosnia

J

• J-pop - Japanese bubblegum pop

Ja-Je

• Jaipongan - unpredictably rhythmic dance music from Sunda, Indonesia
• Jaliscienses - Folk music of Jalisco, Mexico, and the origin of mariachi
• Jam band
• Jamana kura
• Jamrieng samai
• Jangle pop
• Japanese pops - Japanese pop music using Western structures
• Jarana
• Jariang - Cambodian folk narratives
• Jarochos - Veracruz,_Mexico/">folk music from Veracruz, Mexico
• Jawaiian - Hawaiian reggae
• Jazz
• Jazz from night
• Jazz fusion
• Jazz groove
• Jazz rap
• Jenkka

Ji-Ju

• Jibaro
• Jig
• Jing ping
• Jit
• Jive
• Joged - a generic term for various types of dance music all over Indonesia
• Joged bumbung - a popular form of joged
• Joik
• Jota
• J'Ouvert
• Jug band
• Juke joint blues
• Juju
• Jump blues
• Jungle
• Junkanoo
• Juré

K

Ka

• Kaba - Southern Albanian instrumental music
• 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
• Kalamatianó
• Kalattuut - Inuit polka
• Kalinda (kalenda, ti kannot)
• Kamba pop
• Kan ha diskan
• Kansas City blues
• Kantádhes
• 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-Kh

• 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
• Khaleeji - popular folk-based music of the Persian Gulf countries
• Khap
• Khplam wai - a type of mor lam with a slow tempo which originated in Luang Prabang, Laos
• Khelimaski djili - Hungarian Gypsy dance songs
• Khene
• Khrung sai - type of Thai classical music
• Khyal - Hindustani vocal music that is informal, partially improvised and very popular
• Khoomei
• Khorovodi - Russian dance music

Ki-Kp

• Kikuyu pop
• Kilapanda
• Kinko
• Kirtan
• Kiwi rock
• Kizomba
• Klape - Dalmatian male choir music
• Klasik
• Kléftiko
• Klezmer
• Kliningan
• Kochare - Armenian folk dance
• Kolomeyka
• Komagaku
• Konpa
• Koumpaneia - Greek Gypsy music
• Kpanlogo

Kr-Kw

• Krakowiak
• Krautrock
• Krill Krill
• Kriti (krithi) - a Hindui hymn
• Kroncong - popular Indonesian music with strong Portuguese influence
• Krzesany
• Kulning - Swedish folk songs
• Kumina - music (and religion) of the Bongo Nation of Jamaica
• Kun-borrk
• Kundere
• Kundiman - traditional Filipino songs adapted to Western song structure
• Kussundé
• Kutumba wake
• Kvæði
• Kveding - traditional Norwegian songs
• Kwassa kwassa
• Kwela

L

La

• La la - Louisianan Creole music
• Laba laba
• Laïkó
• 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, Indonesia
• Laremuna wadauman
• Latin jazz - jazz mixed with Latin musical forms like bossa nova or salsa
• Lavlu
• Lavway

Le-Lo

• Le leagan
• Legényes - Hungarian-Trannsylvanian men's dance
• Letka
• Letka-jenkka
• Lhamo - form of Tibetan opera
• Liedermacher
• 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
• Lo-pop Pop or Disco with extrerme cheap touch
• Loki djili - traditional Hungarian Gypsy songs
• Long-song - traditional Mongolian slow songs
• Louisiana blues
• Lounge music
• Lovers rai
• Lovers rock
• Lovers soca

Lu

• 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
• Lundum

M

• M-Base

Mad-Mam

• Madchester
• Madrigal
• Mafioso hip hop
• Maglaal (tuuli)
• Magnificat
• Mahori - type of Thai classical music
• Makossa
• Makossa-soukous
• Malagueñas
• Malawian jazz
• Maloya
• Maluf - evolved form of al-andalous classical music which developed in Constantine, Algeria
• Mambo

Man-Map

• 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
• Mapouka
• Mapouka-serré

Mar-Maz

• 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

Mb-Mg

• Mbalax
• Mbaqanga (township jive)
• Mbira (Chimurenga)
• Mbube
• Mbumba
• Medh
• Meditation
• Mejorana
• Melhûn
• Memphis soul
• Mento
• Merengue
• Merengue-bomba - Puerto Rican fusion of bomba and merengue
• Méringue
• MGB (musica popular Brasileira)

Mia-Mil

• Miami bass (booty bass) (Bass music)
• Microhouse
• Milo jazz
• Mini compas
• Mini jazz
• Minimalism
• Minuet
• Missouri harmony
• Medieval music
• Melhoun
• Memphis blues
• Merengue
• Merengue típico moderno
• Meringue
• Merseybeat
• Mexican son - a broad group of Mexican folk music
• Meyjana
• Miami Sound - a popular form of salsa music
• Milongas

Min-Mir

• Min'yo - Japanese folk music
• Mineras
• Mini-jazz - Caribbean jazz
• Minimalist music
• Minstrel show
• Mirabras
• Mirolóyia

Mo-MP

• 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

Mu

• 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
• Musiqi-e assil - Persian classical music
• Musique concrete
• Mutuashi
• Muwashshah
• Muzak (or elevator music)

Referenced By