This is a list of folk music traditions, with styles, dances, instruments and other related topics. The term folk music can not be easily defined in a precise manner; it is used with widely varying definitions depending on the author, intended audience and context within a work. Similarly, the term traditions in this context does not connote any strictly defined criteria. Music scholars, journalists, audiences, record industry individuals, politicians, nationalists and demagogues may often have occasion to address which fields of folk music are distinct traditions based along racial, geographic, linguistic, religious, tribal or ethnic lines, and all such peoples will likely use different criteria to decide what constitutes a "folk music tradition". This list uses the same general categories used by mainstream, primarily English-language, scholarly sources, as determined by relevant statements of fact and the internal structure of works.
These traditions may coincide entirely, partially or not at all with geographic, political, linguistic or cultural boundaries. Very few, if any, music scholars would claim that there are any folk music traditions that can be considered specific to a distinct group of people and with characteristics undiluted by contact with the music of other peoples; thus, the folk music traditions described herein overlap in varying degrees with each other.
CountryElementsDanceInstrumentationOther topicsAfro-ColombianBurton, Kim, "El Sonido Dorado" in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 372–385champeta ArgentinaManuel, Popular Musics, pp. 59–60Peiro, Teddy and Jan Fairley, "Vertical Expression of Horizontal Desire", and Fairley's "Dancing Cheek to Cheek", both in the Rough Guide to World Music, pgs. 304–314 and 315–316Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 190 AymaraTurino, pp. 239–240Fairley, Jan, "Beyond the Ponchos", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 273–288 BoliviaWorld Music Central BrazilManuel, Popular Musics, p. 64Turino, pp. 245–246Cleary, David, "Meu Brasil Brasileiro", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 332–349Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 191 ChileSchechter, John M., "Latin America/Ecuador" in Worlds of Music, pp. 376–427 ColombiaTurino, p. 244Manuel, Popular Musics, pp. 50–52 Ecuador currulao AndeanFairley, Jan, "Beyond the Ponchos" and "An Uncompromising Song", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 273–288, and pp. 362–371 Kallawayak'antuPeru QuechuaTurino, pp. 239–240, 242 SirionóNettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 149 NoneSuyáTurino, p. 243 akía rattleUruguaySlater, Russ, In a Nutshell: Candombe Sounds and Colours VenezuelaSweeney, Philip and Dan Rosenberg, "Salsa Con Gasolina", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 624–630 Paraguay Paraguayan polka
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