New York City is a musical melting pot, a vibrant and diverse home to a variety of popular genres, from jazz and rock to soul music, R&B, funk and urban blues. It's also the birthplace of hip hop, garage house, boogaloo, doo wop, bebop, punk rock, disco music and new wave. Salsa music was born from a fusion of Cuban and Puerto Rican influences that came together in the Latin neighborhoods of New York in the 1960s. The city's culture, a melting pot of nations around the world, has produced vital popular music scenes, such as Irish-American music and Jewish Klezmer. Starting with the rise of popular scores in the early 20th century, New York's Broadway musical theater and the creation of songs in Tin Pan Alley have been an important part of the American music industry.
The influence of East Asian nations is also noteworthy; hip hop music has merged with local popular music to form different styles such as K-pop, C-pop and J-pop. In the 1950s, Rhythm and Blues merged with country music to create a new music known as Rock 'n' Roll. The DJ-based electronic music genre behaved in a similar way and eventually evolved into underground styles known as house music in Chicago and techno in Detroit. The musical author Richie Unterberger has described the New York music scene, and the city itself, as immense, richly diverse, striking, multiethnic and engaged in an endless race for artistic and cosmopolitan supremacy. New York's colonial-era music was primarily British in character, and gradually evolved as the United States became independent and developed a different culture; the influence of African-American music became very important as the city's African-American population increased throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The College Music Journal Network's annual music marathon has been held since 1980 and offers an important showcase of new music. The New York club scene is an important part of the city's music scene; it is the birthplace of many musical styles, from disco to punk rock.
Some of these clubs have achieved iconic status in the United States and around the world. Central Park SummerStage is a series of free concerts presented by the City Parks Foundation which features artists of all kinds. The NYC Musical Saw Festival has been a summer classic since 2001; it brings together musical saws from around the world to perform various types of music with this unique instrument. In addition, New York hosts the annual ElectricZoo festival which is second only to the Miami Winter Music Conference as a mecca for fans of house and electronic music in the United States. Harlem was also home to punk rock and new wave movements; it was also where hip hop music and Latin salsa were invented.
Nowadays, many students are unaware of Harlem's influence on popular culture or how this period has anything to do with their lives. However, it is clear that New York City has long been at the center of American music industry and a major center for popular music around the world.
