African Jazz releases "Independence Cha-Cha-Cha", a celebration of the Congo's newfound independence from Belgium; the song is a pan-African hit that becomes an anthem across the continent
The first peak of rock and roll's popularity, with native bands like Lúdó, Disco and City dominating live Icelandic music, though few record companies will sign pure rock bands
Solomon Islanders begin using sandals instead of coconut husks in the percussion-based bamboo band music, which begins its spread to other countries, especially Papua New Guinea
The Folkes Brothers' "Oh Carolina" marks the beginning of Jamaican musicians mixing native beats, gospel, ska and American R&B, eventually forming reggae
South African kwela and other imported genres have become more popular than the guitar and banjo duos that have long dominated the Malawian dance scene
Alexis Korner forms Blues Incorporated, a band that is pivotal in the development of British blues as well as a training ground for some of the most popular performers of the British Invasion
European popularity of American blues continues to grow with the first American Folk-Blues Festival
Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar and American jazz musician Bud Shank collaborate on Improvisations and Theme From Pather Panchali, marking the beginning of Indian fusions with American jazz
The Tornadoes' "Telstar" is the first single from a British band to hit international charts, and is sometimes considered the beginning of the British Invasion
Surf rock bands like (The Surfaris ("Wipe Out"), Jan & Dean ("Surf City"), The Trashmen ("Surfin' Bird") and The Chantays ("Pipeline")) stretch the boundaries of surf music
A new brand of politically aware bossa nova emerges from Brazil; musicians like Geraldo Vandré respond to the reality of the time with populist songwriting
In Jamaica, the popularity of ska is unchallenged; native artists like Toots & the Maytals, The Wailers, Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker are extremely popular
Southern African performers like Jean Bosco Mwenda, Edouard Masengo, Peter Tsotsi, and Nashil Pichen help define a burgeoning Kenyan pop music scene, influenced strongly by kwela and cavacha
The Starlight Club opens in Nairobi; though American soul music dominates the scene for a few years, Congolese immigrants, many playing at the Starlight, are soon the most popular musicians in Kenya
Recordings by Robbie Basho ("Seal of the Blue Lotus"), The Byrds ("Eight Miles High") and The Kinks ("Till the End of the Day"), along with George Harrison's sitar on "Norwegian Wood", are the beginning of major mainstream success for rock influenced by Indian music
Música popular brasileira (MPB) develops in Brazil with Chico Buarque, Edu Lobo and Elis Regina developing a distinctively Brazilian sound in popular music
Bembeya Jazz travels to Cuba, where the popular singer Abelardo Barroso is so moved by their performance that he cries; Cuban influences are brought back to Guinea, where they leave a lasting influence on the popular music scene
Hljómar, a native Merseybeat band, begins dominating Icelandic music with Icelandic language songs directly inspired by The Beatles; the band's first single, "Bláu augun fl'n/Fyrsti kossinn", is released this year
Jaipongan, a complex form of pop-dance music, appears in Sunda, using only native instruments; this is partially led by artists like Gugum Gumbira, reacting to new laws banning rock and other forms of imported music
Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long" is an innovative soul recording, on which the instrumental backing has fully replaced the choir of gospel
Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" is one of the first successful singles to be longer than three minutes in duration; the accompanying album, Highway 61 Revisited, is also arguably the first successful fusion of rock and folk, alongside this year's cover of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds
Long jams are found on several popular singles, including Bob Dylan's "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands", The Seeds' "Up in Her Room", Rolling Stones' "Going Home" and The Fugs' "Virgin Forest"; the last is an innovative mixture of collage techniques with rock and early world music
Holy Modal Rounders' are the most well-known exponents of a new style called acid-folk
Bella Bellow represents her country at the Dakar Arts Festival, beginning a career that will make her perhaps the most beloved musician in Togo's modern history
Pop-oriented R&B and soul groups like The Supremes (I Hear a Symphony, Supremes A' Go-Go) and the Lovin' Spoonful (Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful) are extremely popular
Tommy McLain's "Sweet Dreams" reaches the Top Ten, making it the biggest hit for swamp pop's era of mainstream acceptance
Radio-Canada releases The Centennial Collection of Canadian Folk Songs, which focuses on Quebecois music and helps launch a revitalization of the genre
Steppeulvene's Hip marks the emergence of a distinctive Danishbeat scene, as the lyrics are in Danish and reflect a merger of American and Danish folk music with rock
Singers like Aida al-Shah and Layla Nasmy emerge as the stars of light song, and the first popular musicians in Egypt outside of the classical Arab singer tradition
Nana Ampadu & His African Brothers International Band release a passionate plea for democracy, "Ebi Tie Ye", which helped to establish the long-running band as one of highlife's most popular groups
Joseph Kamaru's "Celina" is the first major hit for Kikuyu pop; Daniel Kamau also begins recording in the same style, though not with as much commercial success -- he will incorporate Kikuyu styles into benga, which is only beginning to gain mainstream success across Kenya
The Nice's and The Moody Blues' first albums, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack and Days of Future Passed are released; this is the beginning of prog rock, and it occurs alongside Pink Floyd's debut with "Interstellar Overdrive", the beginning of space rock, a futuristic form of proto-prog
Osibisa, a band composed of three Ghanaians living in London, form; they will go on to briefly popularize Afro-rock in the UK, becoming perhaps the first major African musical celebrities in Europe
Les Sauterelles' "Heavenly Club" marks the peak of the rock and roll craze in Switzerland; the trend soon dies out, and it evolves into psychedelia-based rock and the Indian-influenced soul of raga rock
Edward Hawkins Singers have a major international hit with "Oh Happy Day", and Reverend James Cleveland founds the annual Gospel Music Workshop of America
Hair debuts on Broadway; it is the first rock musical
Blue Cheer begins recording, and become legends of the American proto-heavy metal scene
Roots reggae becomes the dominant sound in Jamaica, with Bob Marley & the Wailers (Soul Shakedown) leading the way towards a new, distinctively Jamaican fusion of folk, R&B, rock and ska
The release of The Stooges' Raw Power is arguably the earliest traces of punk rock; along with MC 5's Kick out the Jams, a hard-edged Detroit-based sound arises
