| Style | Description |
|---|
| Waila | waila music (or Chicken scratch) is a kind of dance music developed by the Tohono O'odham people. The genre evolved out of acoustic fiddle bands in southern Arizona, in the Sonoran desert. These bands began playing European and Mexican tunes, in styles that include the polka, schottisch and mazurka. |
| Waltz | A waltz, or valse from the French term, is a piece of music in triple meter, most often 3/4 but sometimes 3/8 or 6/8. A waltz has a 1.2.3. - 1.2.3. count and (generally) a slow tempo. Waltzes typically have one chord per measure, with the root of the chord as the first note. |
| Warabe uta | Warabe uta are traditional Japanese songs, similar to nursery rhymes. They are often sang as part of traditional children's games. They are described as a form of min'yo - traditional Japanese songs, usually sang without accompanying instruments. |
| Were music | Were music is an indigenous Yoruba music, which, like ajisari, is a way of using music to arouse the Islamic faithful to pray and feast during Ramadan festival in Yorubaland. Ajiwere or oniwere means "one who performs were music." |
| West Coast hip hop | West Coast hip hop, also known as West Coast rap or California hip hop, is a style of hip hop music that originated in California in the early 1980s. It has since grown into a sub-genre of hip hop and has developed several creative centers, most of which are in African American communities in California.The Piooners of the genre include Ice T, especially N.W.A with their album and controverial song earned a letter from the FBI. It dominated the hip-hop air waves in the early and mid-1990s with the popularity of G-funk. The release of Dr. Dre's The Chronic had led to the West Coast's peak. |
| Western Coast blues | The West Coast blues is a type of blues music characterized by jazz and jump blues influences, strong piano-dominated sounds and jazzy guitar solos, which originated from Texas blues players relocated to California in the 1940s. West Coast blues also features smooth, honey-toned vocals, frequently crossing into urban blues territory. |
| Western swing | Western swing is, first and foremost, a fusion of country music, several styles of jazz, pop music and blues aimed at dancers. Much of it is dance music with an up-tempo beat and a decidedly Southwestern United States regional flavor. It consists of an eclectic combination of country, cowboy, polka, and folk music, blended with a jazzy "swing", with a tip of the hat to New Orleans jazz and blues, and played by a hot string band often augmented with drums, saxophones, pianos and, notably, the steel guitar. |
| White Metal | See Christian metal |
| Women's music | Women's music (or womyn's music, wimmin's music) is the music by women, for women, and about women (Garofalo 1992:242). The genre emerged as a musical expression of the second-wave feminist movement(Peraino 2001:693) as well as the labor, civil rights, and peace movements (Mosbacher 2002). |
| Wong shadow | Wong shadow was a genre of Thai pop music current in the early 1960s. It was developed by native Thai musicians inspired by Western groups such as Cliff Richard & the Shadows. Its origins lie in American R&B, surf rock artists like The Ventures, Dick Dale, Exotica, rockabilly and country and western brought over by American and Australian Soldiers serving in Vietnam in the late 1950's and early 60's when on R&R. |
| Work song | A work song is typically a rhythmic a cappella song sung by people working on a physical and often repetitive task. The work song is probably intended to reduce feelings of boredom. Rhythms of work songs also serve to synchronize physical movement in a gang. |
| Worldbeat | In popular music, worldbeat refers to any style of music which fuses folk music, often from non-traditional sources (essentially, outside the Appalachian folk and Celtic traditions) with Western rock or other pop influences. |
| World fusion music | World fusion music is a fusion genre of world music, blending musical traditions from around the world, and possibly mixing them with modern music such as jazz or rock. The term was coined in 1978 and has since become a standard term used in the music industry. |
