electric cellist

electric cellist (plural electric cellists)


electric violinist

en-noun

electric violinist (plural electric violinists)


electric sitarist

electric sitarist (plural electric sitarists)


electric harpist

electric harpist (plural electric harpists)


harp guitarist

harp guitarists (plural)
harp-guitarist (alternative)


scratchband

scratchband (countable and uncountable, plural scratchbands)

(countable, dated, Virgin Islands) A group of musicians who play scratch music.

(uncountable, dated, music, Virgin Islands) The genre of music such musicians create; scratch, quelbe or fungi music.


squeezeboxer

squeezeboxers (plural)
squeeze boxer (alternative)
squeeze-boxer (alternative)

Someone who plays a squeezebox (accordion).


mouth organist

Someone who plays any of the instruments called a mouth organ (panpipes, Jew's harp, harmonica).


Jew's harpist

Jew's harpists (plural)
Jew's-harpist (alternative)
jews-harpist (alternative)
jew's harpist (alternative)


jaw harpist

Someone who plays a jaw harp (Jew's harp).


mouth harpist

Someone who plays a mouth harp (either a harmonica or a Jew's harp).


fiddlist

fiddlists (plural)
fiddleist (alternative)


idiophonist

Someone who plays an idiophone musical instrument.


frottoirist

Someone who plays a frottoir (rubboard).


rub-boardist

rub-boardists (plural)
rubboardist (alternative)


glass harmonicist

glass harmonicist (plural glass harmonicists)


cowbellist

I spent the next two months back in Michigan, where my days as a cowbellist were coming to an end.

2008, Rick Lax, Lawyer Boy: A Case Study on Growing Up, page 42:

(chiefly humorous) Someone who plays a cowbell.


musical sawist

Synonym of sawist (Someone who plays a musical saw)


woodblockist

woodblockists (plural)
wood-blockist (alternative)


bellist

(rare) Someone who plays bells; a musical bell ringer.


pannist

Most contemporary bands are comprised of between fifty and two hundred volunteer pannists, who play one or two harmonic pans; with up to six instruments, bass pannists have to be pretty dextrous, twisting around to reach the right notes.

2018, Polly Thomas, The Rough Guide to Trinidad and Tobago, Apa Publications, →ISBN:


steel pannist

steel pannists (plural)
steelpannist (alternative)


steel drummer

steel drummers (plural)
steeldrummer (alternative)


woodwindist

Someone who plays a woodwind instrument, such as the clarinet.


wind instrumentalist

wind instrumentalist (plural wind instrumentalists)


reed instrumentalist

reed instrumentalist (plural reed instrumentalists)


brass instrumentalist

brass instrumentalist (plural brass instrumentalists)


string instrumentalist

string instrumentalist (plural string instrumentalists)

Someone who plays a string instrument (chordophone).


bugle-player

bugle-players (plural)
bugle player (alternative)


flute-player

flute-players (plural)
fluteplayer (alternative)

(rare, dated) Someone who plays a flute.


bluester

A musician who plays the blues or music influenced by the blues.


rhinestone cowboy

rhinestone cowboy (plural rhinestone cowboys)

A person, especially a country musician, who affects a cowboy-like image but with glamorous and fashionable accents.


frame drummer

Someone who plays any instrument of the frame drum-family.


bucket drummer

Someone who plays a bucket as a musical instrument, usually as a busker or street musician.


hornpiper

hornpipers (plural)
horn-piper (alternative)
horn piper (alternative)

From Middle English hornpiper, hornpipere, equivalent to hornpipe + -er.


handclapper

Someone who claps, especially as part of a musical performance; a clapper.


jawboneist

jawboneists (plural)
jawbonist (alternative)

Audio (US)

Someone who plays a jawbone as a musical instrument.


