Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Music/Music genres task force/Colours

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WikiProject iconWikipedia:WikiProject Music/Music genres task force/Colours is within the scope of the Music genres task force of the Music project, a user driven attempt to clean up and standardize music genre articles on Wikipedia. Please visit the task force guidelines page for ideas on how to structure a genre article and help us assess and improve genre articles to good article status.
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black edit

Dear 156.34.211.41. Ok. Heavy Metal includes bands such as Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix and Cannibal Corpse or Mayhem. These bands are not only musically pretty really very different, so these subgenres should have another colour. It is not only mine opinion. Black for extreme metal beacause it very often deals with satanic, occult or just negative and aggressive piont of view, or what do you wanna hear?- that black colour expresses exactly this musical genre? that most of this musicians wear black clothes? That black colour is the coulour of this music or what? And at first - Please stop talking about POV. Show me some objectivity of Wikipedia:WikiProject Music genres/Colours. There are actually no rules for this--Lykantrop (Talk) 08:05, 8 February 2008 (UTC)Reply

All heavy metal related pages should be one color. That color has already been chosen and it's not black. Cannibal Corpse or Mayhem wouldn't exist without Hendrix or Zeppelin coming first. No mater what sub-genre they fall under. They're all just heavy metal in the end. The color needs to be consistent for all sub-genres. Fair Deal (talk) 21:25, 10 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Ok--Lykantrop (Talk) 10:37, 11 February 2008 (UTC)Reply

Purple not good for Reggae edit

Nobody at the reggae article was consulted on what would be a representative color, it seems. Red, Yellow and Green are the representative colors, please don't use purple, and please do not impose "decisions" that are not widely known and then say "See? it's all already been decided on this page that you all did not know about". Til Eulenspiegel (talk) 20:46, 29 June 2008 (UTC)Reply

Since green was being used and was free I have changed the color from purple to green. As principle if a colour is being used and there is no clash it seems logical to list that here.--SabreBD (talk) 14:23, 14 November 2009 (UTC)Reply

Zydeco etc edit

Some kind of green is useful for Lousiana based music but the chartreuse (colour) used it rather violent. I would like to argue for a change to something a bit more subtle.--SabreBD (talk) 18:22, 17 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

Reggaeton and Latin American Music edit

At the moment the colour used for Reggaeton articles and its sub-genres is red. Is the genre so unique that it should be considered completely seperate from reggae (green) and hip hop (navyblue)? Before you answer, please consider this is the context of Wikipedia as a whole, not just because you love Reggaeton. As it happens red is free as a colour at the moment and I am certainly not against its use, but only if this helps readers, by indicating something very different from the two major genres of music from which it was hybrydized.--SabreBD (talk) 12:58, 18 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

Red is being used not just for Reggaeton, but quite a few sub-genres. Others have random colours. If there are no objections in reasonable time I will try to change them all over to red. I cannot see much point in having a single genre with one colour. This would affect the following:

--SabreBD (talk) 11:40, 6 March 2010 (UTC)Reply

Hi-NRG edit

Category Colour-Code Colour-Name Comments
Hi-NRG #DDBBBB includes eurodance,
eurobeat and new beat

I propose Hi-NRG color separation from electronic dance music and disco music, because of its variety of subgenres. Yea or nay? ItsAlwaysLupus (talk) 20:15, 20 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

Yay as far as I am concerned. There needs to be some differentiation in electronic music, I was just not sure where to put it, this looks like a good plan.--SabreBD (talk) 20:32, 20 January 2010 (UTC)Reply
Yeah, I think it's a good idea, because change is needed, you know something new and fresh. ItsAlwaysLupus (talk) 21:45, 20 January 2010 (UTC)Reply
Slight issue is that the colour shown is not #ddbbbb, but mediumvioletred, which is already taken. Which colour is proposed?--SabreBD (talk) 22:04, 20 January 2010 (UTC)Reply
Hi-NRG Color no. 3060D0 (or black) with dbdbbb background. ItsAlwaysLupus (talk) 13:00, 21 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

Why edit

Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Music#Remove colours in genre navboxes?

