Shopping613 makes a point about distinguishing
between religious and ethnic music.
Here are Wikipedia’s definitions of the accepted music classifications,
as well as “Jewish music” (from each one’s article):
Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may originate in biblical times, differences of rhythm and sound can be found among later Jewish communities that have been musically influenced by location.
Religious music is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence.
[Ed. note: This is not a fully independent class, that is, music of any type listed below can be religious music as well.]
Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted orally, or as music with unknown composers. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers; another is music that has been transmitted and evolved by a process of oral transmission or performed by custom over a long period of time.
The term popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres “having wide appeal” and typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local audiences. The original application of the term is to music of the 1880s Tin Pan Alley period in the United States.
Let’s talk about what Jewish music falls into which category, shall we?