division-violist

division-violists (plural)
division violist (alternative)


guslar

bor

gȕslār//гу̏сла̄р


Hardanger fiddler

en-noun

Hardanger fiddler (plural Hardanger fiddlers)


monochordist

Someone who plays a monochord (one-stringed chordophone).


barrel organist

barrel organist (plural barrel organists)


church organist

church organist (plural church organists)


talking drummer

talking drummer (plural talking drummers)

talking drummers (plural)
talking-drummer (alternative)


tom-tom drummer

tom-tom drummer (plural tom-tom drummers)


tromba marinist

tromba marinist (plural tromba marinists)


steel band

A band (musical group) who perform with steelpans.


string player

a musician who plays a string instrument, one where a bow is used, often in an orchestra.


aulode

(historical) A singer who accompanies a song played on the aulos.


songman

They have epic material so that it takes sometimes forty years to become a songman.

2014, Anne Waldman, Laura Wright, Cross Worlds: Transcultural Poetics: An Anthology:

A singer, especially a singer of songs; a gleeman.


triangulist

Mr. Church plays well enough for even his rebukes to sniggering children to be enjoyable: when it turns out that none of them will take over the vacant triangle in the school orchestra because the last triangulist's hair fell out, it is all faintly sinister.

1964, The Spectator, Volume 213, page 47:

So, those who wish to apply for the position of triangulist, hands up please.

1968, James Saunders, Neighbours: And Other Plays, page 175:

Of course, we know the difference between good and bad triangulists... but one refuses to see in the sporadic triangle tinkling the ultimate purpose of a human being's earthly existence.

1975, George Seltzer, The Professional symphony orchestra in the United States, page 171:

A rich and varied life, a good deal more interesting than that of Hindemith's classically-minded triangulist.

1977, Country Life, Volume 162, page 611:

Backstage after the concert, the maestro rewards the triumphant triangulist with his trademarked embrace.

1982, The Washingtonian, Volume 17, page 200:

In the 1964 Slovak film, The Case of Barnabas Kos (Solan 1964), the lead character is a rather ordinary, somewhat lazy or absent-minded triangulist for an orchestra whom the board promotes to business manager against his will.

2007, Jonathan L. Larson, Whose Critical Thinking? Political Processes and Regimes of Voice in Western Slovakia, 1948-2005, page 343:

Jerome was getting to be one feisty little triangulist.

2013, Chris Lynch, Scratch and the Sniffs, page 36:


doo-wopper

A street-corner group of doo-woppers caught his hear.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 166:


Eminem

Of her husband, now a successful attorney, she says: "He's no Eminem, but he's not a buck-toothed, tractor-driving white boy either. He's a cool, worldly dude.

2002 February, Hyun Kim, “Head of the Class”, in Vibe, volume 10, number 2:

In an early song that did not end up on his album, I Don't Know, he responded to critics who compared him to the white rapper Eminem. I'm no Eminem / but I'm not wack either / The only reason you compare me to him / Is because I'm not black either.

2007, Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, Mimi Thi Nguyen, Alien Encounters: Popular Culture in Asian America, →ISBN, page 56:

This is the entry point for all the Eminems, and for all the Eminems to come

2011, Morris Berman, Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline, →ISBN:

Rocky was no Eminem.

2015, Narinder Dhami, Bhangra Babes, →ISBN:

All I know is: I'm no Eminem, and I want nothing to do with a cypher, even though all of these guys (and one chick) are looking at me expectantly like, Why wouldn't dude want to join in?

2016, Allison Glock-Cooper, T. Cooper, Changers, Book Two: Oryon, →ISBN:

(colloquial) A talented rapper, on the same level as the rapper Eminem.


one-woman band

(music) A woman who plays multiple instruments at once.


crunkmeister

From crunk + -meister (suffix indicating an expert on a specified subject).

suffix

In the South, where folks often walk straight off the corner into the congregation, people expect rap to touch on the sacred as well as the profane, though it handles the latter much more convincingly than the former. Pastor Troy flips this equation. On his uneven but occasionally stirring new release, the ATL crunkmeister is at his best when dropping lyrics about the rapture […]

2002, Vibe, volume 10, number 11, [Miamisburg, Oh.?]: Vibe Media Group, Miller Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 162:

The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards returns to South Florida Oct. 10, the magazine officially announced at a news conference in New York Thursday. […] Chicago newcomer Kanye West tops the list of nominees with seven nods. Atlanta rapper Ludacris follows with six; crunkmeister Lil Jon was nominated for four awards.

