Culture of The Netherlands - Music and Dance

Music and Dance

For more details on this topic, see Music of the Netherlands. For more details on this topic, see Music of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. For more details on this topic, see Dance in the Netherlands. For more details on this topic, see Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Netherlands has multiple musical traditions ranging from folk and dance to classical music and ballet. In the 21st century people with an African or Middle Eastern background have also had a profound effect, most notably in hip hop and rap. Much more so than most non-English speaking European countries, the Netherlands has remained closely in tune with American and British trends ever since the 50's. In the 21st century, the Netherlands has also become an international center for the electronic music scene, particularly Trance. Dutch DJs consistently rank among the top rated DJs in the world, and have a huge following both domestically and internationally.

Aruba and the five main islands of the Netherlands Antilles are part of the Lesser Antilles island chain. Their music is a mixture of native, African and Dutch elements, and is closely connected with trends from neighboring islands like Barbados, Martinique, Trinidad and Tobago and Guadeloupe, as well as the mainland former Dutch possession of Suriname, which has exported kaseko music to great success on the islands. Curaçao and Bonaire likely have the most active and well-known music scenes. Curaçao is known for a kind of music called tumba, which is named after the conga drums that accompany it.