Why are these colours needed the seem a bit WP:OR to me and ignore WP:NAVBOXCOLOUR in the case that no properly identifying, accessible color exists; or the subject of the navbox should not be identified with a particular color (e.g. an average biography), the default navbox color should be used. Gnevin (talk) 15:07, 26 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

This whole color scheme thing does seem unjustified and unnecessary. I note that the entire task force (of which this is a subpage) was flagged as "historical" over four years ago, as being either "no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear." Suggest flagging this subpage, as well. --Hobbes Goodyear (talk) 22:07, 27 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
Should these be all removed ? Gnevin (talk) 11:07, 30 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
Actually move to the active parent talk page Gnevin (talk) 11:09, 30 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
The colours are in fact very useful for the purposes of identification in infoboxes. Whether they are useful in navboxes is another matter.--SabreBD (talk) 23:46, 30 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
How so? Is there any previous discussion you can point us to? --Hobbes Goodyear (talk) 16:20, 1 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

Classical music edit

This (#efefef) colour appears to be in use for Classical music via the Template:History of Western art music. Would it be ok if I added it to this list? --Devin Murphy (talk) 03:59, 1 December 2012 (UTC)Reply

Black for uptempo electronic music genres? edit

Since heavy metal as rock subgenre has its own color, wouldn't it be fair to make 2nd color for other electronic music genres that aren't currently listed? My edits have been reverted by user Sabrebd, however it appears he doesn't want further discuss this matter.<br\> Webfire[1] AKA 94.113.230.22 (talk) 08:28, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply

You should not take me not replying on my talkpage for ten hours as evidence of not wanting to talk. I have to sleep occasionally. I do not think that electronic dance music is so different that it warrants another colour, given that different forms are often closely related to styles such as house, techno, and trance. It makes more sense to keep them under one colour. If we do this then it will open the gates for other special claims for forms of electronic music.--SabreBD (talk) 08:56, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
House, trance, techno = 4/4 time signature, slower bpm. Jungle, d'n'b, hardcore techno = usually using samples and incorporates breakbeats(characterized by the use of a non-straightened (percussion instruments do not play directly on beat) 4/4 drum pattern (as opposed to the steady beat of house, techno and trance)), faster bpm, sometimes listed as other EM subgenres in certain navboxes.<br\>
Webfire[2] AKA 94.113.230.22 (talk) 09:18, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
Edit: And if you are concerned about other claims by EM in the future, it is very unlikely because House, Techno, Trance, Jungle, d'n'b, hardcore techno, breakbeat are the basic subgenres of EM and everything else is just fusion or another subgenre of these. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.113.230.22 (talk) 09:33, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
Sorry I remain unconvinced that this is necessary. Electronic genres are a nightmare to retain consistency and it would be unwise to generate the potential for more confusion.--SabreBD (talk) 10:27, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
You do not listen to electronic music very often, do you? Because EM genres aren't as inconsistent as you think. I would try to convince you further, however I don't think that single person has the right to decide this. Consensus it is then.<br\>
Webfire[3] AKA 94.113.230.22 (talk) 10:45, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
Edit: In addition I can provide a link[4] to Electronic music's guide, so that you educate yourself on this matter. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.113.230.22 (talk) 10:57, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
Please do not make such assumptions about other editors. We can always post at relevant projects if you want to generate a wider debate.--SabreBD (talk) 10:59, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
I agree, dialogue here isn't going to solve anything.<br\>
Webfire[5] AKA 94.113.230.22 (talk) 11:14, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
  • I don't have expertise in those genres, but to me a separate color just for that does not seem needed or warranted.North8000 (talk) 11:17, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
I'm a minimalist anyway, I would use one color scheme for everything so no surprise I'm against any additional ones. Mdebellis (talk) 12:15, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply
  • If you just want to classify all electronic genres with one color (assuming we cannot have duplicates, which isn't a good idea in my opinion), I'd just go with purple. Or switch Afropop to #D2691E (which in my opinion, has a more African color to it) and make dance be deepskyblue. ViperSnake151  Talk  21:51, 19 July 2013 (UTC)Reply

Heavy metal edit

Here, I proposed all infoboxes and navboxes on articles in the Category:Heavy metal and Category:Heavy metal subgenres namespaces be themed with a black background and silver bold text (I originally proposed the navboxes be themed invertedly, but we may want to keep things uniform). I think this theme is appropriate considering the genre. I would not mind receiving input from a wide swath of editors, since this has been proposed (albeit not formally) several times in the past. — Confession0791 talk 21:04, 11 August 2015 (UTC)Reply

Just to repeat my opposition. The exiting colours are fine and of long standing. They are part of a wider colour scheme (red for rock and variations for punk and heavy metal). I am not even sure this combination will be very easy to see and have not yet seen any rationale for the change.--SabreBD (talk) 22:31, 11 August 2015 (UTC)Reply
Just to note, there is no variation for punk rock music. Both rock and punk infoboxes are coded in crimson.--MASHAUNIX 09:53, 13 August 2015 (UTC)Reply
What's curious to me, is that Raggaeton, Country, and Tango also fall under the "red" category. So the color scheme you speak of being rock music falling under the red color scheme, it doesn't wash. — Confession0791 talk 06:40, 12 August 2015 (UTC)Reply
Metal has become a much wider genre now. It's long away from just a variation of rock. I think the proposed colour changes would be great for Metal. Can we try that out in a sandbox? I'nt know how to do that. canaar (talk) 03:25, 12 August 2015 (UTC)Reply
I am still waiting for some kind or rationale for this proposed change.--SabreBD (talk) 16:18, 13 August 2015 (UTC)Reply
Why does The Simpsons have themed templates? It's a matter of pride and making things more interesting for both the editors and readers. That's all. — Confession0791 talk 18:01, 13 August 2015 (UTC)Reply

