popular music - any genre of music having wide appeal (but usually only for a short time)macumba - popular dance music of Brazil; derived from the practices of the macumba religious cult pop music, pop - music of general appeal to teenagers; a bland watered-down version of rock'n'roll with more rhythm and harmony and an emphasis on romantic love ethnic music, folk music, folk - the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community jazz - a genre of popular music that originated in New Orleans around 1900 and developed through increasingly complex styles rap music, hip-hop, rap - genre of African-American music of the 1980s and 1990s in which rhyming lyrics are chanted to a musical accompaniment; several forms of rap have emerged R and B, rhythm and blues - a combination of blues and jazz that was developed in the United States by Black musicians; an important precursor of rock 'n' roll rockabilly - a fusion of black music and country music that was popular in the 1950s; sometimes described as blues with a country beat reggae - popular music originating in the West Indies; repetitive bass riffs and regular chords played on the off beat by a guitar skiffle - a style of popular music in the 1950s; based on American folk music and played on guitars and improvised percussion instruments |