History of Music

The blues is a cry of pain, a shout of freedom and a howling against the world. It's a simple music that holds complex emotions; a structure built around three chords that's become a universal ...

Classical music is actually a catch-all term covering centuries of music. Although it's often thought of as orchestral, it can also encompass smaller groups like trios, quartets and quintets - ...

Folk music is, as the name implies, the music of the people. For hundreds of years people have made songs of stories and great ballads. Sometimes they've been adapted from published broadside ...

Hip-hop, once called rap music because of the talking or rapping that's such an integral part of the music, has gone from local to global in less than 30 years. It's no exaggeration to say it's the ...

Jazz is a uniquely America form, and more specifically an African-American form. It grew out of the brothels and bars of New Orleans, the music of the underclass, and has evolved into a great ...

Opera is a hybrid form, a mix of music and theatre, where the performers have to be both actors and singers. Over the centuries it's developed into a complete art form that has avid fans and critics, ...

Pop is short for popular, and it's remained the defining term for the ever-changing music favoured by the public. Although not specifically applied until the middle of the 20th century, pop music as ...

Reggae is the Jamaican music that evolved from ska and rock steady, developing into a huge musical force. Over the years it's developed and changed, growing into dancehall. But it's spread its ...

Born in the late 1940s, rock 'n' roll has gone on to become the world's most pervasive music form, developing at a rapid pace and making stars of hundreds over the years. In origin it's a uniquely ...