New Age and Space music edit

I changed "new age and space music" to #8d9092 so it would be close to silver and those indicate its relatedness to "electronic music". --Devin Murphy (talk) 11:55, 20 January 2017 (UTC)Reply

A capella for #ddbbbb edit

The barbershop music infobox is using #ddbbbb, and has done so since 2009. Since the color is unclaimed and there doesn't seem to be any infobox color yet for a capella genres, I'm going to add it if it's all right with everyone else. LifeofTau 08:44, 12 May 2017 (UTC)Reply

Use of white text edit

Using white text in headings for both links and plain text hinder usability. Is there another color that would be suitable to differentiate between the two? Going further, is it maybe just time to deprecate the genre colors altogether? Ibadibam (talk) 00:58, 2 March 2018 (UTC)Reply

Should Funk be a different colour than Soul? edit

Hiya, this is Atomicdowg321. I'm fairly new to Wikipedia.

So I noticed that the genres and sub genres of both Funk and Soul are orange which I personally don't fully agree with. In my opinion, I think it might be better to have Funk be a different colour, like Teal. Again, this is just my personal preference and doesn't have to be put into effect. Leave any suggestions you have, cheers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Atomicdowg321 (talkcontribs) 11:35, 2 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

Hello Atomicdawg321, and apologies for the belatedness of this reply. I do agree that there is enough of a distinct difference between soul, which is generally emphatic and vocal-driven, and funk, which is generally rhythmic and groove-oriented, that separate coloring would not be unreasonable. With that said, I think we should recognize that because there is no set limit to the amount of specifity that can be achieved with the genre categories, we need to be reasonable in how far we allow them to be separated—people will always be able to find additional ways to create new divisions. I think a better change would be to include the funk genres with the gold color category designated for disco, which I find to be much more similar in its characteristics to it than either is to soul. I want to make it clear that I am not inherently opposed to any splitting-off regarding the genre categories, but I believe it should be avoided if an alternative solution can be agreed to be appropriate. As is is the case with your comment, these are nothing more than my opinions, and I am open to further discussion. LifeofTau 20:29, 9 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

MOS:COLOR compliance edit

@Grapesoda22: While I am not opposed to modifying this page to meet the contrast requirements made at MOS:COLOR, I do take issue with your attempts to make unilateral, wide-scale changes without consulting any other users. While compliance with the accessibility guideline is an important issue, it is clearly not an emergency that would justify such behavior; this guide for music genre colors is in wide use and, in most cases, has been adhered to for more than a decade. With that said, I invite you and any other interested users to discuss possible alterations to this page.

Although the WCAG Level AA minimum contrast level of 4.5 is already met by white text on a crimson background, black text on a #8D9092 (dark red) background, white text on a #BB0022 (dark red) background, white text on a green background, and text on a gray background, there are a number of instances on the page in which the text and background do not: reggaeton (white on red), ska (white on #FF8020), samba (white on olive), rumba (white on seagreen), and Afropop (white on deepskyblue), as well as the unclaimed chocolate color that uses white text. In all of these cases, I think the best and least-extreme solution is to simply alter the specified text color from white to black, which in each instance would result in a combination that has a sufficient contrast level. I have laid this out in the following table, which allows visualization of the proposed changes:

Genre
category
Current
status
Proposed
change
WCAG
compliant?
Reggaeton Example Example Yes
Ska Example Example Yes
Samba Example Example Yes
Rumba Example Example Yes
Afropop Example Example Yes
Unclaimed Example Example Yes

I should be noted that while the page specifies that folk genres should use black text on a goldenrod background, a combination with sufficient contrast, most of the infoboxes for folk genres instead opt for white text, which is insufficient. In this case I would say that manually changing the text color for each of these infoboxes is the best option. LifeofTau 07:21, 15 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

I was actually about to start a discussion on such a change.

