Spanning Algerian Rai, Egyptian Tarab, Palestinian Rap and the emerging electronic scene, the MENA region represents a cultural crossroads where tradition and innovation meet.

The full spectrum of sounds from Rabat to Tehran.

Middle East & North Africa

Born out of 70s Algerian counterculture, RaÏ ('opinion' in Arabic) was initially inspired by rock, disco, reggae & house, but now blends drum machines, synths, guitar & darbukas.

Algerian-inspired countercultural sounds.

Raï

Originating in Egypt, these overlapping styles were once the dominant force in Middle Eastern music. Made up of levantine percussion and, over time, synths & orchestral additions.

Belly Dance/Dabkeh

A multi-cultural mix of European-influenced jazz grooves with Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern scales and rhythms, funky basslines and Turkish-rooted percussion.

Jazz, Disco, Funk and Soul from the MENA region.

Arabic Groove

The combination of 60s psychedelic rock and Turkish folk sounds, including traditional stringed instrument, the saz. The rhythms & grooves inspired many local hip hop producers.

60s psychedelic rock meets Turkish folk traditions

Anatolian Rock

Emerging from the Arabic diaspora in France in the 90s & influenced by US hip hop beats, a young, talented and committed scene has sprung up across Egypt, Palestine and Iraq.

The beats you'd expect, from places you wouldn't.

Arabic Hip Hop

An up-tempo genre originating in Angola and derived from a careful blend of zouk, semba, house, techno and soca.

Up-tempo Angolan blend of diverse influences

Kuduro

A South African style of music where Deep House meets Kwaito and Jazz.

A South African hyprid of House, Kwaito and Jazz.

Amapiano

Developed in the late '80s and early '90s, jazz rap fuses hip hop beats with jazz structures and motifs. A meeting between two forms of African-American music, past and present.

A fusion of hip hop beats and jazz stylings

Jazz Rap

Techno sounds and structures taken in avant garde and experimental directions. Atypical and intellectually alive.

Leftfield Techno

Derived from semba, zouk, kilapanda and Angolan merengue, Kizomba uses carefully crafted electronic percussion to create slow, insistent, sensuous rhythms.

Electronic percussion and slow, sensuous rhythms

Kizomba

First defined by its progenitor, Lord Shorty, soca is the 'soul of calypso'. Originating in marginalised sub-cultures in Trinidad and Tobago, it's now a global force.

Calypso-derived form from Trinidad and Tobago

Soca

A popular Congolese genre akin to rumba but with lighter, more laid-back and elongated dance sequences. 

Lighter, more laid-back Congolese variant of rumba

Soukous

Synthesised sounds, filtered drums and echo-laden, reverb-drenched production define this stylistic alternative to R&B.

A synthesised, highly produced corollary to R&B

Alt. R&B

A fusion genre of House music and Reggaeton. Amercian DJ and producer Dave Nada coined the term in 2008 to describe the combination of "Moombah" and reggaeton.

Moombahton

Taking in all genres, modern and traditional, from Pakistan and the Himalayas in the north, through the rich diversity of India, to Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean in the south.

Indian Subcontinent

Drum & bass evolved out of jungle and offers fast, broken beats, heavy sub-bass and high energy levels.

Fast, broken beats, heavy sub-bass and high energy

Drum & Bass

A popular dance form that evolved in the Dominican Republic, mixing bolero stylings with African instrumentation.

Bolero stylings and African instrumentation

Bachata 

A stripped down, groovy variant of Techno. Minimal is all about intricate loops, lush tones and simplicity. Here, less is more.

Lush tones, intricate loops and simplicity

Minimal Techno

Rare groove is less a genre than a category for crate-diggers, encompassing hard-to-find gems hidden deep in the genres of disco, funk, jazz, soul and rhythm and blues.

Rare Groove

A genre of electronic music characterised by repeating melodic phrases while building tension and elements throughout a track.

A more hypnotic & progressive subgenre of Techno.

Trance

A late '90s genre, first defined as a polished form of contemporary soul and R&B.

Polished take on contemporary soul and R&B

Neo soul

Originally known as carioca funk, baile funk is a party genre born in the Brazilian favelas in the 1980s. A rhythmic blend of funk, hip hop and Brazilian percussion.

Party blend of hip hop, funk and Brazilian rhythms

Baile Funk

A UK street rap variant inspired by Chicago drill, characterised by portrayals of criminal backgrounds and lifestyles. Now a mainstream genre.

