Canada is a country with a rich and diverse musical heritage. From the traditional music of Indigenous people to the influence of American culture, Canada has produced its own composers, musicians, and ensembles. Canadian country stations often play artists more commonly associated with folk music, such as Bruce Cockburn, Leahy, and The Rankin Family. Jazz, Country, Traditional, Electronic Music, and Tejano are just some of the genres that can be heard in Canadian music bars.
We know everything about the Air Canada Centre, Massey Hall, Rogers Arena and Bell Centre. These are good concert venues, but they're not ideal for enjoying live music. That's why we've compiled a list of the 50 best small music venues in Canada. These places don't get as much attention as the huge buildings mentioned in our first paragraph, but they offer a unique experience for music lovers.
The term Celtic music usually applies to music from Ireland and Scotland, as both places have produced well-known distinctive styles that have genuine commonalities and clear mutual influences. Musique Concrète or “concrete music” is another style of electroacoustic music that features manipulated sounds derived from recordings of musical instruments, voices, and objects. Major Canadian opera companies such as the Canadian Opera Company have encouraged the talent of Canadian opera singers such as Maureen Forrester, Ben Heppner, and Jon Vickers. Honky Tonk is a style of piano playing related to ragtime with an emphasis on rhythm rather than melody or harmony.
In Canada, classical music includes a variety of musical styles rooted in the traditions of Western or European classical music that European colonists brought to the country starting in the 17th century. The influence and innovations of Canadian hip hop came to the forefront in Canada with musicians such as Maestro Fresh Wes, Snow and The Dream Warriors when music videos became an important marketing tool for Canadian musicians with the debut of MuchMusic in 1984 and MusiquePlus in 1986. Pop music is a vaguely defined category that encompasses many themes of rock, hip hop, rhythm and blues (R&B), country, pop dance and opera artists. Avant-garde music is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in artistic expression during the period in which it was produced. Technology was often used to create new sounds and make music more studio-oriented than stage-oriented.
Christian music refers to music created by Christian artists or adapted to offer general themes of the Christian religion. Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sounds, notes or groups of sustained or repeated tones called drones. Folk-rock is popular music that resembles or derives from folk music but incorporates the strongest rhythm of rock music and uses electric instruments. Tejana (in Spanish for “Texana”) or Tex-Mex music are various forms of folk and popular music that originated among Texans of Mexican descent in Central and South Texas.
Norteño (which literally means “northerner” in Spanish) is a traditional style of Mexican music that originated in rural northern Mexico in the early 20th century. Local music is any music that is recorded in the hometown where it is performed or in which musicians who come from that place appear. Since there are so many different bars and customers it's impossible to create a single playlist that's right for every environment.
