# List of Caribbean folk music traditions

This is a list of folk music traditions, with styles, dances, instruments and other related topics. The term folk music can not be easily defined in a precise manner; it is used with widely varying definitions depending on the author, intended audience and context within a work. Similarly, the term traditions in this context does not connote any strictly-defined criteria. Music scholars, journalists, audiences, record industry individuals, politicians, nationalists and demagogues may often have occasion to address which fields of folk music are distinct traditions based along racial, geographic, linguistic, religious, tribal or ethnic lines, and all such peoples will likely use different criteria to decide what constitutes a "folk music tradition". This list uses the same general categories used by mainstream, primarily English-language, scholarly sources, as determined by relevant statements of fact and the internal structure of works.
These traditions may coincide entirely, partially or not at all with geographic, political, linguistic or cultural boundaries. Very few, if any, music scholars would claim that there are any folk music traditions that can be considered specific to a distinct group of people and with characteristics undiluted by contact with the music of other peoples; thus, the folk music traditions described herein overlap in varying degrees with each other.
The Caribbean music area includes all the islands of the Caribbean, including Cuba, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla, Martinique, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe and Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, the mainland South American countries of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana are generally grouped with the Caribbean countries, as is the non-Caribbean island nation of the Bahamas. The island of Bermuda is not Caribbean, and its folk music is little studied; for convenience, it is included herein though it may or may not be typical of the Caribbean music area.
| Country | Elements | Dance | Instrumentation | Other topics |
| Antiguan and Barbudan | benna - iron band | Highland fling - quadrille | banjar - bass drum - boompipe - kettle drum - toombah - triangle | Old Time Christmas Festival |
| Aruban | See Dutch Antillean | – | – | – |
| Bahamian | ant'em - goombay - junkanoo - rake-and-scrape - rhyming spiritual - ring-play - shape-note | quadrille - ring-dance - Heel-Toe-Polka | goombay - guitar - maraca - saw - banjo - accordion - Harmonica - cowbells - Trumpet | Obeah |
| Barbadian | tuk band | hornpipe - Jean and Johnnie - jig - march | banjo - bones - bow-fiddle - calabash - cymbal - guitar - pump - rook jaw - shak-shak - shukster - snare drum - triangle - tum tum | crop over - Landship - tea meeting |
| Bermuda | ballad | Gombey | bagpipe - fife - gombey - guitar - kettle drum - snare drum | |
| Bonaire | See Dutch Antillean | – | – | – |
| Carriacou | See Grenada | – | – | – |
| Cayman Islander | Christmas carol - serenade | | accordion - drum - fiddle - grater - mouth organ | Batabano - Pirate's Week |
| Cuban | afro - - bembé - bolero - bunga - canción - chambelona - changüí - cierre - cinquillo - cocoyé - criolla - décima - diana - fragaya - guaracha - guajira - habanera - kiribá - lloraos - martillo - montuno - nengones - pregón - punto guajiro - repique - rumba - salamaleco - son - sucu-sucu - tonada - toque - tumbao | areito - bembé - chuchumbé - columbia - contradanza - danón - guaguancó - guaracha - makúa - makuta - maní - mañunga - masón - quadrille - rumba - sucu-sucu - tango congo - yambú - yuba - yuka - zapateo | aberikula - agogós - bandora - bandurria - batá - biankomé - bocú - bongo - bongó del monte - bonkoenchemiyá - botija - bulá - cajón - catá - cencerro - chachá - chaworó - chekere - cheré - claves - conga - cornetas chinas - ekwé - efí - efó - enú - güiro - guagua - guataca - guayo - guitar - ilú - itótele - judíos batá - junga - kinfuiti - kuchí-yeremá - laúd - maraca - marimbula - maruga - ngoma - nkembi - obí-apá - ogán - okónkolo - pailas - palito - quinto - segon - segundo - sese eribó - tingo talango - tiple - tres - tumba - tumbadore | abakuá - aché - arará - cabildo - Casa de la Trova - clave - comparsa - controversia - iremes - iyesá - ñáñigos - Palo - piquete - potencias - plantes - sandunga - Santería - toque - trovadore - tumba francesca |
| Curaçao | See Dutch Antillean | – | – | – |
| Dominica | bélé - caristo - chanté mas - jing ping - kont | bidjin (biguine) - flirtation - lancer - mazourk (mazurka) - mereng (merengue) - polka pil (pure polka) - quadrille - sotis (schottische) - vals o vyenn (Viennese waltz) | chakchak (maracas) - lapo kabwit (drums) - tanbou bélé - triangle (tingting) | lavèyé |
