English music
Towards the beginning of the 20th century, influences of America became
extremely prominent in popular English music. This was characterized by the
performances of young artists who produced their very own versions of the
American music.
These versions included the “rock n' roll” which came to
prominence towards the later part of the 1950s, thus it developed a parallel
genre in the English music world. 'British Invasion' explosion of America
which occurred around the early part of 1960s was brought about by this.
This explosion was headed by the band – Beatles. From this point onwards
popular music and rock music got the status of some kind of an
Anglo-American collaboration. The general rule of that time was that the
trends in English music on one side of the ocean inevitably were carried
over to the other side of the ocean. There it formed its own new version,
and not just that it would once again inevitably be exported to its original
side of the ocean.
Since the earliest recorded times until the time of the Baroque and until
the time of the rise of recognizably modern classical English music, music
in the British Isles was a very rich and widespread culture. This included
secular and sacred music, which ranged from the elite to the popular.
Almost
all the major nations of Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland preserved
their unique forms of instrumentation and of music. However, British English
music was greatly affected by developments, of the continent whereas
composers of Britain made a very vital contribution to a lot of the major
movements of the early English music in Europe. This included Ars Nova’s
polyphony.
