European monarchies helped foster a great classical music tradition over hundreds of years that has grown to influence music around the world. Western European folk music, however, is even older, and flourished in the rural villages that dotted the farmlands of Western Europe, including Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Germany. (read more)

European monarchies helped foster a great classical music tradition over hundreds of years that has grown to influence music around the world. Western European folk music, however, is even older, and flourished in the rural villages that dotted the farmlands of Western Europe, including Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Germany. This area was heavily influenced by Germanic culture, with pockets of other ethnic groups like the Celts adding their own regional influences. Early traveling musicians helped introduce a variety of instruments into the region and songs developed both as part of the oral tradition and for entertainment. A number of traditional Western European folk songs do exist which commemorate holidays, especially Christmas, however, most European sacred music cannot really be classified as folk -- there was little regional variation in early church music and much later sacred music fell under the umbrella of classical styles.(collapse)