Bjorn’s Blog: If you love metal, punk, jazz or most other music genres, you have to make an effort to listen to that music genre; you have to find a music service, pick up a CD or listen to a dedicated radio channel. But if you love New Age music you only have to turn on the TV. New Age music can be heard as background music in movies, as news program intros and in 99 % of all shampoo commercials ever made. New Age music is everywhere.
When I try to define New Age music I always turn to P. J. Birosik’s book The New Age Music Guide from 1989. She devided the genre into the following sub genres:
It is easy to see that many of the above sub genres can “belong” to other genres too. But most of all it tells us that New Age music is an extremely rich genre. This sound, or expression, is heard by us all, every day. From car commercials and fashion shows, to tv series and elevator music; they all have a mostly instrumental, atmospheric soundtrack. As a New Age music fan I think this is fantastic.
That said, it is also a part of the story that this music is mostly designed to fill the silence. It is not ment to be quality music. It is designed to sell a product or create an emotion. It is not “artistic”, though I – a fan of this music – often find myself listening to the music in a commercial than actually watching the ad.
Call it soulless, bland and uninspired, nothing can stop this genre. New Age music is everywhere. Start listening!
Volvo, Jean-Claude Van Damme… and Enya!
Above picture copyright DavidArts – BigStockPhoto