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The Netherlands has multiple musical traditions. Contemporary Dutch popular music (Nederpop) is heavily influenced by music styles that emerged in the 1950s, in the United Kingdom and United States. The style is sung in both Dutch and English. Some of the latter exponents, such as Golden Earring and Shocking Blue, have attained world wide fame. More traditional Dutch music however is a genre known as "Levenslied", meaning Song of/about life. These songs have catchy, simple rhythms and melodies, and are always built up on couplets and refrains. Themes are often sentimental and include love, death and loneliness. Traditional Dutch musical instruments such as the accordion and the barrel organ are essential to levenslied, though in recent years many levenslied-artists also use synthesizers and guitars. Artists in this genre include Koos Alberts and the late Andr Hazes and Willy Alberti.

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Folk Dutch folk music, is characterized by simple straightforward bass motives heavily supplemented with fast, often happy, melody. Uncommon among other European folk, in Dutch music the bass line, not the melody, is the musical line that is danced to. This means that though the music itself may sound fast, the dances are usually quite moderate to slow in tempo. The dances themselves are mainly group dances rather than individual or dual dances. Clogs are often worn during dances; however, Dutch clog dancing is very different from its more modern counterpart. It is virtually impossible to perform highly active dances with Dutch clogs (which are entirely made from wood, not just the sole) and hence the clogs function as additional percussion, by stamping rhythmically. In the early 19th century, rural Dutch folk began moving to cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, bringing with them folk traditions. Many of their songs and dances, however, began to dwindle in popularity. In the early part of the 20th century, however, a number of urban intellectuals travelled to the countrysides to record with local musicians, a process paralleled in other European countries, such as Spain.

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Pop music in Dutch language Many Dutch artists have become popular by singing songs in their own language. It started with Peter Koelewijn in the late 50s, the first to sing Rock and Roll in Dutch. In the 60s it was mainly Boudewijn de Groot to this day extremely popular. In the 70s there were many performers, of which Rob de Nijs stood out. The 80s were for Andr Hazes and less Koos Alberts. The 90s were dominated by Marco Borsato. Other well known names throughout the years were Jan Smit, Frans Bauer, Gerard Joling, Gordon, Guus Meeuwis and Ren Froger. In addition, there is a large group of bands that compose and perform pop and rock songs in the Dutch language. That started in the 70s with Polle Eduard, Bots and Normaal - which sang in dialect. Late 70s and early 80s there was a big boom of bands that used the Dutch language in their songs.

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Rap Several Dutch groups have played an important role in the development of rap and hiphop in the Netherlands. The Urban Dance Squad, led by Rude Boy (who later also played with Junkie XL), produced an original mix of rock and rap, laying the foundation for the nu metal hype of the late 90s and early 00s. Def La Desh and the Fresh Witness, led by Wendy Wright, brought rap with vocals to the forefront, with groups like TLC following. The Osdorp Posse were the founders of Dutch rap or nederhop. Their frontman, Def P (Pascal Griffioen), switched from English to Dutch in 1988, which made him the first to rap in Dutch.

The other types of music are : ` Punk ` Electronic music ` Indie rock ` Boerenrock ` Death Metal ` Black Metal ` Symphonic Rock ` Hard Rock

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Team sports Individual sports

Football

Field hockey

Volleyball

Baseball

Cricket

Rugby

Tennis

Ice skating

Swimming

Judo

Kickboxing