New Age

New age is a genre of music that tends to focus on peaceful, meditative melodies and is often intended to provide the listener with a sense of relaxation, meditation or optimism. The genre can take different forms: electronic new age uses soft synths, long, sustained notes and simple drum beats, while acoustic new age uses instruments such as flutes, piano and guitar to create a calm atmosphere (although sometimes even these acoustic instruments are digital counterparts). Mike Oldfield, Enigma, Popol Vuh, and Vangelis are some of the most prominent artists in the genre. Some artists have even blended specific types of folk music into their own to create very distinct sounds, such as Enya and Clannad, who mixed new age and Celtic Folk Music to make Celtic New Age, and Cusco and Medwyn Goodall, whose South American influences stylized Andean New Age.