Genre Colors RfC edit

The following discussion is an archived record of a request for comment. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
While there is no clear consensus on whether the colors should be changed or not, there was a clear consensus to continue using music genre color coding in infoboxes, and that we should comply with the guidelines of MOS:COLOR. Based on the discussion, there appears to be a difference in opinion as to whether the colors currently in use are in fact in accordance with guideline, which was not resolved. (non-admin closure) signed, Rosguill talk 22:28, 7 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

Music genre infoboxes are currently color-coded based on what overarching genre they are a part of. Some of these color combinations do not meet contrast guidelines set out at MOS:COLOR. A) Should these shades be changed, B) should the colors be left alone, or C) should another system be put in place? RfC relisted by Cunard (talk) at 23:46, 21 April 2019 (UTC). Mooeena💌✒️ 06:27, 18 March 2019 (UTC)Reply

Or D) Should color not be used this way? This was proposed by the nominator in a later comment, below. I've refactored this to make the four options of the RfC more visible and to have A–D lettering for easier reference.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  01:32, 21 March 2019 (UTC)Reply

I think equally as important is that differently-colored infoboxes for genres ultimately impart no additional information to the reader. There is no indication on the infobox itself that the color relates to a genre (or in some cases, super-family of genres) or has any particular meaning whatsoever. The only guide to the colors exist on this page.
I believe that for both of these reasons the bgcolor and color parameters in {{Infobox music genre}} and music genre footers should be deprecated. There's really no reason that they need to be colored other than that's how we've always done it. Mooeena💌✒️ 23:05, 6 March 2019 (UTC)Reply
  • Oppose Find a WCAG 2.0 colour compliant way of representing the information. Walter Görlitz (talk) 14:29, 18 March 2019 (UTC)Reply
    • @Walter Görlitz: This isn't a support/oppose RfC, it's four-option multiple choice. I've taken the liberty of refactoring a little to make this clearer.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  01:32, 21 March 2019 (UTC)Reply
  • A: Change the shades to be WCAG-compliant. But check with the WT:WPACCESS and WT:MOSACCESS crowd. I'm not certain that the table above this RfC is accurate; what I see at Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility/Colors seems to suggest paler backgrounds for dark text, and darker backgrounds for light text, though the table above doesn't seem to be too far off (or, possibly, that MoS supplement is outdated). While I agree with the nominator that the color-coding doesn't really add much, it's not actually a detriment if re-done properly, and there aren't any rules against it. We use color-coded infoboxes in many places (e.g. between organism orders in Template:Taxobox, etc.), and it has not broken anything, so I can't support option D (no color). But "do nothing" (option B) isn't an option either; this is not ToHellWithPeopleWhoHaveVisionIssuesPedia – we're not going to intentionally do anti-accessibility things when we know there's a problem to resolve. Option C is meaningless without some other system being proposed.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  01:32, 21 March 2019 (UTC)Reply
  • B: No change to colors. The WCAG 2.0 guideline contains three levels of compliance. The first level is "A", and "must" be followed. The second level is "AA", and "should" be followed. The third level is "AAA" which "may" be followed.[6] The AA level calls for a contrast ratio of 4.5:1, which we already meet with our genre infoboxes. The 4.5-to-1 ratio is specified at MOS:COLOR, as it helps users who have approximately 20/40 vision impairment, and are not using contacts or glasses. The W3C organization determined that the AA level of 4.5:1 contrast is required for compliance. The same group describes the AAA level of 7:1 ratio as an "enhanced contrast" compliance level, which is not required. The explanation is that the AAA level is designed to help users with a visual impairment of 20/80, but the W3C group notes that such users habitually use contacts or glasses to bring their vision nearer the norm.[7] Eyesight of 20/80 is bad enough to fail a driving test in most jurisdictions, unless vision correction is used. That is why the AAA level is not required – in practice, nobody needs this higher contrast. The problem of having a huge list of articles appearing in the Category:Articles using Template:Infobox music genre with invalid colour combination list is a problem of coding... the backend code should be assessing articles for the AA level, not the AAA level. We should tell the Wikimedia programmers that they need to change the mechanism from AAA to AA. Binksternet (talk) 21:52, 16 April 2019 (UTC)Reply
Actually, that category is populated by Template:Infobox music genre. If you check the infobox's code, the contrast ratio is being checked by Template:Ensure AAA contrast ratio; in other words, it is already doing the check for AAA. The category is just deceptively named, if the AAA standard is indeed fully optional (I haven't checked). If that is the case, we should probably rename the category. If we do that, however, we should also enable tracking functionality for AA contrast to track genuinely problematic transclusions. That would be simple enough, given that Template:Ensure AA contrast ratio also exists. Compassionate727 (T·C) 16:48, 22 April 2019 (UTC)Reply
  • Comply with MOS:COLOR I am responding to this after an alert from the RfC bot service. I know little about this issue. If I understand correctly, this RfC is presented as whether there should be special exemption for WikiProject Music compliance with the manual of style recommendations for color. To that I say no. If MOS:Color is ambiguous in this case then take this discussion outside the context of music and put it as a general question for MOS standards. What applies everywhere should apply here too. If there is lack of clarity then present this as a case for reviewers there to amend the manual of style with a general recommendation. The outcome of this should begin with MOS:Color compliance in whatever way is quickest with less effort, and from that point, anyone can make alterations. Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:10, 15 May 2019 (UTC)Reply
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Religious music edit

