soul music

noun

1. a fervent type of popular music developed in the late 1950s by Black Americans as a secularized form of gospel music, with rhythm-and-blues influences, and distinctive for its earthy expressiveness, variously plaintive or raucous vocals, and often passionate romanticism or sensuality.

Word History and Origins

Origin of soul music¹

An Americanism dating back to 1960–65

Example Sentences

Sharing the top of the bill, singer Snoh Aalegra has been tamping down the traditional catharsis of soul music into something more internal and subdued.

From Washington Post

Bobby Womack was one of the greatest exemplars of the mutual pleasure program of soul music.

From The Daily Beast

Revisiting the soul music of Womack is a good first step to rescuing the reciprocity necessary for real intimacy.

From The Daily Beast

The flip side of that, though, is their passion for the soul music of the past, and for its promise of redemption.

From The Daily Beast

Wells transformed old cheating and heart songs into soul music by resisting the overplay of emotion, writes singer Laura Cantrell.

From The Daily Beast

We know what Borel has written on the gamelan (he calls it soul music).

From Project Gutenberg