

To further the rather snug-fitting analogy, a music genre is further divided into subgenres - just like species in a genus. It can be likened to a genus in taxonomy, which is constituted by animals sharing a common evolutionary ancestor and having some distinct anatomical commonalities, despite vastly different superficial appearances. What is a genre?Ī genre is a group of styles of music having a common tradition or common fundamental values. Fortunately, while some maintain that sounds such as a car horn and a crash of a falling plate constitute genres in themselves, the rest of the world has been sensible enough to discern musical genres from mere noise. Having said that, some would consider it an exercise in futility to go ahead and try to define a list of musical genres. Thus, a comprehensive and universal definition of music is practically nonexistent.


Sounds never evoke the same emotions in different people. What is music? For some a blissful experience to be enjoyed along with a glass of the finest red, for some a distraction during a boring treadmill session! Some would consider Beethoven’s piano sonatas a copyrighted property of the Lullaby Channel, some would struggle to pronounce ‘bougarabou’ (which is an African drum, by the way), and some would mock Indian classical music - the oldest surviving school of music - as sheer wailing!