| Dominican Republic | bachata - gagá - jaleo - merengue - merengue típico cibaeño - perico ripiao | merengue | accordion - cuatro - güira - guayo - güiro - marimba - palo - tambora drum - vaksin | misterios - velacione |
| Dutch Antillean | belua - dan simadan - remailo - seú - tambú - tumba | bari - tambú - wapa | agan (iron or ploughshare) - bastèl (calabash) - chapi (hoe) - conga (drum) - guitar - kachu (cow's horn) - karko - quarta - tambú (drum) - triangle - wiri | Simadan |
| French Guianese | awassa - cassé-co - kawina - mato - songé - soussa | bigi poku | | |
| Grenadan | cantique - chantey - lullaby - saraca | big drum - heel-and-toe polka - picquet - quadrille - reel | boula - cut drum | Carriacou nations - saraca - Tombstone Feast |
| Guadeloupe | gwo ka | | boula - gwo ka - markeur (maké) | lewoz - masquerade - mizik vidé |
| Haitian | kongo - ibo - mereng - méringue - quintolet - ra-ra - ti - yanvalou | carabinier - chica - gragement - juba - menwat - méringue | big - boula - graj - guitar - kóné - lanbi - mamman - marimba - mosquito drum - ogan - segon - shekere - tambou - tcha-tcha - vaksin | bann rara - Haitian Carnival - majó jonk - Rada - Petwo - twoubadou - Vodou |
| Indo-Caribbean | bhajan - birha - chautal - dingolay - gali - matkor (matticore) - maulud - nirgun (funereal song) - qasida - sohar - tan - tassa | matkor (matticore) | dhantal - dholak - tabla - tassa | Mariamman theater - Hossay - pandit - phagwa - picong |
| Jamaican | baccra - burru - etu - gumbe - kumina - mento - nyabhingi - ring play - tambu | mento | banjo - bongo - fife - funde - guitar - kalimba | jonkonnu - grounation - Pocomania - Revival Zion |
| Kittitian and Nevisian | big drum - iron band | big drum | baha (blown metal pipe) - fife - guitar - quarto - shack-shack (tin can with beads inside) - triangle | tea meeting |
| Lucian | blòtjé - chanté abwè - chanté kont (jwé chanté) - chanté siay - gém - jwé - jwé dansé - Kélé drumming - kont - koutoumba - listwa - sankey - séwinal | bélè - comette - débòt (circle dance) - dézyèm fidji - faci - grande ronde (gwan won) - jwé pòté (circle dance) - koutoumba - kwadril (quadrille) - lakonmèt (mazurka, mazouk) - latwiyèm fidji (avantwa, lanmen dwèt) - manpa (maynan) - moulala - omans (waltz) - polka - pwémyé fidji - schottische - solo (couple dance) - yonbòt (circle dance) | baha (wooden trumpet) - banjo - bwa poye (skroud banjo) - chak-chak (rattle) - cuatro - fiddle - guitar - gwaj (scraper) - ka - mandolin - tambourine (tanbouwen) - tibwa - zo (bones) | chantwèl - Kélé - La Marguerite - La Rose - lang dévivé - wibòt |
| Martinican | biguine vidé - chouval bwa - groups à pied - gwo ka - ti bwa | bélè - biguine - manege | accordion - bélè - bell - clarinet - chacha (rattle) - flute - kazoo - tanbour - tanbou débonda - tibwa - trombone | lewoz - masquerade |
| Montserratian | jumbie | bam-chick-lay - country dance (goatskin, drum dance) - jumbie - polka - quadrille | accordion - babala (jumbie drum, tambourine) - bagpipe - boom pipe - fife (pulley) - French reel (skin drum, woowoo, jumbie drum) - gradge - shak-shak - triangle - cuatro (yokolee, ukulele) | obeah - rum shop |
| Puerto Rican | aguinaldo - bomba - copla (music) - danza - jíbaro - plena - requinto - seis - tipica | bomba | bomba - bongo - conga - cowbell - cuatro - güiro - maraca - pandereta - requinto - seguidora | controversia - parranda - trovador |
| Surinamese | aleko - badji - birha - bigi poku - kaseko - kawina - lonsei - matkor (matticore) - tan - Baithak Gana | kawina | dhantal - dholak - djas - hari kawina - koti kawina - kwatro - papai benta - rattle - skratji - timbal | ampuku - kumanti - obia pee - vodu - Winti |
| Trinidadian and Tobagonian | bamboula - bele - calypso - gayap - juba - lavway - parang - steelpan | calinda | bandolin - bo - cuatro - dhantal - dholak - omele - steelpan - tassa | calypso tent - camboulay - chantwell - Jamette - j'ouvert - picong - Shango - Trinidad and Tobago Carnival |
| Turks and Caicos | ripsaw | | accordion - glass bottle - box guitar - musical saw - concertina - conch horn - conga drum - harmonica - maraca - mouth organ - triangle | |
| Vincentian | bele - Big Drum - string band | big drum - quadrille | Big Drum | chantwell - Vincy mas |
| Virgin Islander | bamboula - cariso - scratch (fungi) band - quelbe (quelbay)-iron bands- masquerade | jig - quadrille (Imperial Quadrille, Flat German Quadrille)-Bamboula | accordion - ass pipe - banjo - flute - drum (double-headed barrel) - gourd - guitar - squash - tambourine - ukulele - violin - washboard | David and Goliath - masquerade - tea meeting |