WESTERN EUROPE SPAIN

From the very earliest days of documented Spanish music-making, music on the Iberian peninsula has fused different rhythms, melodies, customs and cultures. The Ancient Greeks, the Romans, Christians and Moorish Muslims, roaming Romani and all sorts of refugee Jews...there were always people with varied interests and musical abilities passing through Spain, and they always had a tale to tell. 

The folk music of Spain varies from region to region, from community to community, probably even from neighborhood to neighborhood. For example, the music of Galica, ruled by Celts for centuries, still retains a Celtic character. Music from Basque Country has a distinct sound due to the unique instruments used in creating it. (more about Basque music below.) Catalonia, in the far northeast, encompasses the dynamic city of Barcelona and is home to the "Catalan rumba," a genre that developed in the 1950s in Barcelona's Romani communities. The primary Andalusian musical genre, and the closest Spain comes to having a "national" music, is Flamenco.