ethnic music

Noun

ethnic music (countable and uncountable, plural ethnic musics)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see ethnic, music.
   • (Music in a style characteristic of foreign-born people.): As an American, I enjoy listening to American music like jazz and country, but I don't like ethnic music.
   • (Any kind of traditional or folk music.): Popular and classical music are so stuffy, I prefer listening to the rootsy sounds of ethnic music.
2. (US) The classic body of recordings of Central and Eastern European immigrants to the United States from the early to mid-20th century, and music in that style.
   • 2012. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World Volume 8. "Ethnic Music". Martin Stokes. Pg 204.
     By 1920 Columbia and Victor had issued around 21,000 copies of ethnic music each.
   • 2003. Horn Man: The Polish-American Musician in Twentieth-century Detroit. Laurie Palazzolo. Pg. 83.
     This period marked the beginning of a wonderful, if short-lived, era for ethnic music.