| Style | Description |
|---|
| Na trapeza | Greek-Turkish slow songs |
| Nagauta | Nagauta (長唄), literally "long song", is a kind of traditional Japanese music which accompanies the kabuki theater. They were developed around 1740. Influences included the vocal yōkyoku style used in noh theater, and instruments including the shamisen and various kinds of drums. The shamisen, a plucked lute with three strings, is a very popular instrument in nagauta. Nagauta performers generally play the shamisen and sing simultaneously. |
| Nakasi | Nakasi (Chinese: 那卡西) is an essential traditional popular music form in Taiwan, most stereotypically associated with elements of working-class culture such as the old tea parlors and drinking bars. The term is borrowed from the Japanese word nagashi (流し), which means "flow", but also means accompaniment. One explanation supposes that the word describes the migratory lifestyle of Nakasi musicians, who traditionally travelled from one tea parlor to another. |
| Nangma | Nangma is a genre of Tibetan dance music closely related to Toeshey. The word Nangma derives from the Persian word Naghma meaning melody. |
| Nanguan | Nanguan (南管; pinyin: nánguǎn; literally "southern pipe"; also called nanyin (南音), nanyue (南樂), or nanqu (南曲)) is a traditional musical genre originating in the Fujian (福建) province of China. It has ancient roots believed to trace back to the Tang Dynasty. It is most popular in Fujian and in Taiwan, and there are also two nanguan associations in Singapore. |
| Narcocorrido | A narcocorrido is a kind of Mexican music which evolved out of folk corridos, using dance-able, accordion-based polka as a rhythmic base. Corridos have long described bandits and other criminals, as well as illegal immigrants to the United States, and the poor and destitute, but the focus on drug smugglers is a relatively recent phenomenon. |
| Narodna muzika | Narodna muzika (Cyrillic: Народна музика) also called "фолк музика" ("folk muzika") or "фолклорна музика" ("folklorna muzika") means folk music in Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian and Serbian. |
| Nasheed | A Nasheed (Arabic: أناشيد; also spelt Nasyid in Malaysia; in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ilahija) is an Islamic-oriented song. Traditionally, it is sung a cappella, accompanied only by a daff. This musical style is used because many Muslim scholars interpret Islam as prohibiting the use of musical instruments except for some basic percussion. |
| Nashville Sound | The Nashville Sound (also known as Countrypolitan) arose during the late 1950s as a sub-genre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the Honky Tonk sound which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Key production features where the use of "smooth" strings and background vocals, and a crooning style of lead vocal typified by Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold. |
| Native American gospel | Native American gospel is a gospel music performed by Native Americans. |
| Naturalismo | See Freak Folk |
| Nederpop | Nederpop is a Dutch term that was invented by the mid-1970s to describe the pop music scene of the 1960s and 1970s that was gaining worldwide attention, exemplified by bands such as Shocking Blue, Golden Earring and Focus. The name is a play on the country's name in Dutch (Nederland). Most of the Nederpop bands of this period had English-language songs or played only instrumentals, but some of the bands performed exclusively in the Dutch language. |
| Néo kýma | Neo Kyma (Greek Νέο Κύμα - New Wave) was a movement in Greek music that started in the mid-1960s and lasted about a decade. It was a mixture of Entekhno and chansons from France. |
| Neofolk | Neofolk is a form of folk music-inspired experimental music that emerged from European ideals and post-industrial music circles. Neofolk can either be solely acoustic folk music or a blend of acoustic folk instrumentation aided by varieties of accompanying sounds such as pianos, strings and elements of industrial music and experimental music. |
| Neo-Medieval | Neo-Medieval music is a term used to describe a variety of styles within modern popular music. A common characteristic of these styles is that they contain elements of Medieval music and early music in general. |
| Neo-prog | Neo-progressive rock (or neo-prog) is a sub-genre of progressive rock, developed and popular in the 1980s, although it lives on today. |
| Neo-Psychedelia | Neo-Psychedelia (a.k.a. modern psychedelic rock, psy, psych) is the product of the post-psychedelic rock explosion of the 1960s. Modern neo-psychedelic bands base strong elements on the works of other notable leaders in the '60's psychedelic culture; Jimi Hendrix, The Band, Jeff Beck, etc. |
| Neo Soul (Nu Soul) | late 1990s and early 2000s American fusion of contemporary R&B, 1970s style soul music, hip hop music, jazz, and classical music |
| Nerdcore hiphop | Nerdcore hip hop, or geeksta rap, is a subgenre of hip hop music that is performed by nerds or geeks, and is characterized by themes and subject matter considered to be of general interest to nerds, though it can appeal to others as well. |
| Neue Deutsche Welle | Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave, often abbreviated NDW) was a genre of German music originally derived from punk rock and New Wave music in 1976. |
| New Age music | New Age music is peaceful music of various styles that is intended to make people feel good when they hear it. Some but not all new age music is associated with New Age beliefs. New Age music is generally characterized as being primarily instrumental and repetitively melodic in nature. |
| New Beat | "New Beat" is a music term that was used twice during the 80s. The term New Beat, first used on the U.S.A. during the early '80s. At the time, this New Beat music was a contemporary genre to techno and house music from Detroit and Chicago respectively, although not intrinsically linked. The second time, the term "New Beat" used in Europe, around 1987. It became a mainstream term between the summer of 1989 and the summer of 1990, but faded fast after Euro House took over. |
| New Jack Swing | New Jack Swing, or "swingbeat", is a hybrid style popular from the late-1980s into the mid-1990s, which fuses the rhythms, samples and production techniques of hip-hop with the urban contemporary sound of R&B. The new jack swing style developed as many previous R&B styles did, by combining elements of older styles with newer trends. |
| New Orleans blues | New Orleans blues is a combination of dixieland music and rhythms derived from Caribbean music, typically performed on piano or a horn instrument. The music is upbeat despite the blues-based content of many of the song choices. |
