El Salvador is a Central American country whose culture is a mixture of Mayan, Aztec, Spanish and West African influences. Its music includes religious songs (mostly Roman Catholic) used to celebrate Christmas and other holidays, especially feast days of the saints. Satirical and rural lyrical themes are common. Popular music in El Salvador uses flutes, drums, scrapers and gourds, as well more recently imported guitars and other instruments. Cuban, Colombian and Mexican music has infiltrated the country, especially ranchera, cumbia and salsa.

Political chaos tore the country apart in the early 20th century, and music was often suppressed, especially those with strong native influences. In the 1950s, for example, it was decreed that a dance called xuc was to be the "national dance", in spite of it not being terribly common throughout the country. The 1960s saw an influx of American and British pop and rock, inspiring like-minded Salvadoran bands, while the following two decades were dominated by a wave of popular genres from across Latin America, mostly folk-based singer-songwriter genres like Chilean nueva canción. Dominican merengue and bachata also became very popular.

Salvadoran cumbia is related to but very distinct from Colombian cumbia, which is much more well known outside of El Salvador. Chanchona ensembles, led by a pair or a single violin, are popular, especially among the immigrant community in the Washington D.C. area.