Crime-referencing UK spin on Chicago drill

Drill

Originally from Colombia, cumbia is a folk form inspired by music of African, indigenous and European heritage. The sound of modern cumbia varies from country to country.

Latin American folk form originally from Colombia

Cumbia

The burgeoning UK hip hop scene is defined by its distinctive sub-genres, including raw urban forms such as grime and drill. 

British genre encompassing grime, drill and more

UK Hip Hop

An unvarnished form of hip hop that focuses on a rootsy vibe and feel rather than flash production. Laid-back productions that embody a lack of artifice.

Rootsy, unvarnished hip hop with a mellow vibe

Lo-Fi

Originally created by Parisian-Ivorian DJs then shipped back to Côte D’ivoire. Inspired by a range of African sounds including zouglou and Congolese rhythms.

African rhythms from Paris via Côte D’ivoire

Coupé Decalé

Blending classic garage vibes with ambient and experimental elements, future garage pushes the boundaries of an established UK electronic genre.

Classic garage stylings with experimental elements

Future Garage

A commercially-oriented crossover genre which came to prominence in the 1980s. Combines jazz vibes with easy-listening pop and lightweight R&B influences.

Commercial crossover blend of jazz, pop and R&B

Smooth Jazz

Roots music brings a strong spiritual and social consciousness to classic reggae influences, and is frequently heavily informed by Rastafarianism.

Reggae that emphasises the spiritual and social

Roots

Originating in Guadeloupe and Martinique, zouk offers a blend of Caribbean, African and North American music styles. Sung in Creole and infused with carnival spirit.

Zouk 

A subgenre of House known for deviating from traditional House music and pushing the boundaries of the genre.

A deviation from traditional House music.

Leftfield House

Chicago house blended with jazz-funk and the smoothest soul. An immersive experience defined by rhythmic grooves and rippling melodies.

Chicago house meets jazz-funk and smooth soul

Deep house

Jump Up Drum & Bass consists of aggressive screeching synths, heavy basslines and any other number of bold and manic sounds.

A more aggressive variant of Drum & Bass.

Jump Up

Mixing the drive of house with African rhythms, UK funky is a party genre with an upbeat feel and flow.

House momentum paired with African rhythms

UK Funky

Forward thinking production featuring elements of R&B, Hip Hop and other popular genres combined with electronic four-to-the-floor beats.

Hip Hop & R&B combined with Electronic production.

Future Bounce

Soul music typified by hard, driving rhythms that became popular with the British mod sub-culture in the north of England. Northern soul is all about the dancefloor.

Hard-driving dancefloor soul beloved of '60s mods 

Northern Soul

Experimental or progressive beat-driven music, typically featuring deep bass, soulful vocals and electronic manipulation.

Deep bass, soulful vocals, electronic manipulation

Future Beats

The origin story of current R&B, a late '80s and early '90s genre distinguished by slow jams, soul-baring lyrics and dancefloor-friendly anthems.

Smooth, soulful late '80s and early '90s R&B

Old School R&B

A Latin American hybrid of hip hop, rap and reggae often sung in Spanish or Portuguese, reggaeton employs tropical rhythms and motifs often borrowed from mainstream dance or pop.

Latin American hybrid of hip hop, rap and reggae

Reggaeton

Evolving in 1980s Chicago, house drew on emergent electronic technologies and funky basslines to create a new, world-dominating club sound and culture. 

Club music built on 4/4 beats and funky basslines

House

From Brazilian samba to Dominican bachata, Latin America has been the birthplace of some of the world's most inventive and enduring musical styles.

Diverse musical styles from across Latin America

Latin America

The umbrella term for contemporary African music. Often a fusion of West African pop music with Rap, Bashment, Dancehall, R&B and more.

Contemporary popular music from West Africa.

Afrobeats

Evolving out of early 20th century New Orleans blues and ragtime, jazz went on to become one of the most eclectic musical forms in the world. 

Epoch-defining genre defined by experimentation

Jazz

Encompassing a range of sub-genres, Caribbean music offers syntheses of African, European, Indian and indigenous influences.

Diverse sub-genres developed across the Caribbean

Caribbean

Derived from reggae, dub consists of instrumental remixes of existing recordings. Heavy sub-bass is punctuated by spacious echo and ethereal Jamaican patois.

