The music of European American ethnic groups is very diverse and has a variety more representative of American history and culture than of pre-immigration experience in Europe. Both the musical style and the cultural settings of a repertory are altered, often dramatically, by immigration. Despite this shift of cultural context from the many nations of Europe to the single locus of the United States, European American musics have tended to increase in variety and number, and whereas many continue to thrive generations after transplantation to American soil, others change significantly, gradually disappearing or entering a broader and more hybrid American mainstream.
This article deals with the music of immigrant groups from Western and Eastern Europe. For convenience, traditions are discussed under geographical headings, although this organization may not always reflect modern political boundaries. Hispanic and Portuguese traditions, because they are the result of immigration from Latin America as well as from Iberia, are treated separately (...
