This is a list of folk music traditions, with styles, dances, instruments, and other related topics. The term ''

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

'' cannot 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.

Middle East and North Africa

File:Abderrahmane Abdelli.jpg,

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

n musician

Abderrahmane Abdelli Abderrahmane Abdelli (born April 2, 1958) is a Berber author, composer, and singer songwriter known for mixing the traditional North African music of his homeland with modern sounds. Biography Abdelli was born in Mechta Behalil, a hamlet in the ...

performing in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

File:PikiWiki Israel 3011 Jewish holidays חג ביכורים גן-שמואל 2009.JPG, Israeli folk dancing File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een rebabspeler TMnr 60052115.jpg, K.P.H. Notoprojo, famous rebab player File:La fête de la musique au centre culturel dEgypte (Paris) (7416610718).jpg,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

music instrument Mizmar File:Sintir player in Rabat, Morocco.JPG, A Moroccan instrument

sintir The sintir ( ar, سنتير), also known as the guembri (), gimbri or hejhouj or Garaya in Hausa language, is a three stringed skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people. It is approximately the size of a guitar, with a body carv ...

gimbri The sintir ( ar, سنتير), also known as the guembri (), gimbri or hejhouj or Garaya in Hausa language, is a three stringed skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people. It is approximately the size of a guitar, with a body ca ...

File:2 dhols.jpg,

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

instrument

dohol A dohol( Persian:دهل) is a large cylindrical drum with two skinheads. It is generally struck on one side with a wooden stick bowed at the end, and with a large thin stick on the other side, though it is also played with the bare hands. It is t ...

Notes

References

* * * * * * *{{cite web , accessdate= April 3, 2006 , title = International Dance Glossary , url = http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/staticpages/index.php/glossary , work = World Music Central , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060207075840/http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/staticpages/index.php/glossary , archivedate = February 7, 2006 Lists of music genres African traditional music Middle Eastern traditional music