Bass-led instrumental remixes of reggae recordings

Popular in 1960s USA, boogaloo originated in NYC among Latin teens and is a funky blend of American rhythm, blues and soul, with songs in both English and Spanish.

Funky blend of American rhythm, blues and soul

Boogaloo

Developed in NYC in the 1950s, salsa has roots in Cuban styles such as bolero and bomba. Arrangements are often heavily influenced by Latin jazz.

NYC-born Cuban style with influences from jazz

Salsa

Covering the broad and rapidly growing instrumental hip hop scene, this is a creative field defined by a distinctive language of loops, beats and samples.

Beats

Music from the African continent and its diaspora, characterised by distinctive percussion and instrumentation, lively rhythms and shimmering harmonics.

Music from the African content and its diaspora

Afro

Spearheaded by label Ed Banger in the 90s and, more recently, Roche Musique, French Touch marries old disco loops to house beats. Made famous by Daft Punk, Justice & Cassius.

A blend of Disco, Funk and House, Daft Punk-style.

French Touch

A more experimental take on rap, often characterised by genre-blending, unique production and alternative arrangements.

Alt. Rap

Chilled hip hop rhythms bubble beneath ethereal textures and gentle melodics.

Chilled hip hop rhythms and gentle melodics

Chillhop

Fusing trap and hip hop conventions, cloud rap is heavily associated with 'mumble' rappers and often draws on themes and melodies inspired by rock music.

Trap-hip hop fusion associated with mumble rap

Cloud Rap

Oldschool refers to the original sound of garage, which drew on jungle music and first flourished on pirate radio in London.

Original garage as heard on London pirate radio

A stripped-down variant of drum & bass that reduces the style to its essence. 

Streamlined, stripped-back variant of drum & bass

Minimal Drum & Bass

The full spectrum of sounds from Japan, South Korea, China and beyond, including House & Techno from East Asian producers and regional specialities like City Pop and K Pop.

East Asia

Associated with smooth, natural flows and vocal improvisation, r&b offers a creative reinvention of classic soul, blues and jazz motifs.

Increasingly creative modern take on classic soul

The pounding rhythms and propulsive grooves of house uplifted by predominantly soulful vocals.

The rhythms of house uplifted by soulful vocals

Classic House

A diverse genre that reworks the architectures and intentions of jazz by taking inspiration from other musical forms, from latin and reggae to hip hop, pop and rock.

Jazz forms founded on and inspired by other genres

Jazz Fusion

Originating in the Dominican Republic, merengue is a danceable style characterised by up-tempo arrangements, often in a 2/4 beat.

Merengue

A subgenre of Techno containing elements of Dub music through its production and cultural influences.

Techno combined with elements of Dub music.

Dub Techno

Funk offers a powerful blend of soulful vocals, jazz swing and mid-20th century counter-cultural energy – and is the irresistibly rhythmic forerunner of disco. 

Rhythmically revolutionary disco forerunner

Funk

Inspired by the sub-bass of dub and the two-step rhythms of garage, dubstep developed as a cult genre before finding mainstream success around the world.

World-dominating fusion of dub and two-step

Dubstep

Also known as neuro, this is a darkly cerebral sub-genre of drum & bass first developed in late '90s London as a progression of techstep.

Darkly cerebral London variant of drum & bass

Neurofunk

Rap music made outside of the dominant Western tradition, featuring sounds and influences inspired by cultures and places often under-represented by mainstream media.

Rap music made outside of the Western tradition

International Rap

A sub-genre of electronic dance music characterised by exotic percussion, driving synth chords and a range of brass sounds.

EDM genre of exotic rhythms and driving synths

Future Bass

Where modern club culture began. Originally evolving from 1960s soul, Motown, funk and salsa, disco blends 4/4 beats, funky basslines and lush instrumentation.

4/4 beats, funky basslines and lush stylings

Disco

 A hybrid of Latin American rhythms and classic Jazz stylings, this sub-genre is dominated by the melodic, up-tempo contributions of Afro-Brazilian jazz and Afro-Cuban jazz.

Latin American rhythms blended with jazz stylings

Latin Jazz

Developed in the British city of Sheffield, bassline is characterised by wobbly bass, driving rhythms and MCing in regional accents and dialects.

Wobbly bass, driving rhythms and regional MCing

Bassline

Japanese pop music that hybridises traditional Japanese music and 1960s American pop, often with surf rock influences.

Hybrid of Japanese music and '60s American pop