I think we should have a colour for religious music in general. We have Contemporary Christian and Klezmer, but I think a colour for other forms of religious music in genre would also be quite good. --Rubensbathsheba (talk) 14:38, 4 April 2019 (UTC)Reply

Force using colors with HTML names only edit

We have very few colors that have no html names, and all of them could be replaced by almost exact the same colors that have a names. Maybe it is worth changing all such cases? Visually there's almost no difference, but it would be much better and easier to use it and track inaccuracies.

Here are the closest color that I've picked up via [8]:

Genre Current color without name New color with name
Heavy metal #BB0022 firebrick
Ska #BB0022 darkorange
Samba #8D8D15 olive
Vallenato #ACE1AF darkseagreen
Rumba #36A667 seagreen
New Age and Space music #8D9092 grey
***free*** (could be replaced if needed) #FFCCEE lavenderblush
Blues #0000E1 blue
A cappella #DDBBBB rosybrown

What do you think? Solidest (talk) 16:11, 24 February 2021 (UTC)Reply

I have no objection to such a set of edits, but do have an objection with creation of another "rule" which such could be interpreted as. North8000 (talk) 16:44, 24 February 2021 (UTC)Reply
I would not call this a "rule", but rather, on the contrary, an opportunity to make things simpler and systematized. Instead of a selection of random shades through the colours palette by ourselves, it is easier to choose from the universally accepted and ready list of presets. And besides, the list doesn't seem to have grown lately, so it's just a possibility to get things in order :) Solidest (talk) 17:00, 24 February 2021 (UTC)Reply
Well, the heading of the section refers to forcing people to do it.North8000 (talk) 20:17, 28 February 2021 (UTC)Reply

Improving the organization of colors of regional genres edit

Tldr: remove colors of small genres and scenes, add colors for larger genre groups, see summary below

The problem: we have 41 colors, but the color distribution and scale of genres is far the equality. The colors list hasn't really changed from the creation in the 2006 year and the initial principles of color distribution by genre are not known to me.

Some colors cover world-wide genres with hundreds of subgenres, while the others color separate regional scenes that have no division and are poorly known within the scale of English Wikipedia. I have divided all the existing colors into 4 groups. To split them into categories, I've used (besides Wikipedia) genre tree from RateYourMusic ([9]), where users are constantly refining, editing and debating on this topic, and just like the Wiki use reliable sources to build it and vote for any changes. At the moment, that genre tree is more accurate there than we have on Wiki (one-page genre tree don't even exist at all).

The categories of current colors:

  1. Largest genres and groups (perfect): Rock, Country, Soul / Funk, Folk music, Electronic, Jazz, Hip hop, Blues, Pop music
  2. Biggest subgenres and categories (acceptable): Heavy metal, Ska, Disco, Calypso, Samba, Reggae, New Age / Space music, Afropop, Polka, A cappella
  3. Subgenres (questionable): Reggaeton, Tango, Gospel, Merengue, Salsa, Cumbia, Rumba, Filmi
  4. Microgenres and scenes (unacceptable): Exotica, Mariachi, Vallenato, Zydeco, Contemporary Christian, Son montuno, Flamenco, Mambo, Brazilian rock, Raï, Klezmer,


The genre tree with the currents colors ⮧

Regional Music

Caribbean Music

  • Calypso ████ = darkkhaki
  • Caribbean Folk Music
  • French Caribbean Music
  • Goombay
  • Jamaican Music
    • Dancehall
    • Jamaican Ska
    • Mento
    • Nyahbinghi
    • Reggae ████ = green
    • Rocksteady
  • Kaseko
  • Parang
  • Punta
  • Soca

Brazilian Music

  • Aboio
  • Afoxé
  • Axé
  • Baião
  • Bossa nova
  • Brazilian Classical Music
  • Brega
  • Candomblé Music
  • Capoeira Music
  • Carimbó
  • Choro
  • Coco
  • Forró
  • Frevo
  • Funk carioca
  • Jongo
  • Lambada
  • Mangue Beat
  • Maracatu
  • Maxixe
  • MPB
  • Música gaúcha
  • Repente
  • Samba ████ = #8D8D15 (post-olive)
  • Sertanejo
  • Vanguarda paulista
  • Xote

