Okuzeka
Music vocabulary · Genres and Styles

Folk music

Meaning in music, with examples

/ˈfoʊk ˌmjuːzɪk/nounCommon term

In music, folk music means: Traditional music of a people or region, usually passed down orally from generation to generation. It also names a modern acoustic, song-based style influenced by that tradition.

In Turkish: halk müziği, folk müzik

How it is used

Used in ethnomusicology ('Turkish folk music', 'Balkan folk music') and in the music business ('a folk singer', 'indie folk', 'folk-rock'). In English, a single traditional Turkish folk song is usually called a 'folk song' or 'türkü'.

Example sentences

  1. The album mixes Anatolian folk music with electronic beats.

  2. Many folk music collections were recorded in villages by researchers in the 20th century.

Common collocations

  • traditional folk music
  • folk song
  • folk singer
  • folk-rock
  • folk instrument
  • genreA category of music with shared features such as rhythm, instruments, harmony or history, for example jazz, rock, hip-hop or classical music.
  • time signatureThe two numbers at the start of a piece that show how many beats are in each bar and which note value gets one beat, for example 3/4 or 6/8.
  • classical musicThe tradition of Western art music, including symphonies, concertos, operas and chamber music, usually written down in detailed scores and performed by trained musicians.
  • pop musicPopular, commercially oriented music made for a wide audience, usually with short songs, catchy choruses and a strong focus on melody and production.
  • stringsThe section of instruments played with a bow, mainly violins, violas, cellos and double basses. It also means the actual strings on an instrument such as a guitar.

More terms: Genres and Styles

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: