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
Bembeya Jazz , one of the most popular bands in Guinea's history, forms; Congolese rumba also becomes extremely popular, largely due to Joseph Kabasele
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
Davy Graham and Sandy Bull make influential recordings that fused Indian music with rock, jazz and other American genres
Black Star Musical Club puts the small town of Tanga, Zanzibar on the musical map and brings a modernized version of taarab across Africa and elsewhere
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
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
Colin M. Turnbull publishes a study of the Pygmy people of central Africa, bringing them to worldwide attention; some of his recordings of their music are commercially released
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
Calypso jazz , a fusion of jazz and calypso, arises in the Caribbean, centered around Barbados and Trinidad
Motown's artists and music become internationally successful.
Chad Allan & the Expressions (later and better known as The Guess Who) have a hit with "Shakin' All Over "; this is the beginning of Canadian pop 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
Concha Velasco "La Chicha Ye-Yé" is the first major hit for the Ye-Yé scene in Spain; Rosalia 's "Flamenco" introduces a more distinctively Spanish sound in Ye-Yé
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
Rocksteady, the earliest form of reggae, emerges as a genre with the success of performers like Alton Ellis. The hit single "Get Ready - Rock Steady" is arguably the first rocksteady recording; its stylistic uniqueness is due to the bassist not showing up for the recording session, necessitating the keyboardist to play the bass part
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
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 Kĩkũyũ pop ; Daniel Kamau also begins recording in the same style, though not with as much commercial success -- he will incorporate Kĩkũyũ styles into benga, which is only beginning to gain mainstream success across Kenya
Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight & the Pips have two major hit records ("Respect" for Franklin, "I Heard It Through the Grapvine " for Knight and the Pips), which popularize a strong gospel-based sound for female soul singers, eclipsing the more pop-based sound of groups like The Supremes.
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
Four well-attended and influential Argentinean rock concerts are held: the June Sunday concerts, Festival Nacional de Música Beat , Festival Pinap and Festival de Música Joven
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