Hispanic Music

  • Hispanic American Music
    • Andean Rock
    • Bachata
    • Bolero
    • Bomba
    • Boogaloo
    • Chamamé
    • Champeta
    • Cuarteto
    • Cuban Music
      • Chachachá
      • Changüí
      • Conga
      • Cuban Charanga
      • Cuban Rumba
      • Danzón
      • Descarga
      • Filin
      • Guajira
      • Guaracha
      • Habanera
      • Mambo ████ = darkorchid
      • Mozambique
      • Pachanga
      • Pilón
      • Santería Music
      • Son Cubano
        • Bolero son
        • Son montuno ████ = darkslategray
      • Songo
      • Timba
      • Trova
      • Tumba francesa
    • Cumbia ████ = #7FFFD4
    • Currulao
    • Dembow
    • Guarania
    • Hispanic American Folk Music
      • Bambuco
      • Candombe
      • Canto a lo poeta
      • Chacarera
      • Chamarrita rioplatense
      • Cueca
      • Gaita zuliana
      • Huayno
      • Joropo
      • Malagueña venezolana
      • Mexican Folk Music
      • Milonga
      • Música criolla peruana
      • Tamborito
      • Taquirari
      • Vallenato ████ = #ACE1AF
      • Yaraví
      • Zamba
    • Jibaro
    • Latin Alternative
    • Latin American Classical Music
    • Latin Disco
    • Latin Electronic
    • Latin Freestyle
    • Latin Funk
    • Latin Jazz
    • Latin Pop
    • Latin Rock
    • Latin Soul
    • Merengue ████ = yellow
    • Mexican Music
      • Bandas de viento de México
      • Chilena
      • Corrido
      • Mariachi ████ = darksalmon
      • Mexican Folk Music
      • Norteño
      • Tejano
    • Muliza
    • Nueva canción latinoamericana
    • Onda nueva
    • Pasillo
    • Plena
    • Reggaeton ████ = red
    • Rhumba ████ = #36A667
    • Salsa ████ = maroon
    • Saya afroboliviana
    • Tamborera
    • Tango ████ = maroon
  • Murga
  • Spanish Music
    • Andalusian Rock
    • Bolero español
    • Nueva canción española
    • Rumba catalana
    • Spanish Classical Music
    • Spanish Folk Music
      • Andalusian Folk Music
      • Aragonese Folk Music
      • Asturian Folk Music
      • Canarian Folk Music
      • Chotis madrileño
      • Copla
      • Cuplé
      • Flamenco ████ = darkgreen
      • Galician Folk Music
      • Pasodoble
    • Tecnorumba
    • Tonada

African Music

  • hundreds of non-traditional genres ████ = deepskyblue
  • hundreds of traditional genres
      • Raï ████ = mediumvioletred

Jewish Music

  • Ashkenazi Music
    • Klezmer ████ = springgreen
    • Nigun
    • Yiddish Folksong
    • Jewish Liturgical Music
  • Muzika mizrahit
  • Oriental Jewish Music
  • Sephardic Music

South Asian Music

  • Baila
  • Balochi Traditional Music
  • Bhangra
  • Filmi ████ = lavender
  • Garba
  • Indian Pop
  • Pop Ghazal
  • Rigsar
  • South Asian Classical Music
  • South Asian Folk Music

Traditional Folk Music ████ = goldenrod

  • American Folk Music
    • Appalachian Folk Music
    • Barbershop ████ = #DDBBBB
    • Boogie Woogie
    • Cajun Music
      • Traditional Cajun
      • Zydeco ████ = chartreuse
    • Country Blues
    • Gospel ████ = sienna
    • Jug Band
    • Ragtime
    • Sacred Harp Music
    • Spirituals
    • Talking Blues
    • Traditional Country
  • European Folk Music
    • Alpine Folk Music
    • Balkan Folk Music
    • Basque Folk Music
    • Catalan Folk Music
    • Celtic Folk Music
    • Dutch Folk Music
    • English Folk Music
    • Estonian Folk Music
    • Fanfare
    • Flemish Folk Music
    • French Folk Music
    • German Folk Music
    • Għana
    • Hungarian Folk Music
    • Italian Folk Music
    • Latvian Folk Music
    • Lithuanian Folk Music
    • Mari Folk Music
    • Neo-Medieval Folk
    • Nordic Folk Music
    • Polka ████ = antiquewhite
    • Portuguese Folk Music
    • Romanian Folk Music
    • Slavic Folk Music
    • Spanish Folk Music
    • Walloon Folk Music
    • Warsaw City Folk
    • Yiddish Folksong

Rock ████ = crimson

  • hundreds of genres
  • Brazillian rock ████ = navy
  • Heavy metal ████ = #BB0022

Pop music ████ = skyblue

  • hundreds of genres
  • Easy Listening
    • Cocktail Nation
    • Exotica ████ = salmon
    • Light Music
    • Lounge
    • Pops Orchestra
    • Space Age Pop
  • Contemporary Christian Music ████ = lightgreen

Ska ████ = #FF8020

Disco ████ = gold


At this point, you can see how absurd the current use of colors is.

In some cases, we use colors for small regional genres, while the large category (which includes that genre) remains uncolored. We have to admit that we will not be able to set colors for different genres of each country/regions because there are tens of thousands of them. So the best option, as it seems to me, is to group similar regional scenes under the color of one region. Thus, I propose to reconsider current colors use for regional genres - remove colors from individual genres or transfer color (set a new one) to the entire group of genres of the same region. This applies only to those genres that come from local traditions and cultures, that cannot be put under global genres (like pop / rock / hip hop), the ones that remain regional.

Starting with the fourth group:

Purge exclusive colors and add color for the bigger groups (bolded)

  • Vallenato into Hispanic American Music (its own category or part of Hispanic/Latin Music) (↑ 2 - up to two levels in the genre tree)
  • Flamenco into Spanish Music (its own category or part of Hispanic/Latin Music) (↑ 2)
  • Exotica into Easy Listening (big group in Pop music) (↑ 1)
  • Mariachi into Mexican Music (big group in Hispanic American) (↑ 1)
  • Son montuno into Cuban Music (big group in Hispanic American) (↑ 2)
  • Mambo into Cuban Music (↑ 1)
  • Klezmer into Jewish Music (↑ 2)
  • Brazilian rock purge as part of Rock music
  • Contemporary Christian purge as part of Pop music
  • Raï purge as part of Afropop music
  • Zydeco purge as part of Folk music

Leave with the same exclusive colors, but also add color to the whole group:

  • Hispanic American Music = Cumbia, Merengue, Reggaeton, Rumba, Salsa, Tango
    • Brazilian Music = Samba
  • Caribbean Music = Calypso
    • Jamaican Music = Reggae (aka to purge exclusive color aka to add the same color to 5 parallel genres)
  • South Asian Music = Filmi (Asian Music would probably be more correct to divide into several categories - Middle East, South(east) Asian + East Asian)

And finally, colors that are fine as it is: 'Largest genres and groups', New Age / Space music, Polka, A capella, Gospel.

Summarily to do now:

  1. Assign a new color for music groups: Hispanic Music (Hispanic American Music (Brazilian Music, Mexican Music, Cuban Music), Spanish Music), Easy Listening, Jewish Music, Caribbean Music (Jamaican Music), Asian Music (Middle East, South(east) Asian + East Asian)
  2. Remove colors for genres: Exotica, Mariachi, Vallenato, Zydeco, Contemporary Christian, Son montuno, Mambo, Brazilian rock, Raï, Flamenco, Klezmer
  3. Next: add more colors for regional groups if needed, to color most groups from Wikipedia:WikiProject Music/Music genres task force/Footer or Category:Music genre templates

Solidest (talk) 18:33, 1 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

I don't have the background / history to be considered a knowledgeable response, but your analysis, rationale and plan looks good to me. North8000 (talk) 18:51, 1 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

Someone with accessibility and WCAG knowledge should be a part of this discussion. You could find someone like that through MOS:ACCESS.
Yeah, some of the already used colors do not meet the criterias described theres. MOS:CONTRAST already contains many ways to check the accessibility/ color contrasts, and I will recheck them if it comes to changes. Solidest (talk) 14:13, 7 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
On a separate note, the new colours do not make sense from a continuity standpoint. Walter Görlitz (talk) 07:39, 7 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
Yeah, but unlikely that we gonna have so many colors to mark the continuity of regional genres. The choice here is either to mark regional music with one color, or to remove the colors from all the small genres, I've listed in #3 + #4. The first option seems more compromise to me, since many genres on the wiki already use a similar scheme. For example, reggae music tree should be marked in green, but instead all related Jamaican music genres are already marked with that color, including mento, dancehall, rocksteady, etc, which are not direct descendants of reggae. The same can be seen in Caribbean music (soca music, parang marked with calypso music color]), filmi color marks many other regional genres in India. And this is fair for all the regional genres I've listed in #3 and #4, i.e. the continuity of colors for relatively minor regional genres is already universally ignored and will be ignored on Wikipedia, so the most compromise option as I see it - is to assign the color for all small genres from the single region. Solidest (talk) 14:15, 7 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
So, I begin with small steps to reorganize the genres. In the first phase, I will remove colors for all genres that are used in less than 5 templates, eventually for less than 10 templates (for some of them perhaps). Along the way, I'll deal with the contrasts issues. Solidest (talk) 18:55, 6 August 2021 (UTC)Reply

The whole idea of genre coloring is speculative and needs to go edit

I think neutral "electronic" gray color should be used for all infoboxes. Infoboxes are meant to summarize content, not add new information. If the sh*t is not found in the article, but you put it into infobox, then it should not be there in infobox in the first place.

The points I want to raise in relation to this issue:

  1. The uniformity of infobox colors for music genres is an actual manifestation of neutrality. You don't generally see text being colored in scientific articles, and many are still being released in black&white. Same for most encyclopedias out there.
  1. It drives attention from encyclopedic activity. They say "fusion genres" need to be based on dominant strain in the fusion, but the issue of dominance of a certain strain is not readily available for tons of them. Especially for newer ones. Here the coloring only serves as breeding ground for subgenre holywars. AFAIK, electronic genres were all made gray at one point for this exact reason: too much genre-fistfighting with too little contribution. I remember ragga jungle being green, house and minimal techno being light-gray etc, and goa trance being red, for some reason.
  1. Related to the previous point, that's why I propose gray color used for electronic genres to be used a default color. There's so much "intermixing" in electronic music, especially in dance genres, that it was wise decision in the first place to set colors aside. That's why situation with electronic genres should be set as example
  1. Some examples: Broken beat is electronic, but it is jazz at the same time, but someone arbitrarily decided that electronic is "dominant". No mention of that in the article, no discussion of dominance. Nu jazz, on contrary is jazz-pink, no idea why. Cause it's got "jazz" in its name? Why the hell is "acid jazz" ... orange then? Why the hell "new age and space music" is extracted from mass of electronic genres, but musique concrete, drone, ambient, noise music (other huge largely non-rhythmic electronic genres) aren't? Why "kuduro" is (what's that color called?) a shade of light-blue? Based on what and where's that in the infobox color suggestions? I remember oldschool kuduro being raw simplistic techno with dembows, MCs and such from Angola. Sonically not too different from moombahcore and jungle terror, yet kuduro colored completely outside the electronic spectra. I get it, many wikipedians are avid metalheads, and that's cool, but why punk rock is the same color as rock but heavy metal isn't, while explicitly being named as "subgenre of rock" in the lead? You say madchester has more in common with psychedelic rock (colored the same) than Black Sabbath (heavy metal is different color)? Nonsense. Hyperpop is pop while trap music is rap (according to the coloring scheme), makes a lot of sense (/s), that's why every one of the every teen's fav rappers has become a (hyper)pop star in the early 2022. Yea, hyperpop has more in common with ye-ye, than with trap music, makes sense, right. I can go on and on but that's wasting time going further cause any conscious man would already get aware from my examples that the situation is complete mess.
  1. Other media formats don't have this privilege of coloring. Million subgenres of journalism then why all journalists are colored the same color? Why are all fiction authors? Why aren't movies colored according to their genres? Why aren't albums of music colored according to the "dominant" genre they represent? Think about it a bit. That's because somewhere in the early 2000s some very tribalistic music fan thought it would have been a great idea to make his fav genre a different color, probably because there were so many music fans pirating their stuff online, while movie fans were still in movie theaters.
  1. Gray reads well on all media, while heavy metal and rap genres with their deep red and blue colors, respectively are a tire to eyes.
  1. The removing of colors should be implemented by locking color to gray in infobox code. Few lines to change at most, am i right? AK 178.121.43.158 (talk) 14:19, 19 March 2022 (UTC)Reply
Notwithstanding the ridiculousness of the whole idea of coloring for music genres, I still wonder why those wikipedians even associated jazz with pink color in the first place lmao. Pink is somewhat girly, is there research backing the decision to make all jazz pink? For many people, anecdotally, jazz is associated with the bebop aesthetic, which is described as "smoky", "hazy", "dusky", "nocturnal", not pink at all. Why rap is blue, is that because many African americans vote democratic or what lmao. That's all too stupid to be in wikipedia in the first place 178.121.43.158 (talk) 14:35, 19 March 2022 (UTC)Reply
This discussion was continued by the above IP user at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Music#Once_again_bringing_up_the_unresolved_topic_of_the_NPOVness_and_unnecessity_of_music_genre_infobox_coloring, so head over there for that. QuietHere (talk) 03:45, 20 March 2022 (UTC)Reply