2004 September 10, Evelyn McDonnell, “Source Awards hop to Miami”, in The Miami Herald, number 362, Miami, Fla.: Miami Herald Media Company, The McClatchy Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4A, column 1:

Lil Jon, Petey, T.I., Trick Daddy, all you thuggin' crunkmeisters, I apologize. A while back, I started listening to Power 92, where crunk currently reigns supreme, and now I'm fucking hooked.

2005 January 6, Brendan Joel Kelley, “Crunk junkie”, in Phoenix New Times, Phoenix, Ariz.: New Times, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-01-16:

[A] couple of reggae-flavored tracks [from In My Mind by Heather Headley], including the Shaggy-assisted "Rain," and the sweetly nostalgic doo-wop throwback "Back When It Was," which, in a marked stylistic departure, was produced by crunkmeister Lil Jon.

2006, People, volume 65, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 41:

And though his [Juicy J's] sound has definitely diverged from the gritty gangsta rap style he perfected while in Three 6 Mafia, the rubbery-voiced emcee, who now makes upbeat, bouncy party jams, is still every bit the crunkmeister.

2017 February 2, Jessie Schiewe, “Chronicles of the Juice Man: Three 6 Mafia co-founder Juicy J is killing it as a solo artist”, in SF Weekly, San Francisco, Calif.: Clint Reilly Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-09-16:

(music, slang, rare) A performer of crunk music.


musicaster

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-musicaster.wav


imbongi

en-noun

imbongi (plural izimbongi or iimbongi or imbongis)

izimbongi (plural)
iimbongi (plural)
imbongis (plural)

Borrowed from Zulu imbongi and Xhosa imbongi. The plural izimbongi is derived from Zulu, while iimbongi is from Xhosa.

Let us consider the contemporary oral poetry of the Xhosa Bantu[…], and its highest form, the praise-poetry of male tradents, who were attached until recently to tribal chiefs. The tradents are imbongi ‘praise poets’ and the genre of their work is the izibongo ‘praise poem.’ “The lines of the imbongi’s oral izibongo do not display either syllabic or quantitative meter … though there is some reason to believe that one may be able to determine certain recurrent intonational patterns that function as meter” ([Jeff] Opland 1975: 194).

1980, M. O'Connor, “Hebrew Verse Structure”, in Hebrew Verse Structure, Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, published 1997, →ISBN, section 1.7.2 (Constriction in Other Languages), page 157:

[…] Mbutuma and Manisi are both "traditional" iimbongi, but Manisi's oral poetry is more historical than Mbutuma's – so that the bearer of a tradition is an individual creative artist even though he shares attributes with other participants in the tradition. […] Few Xhosa iimbongi today are untouched by urbanization, literacy, and exposure to mass media. How have these forces affected the tradition? To what extent can modern iimbongi be considered traditional?

1983, Jeff Opland, “Change in the Tradition”, in Xhosa Oral Poetry: Aspects of a Black South African Tradition (Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture; 7), Cambridge, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 234:

In the national figures this bawdy laughter seems hardly ever to be present; it is only slyly winked at once in the King's praises in the "pillow" reference, but on the whole it is suppressed or censored out by successive izimbongi.

1991, Liz Gunner and Mafika [Pascal] Gwala, translators and editors, “Introduction: Izibongo, Power, and the Popular Voice”, in Musho!: Zulu Popular Praises (African Historical Sources; no. 3), East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, →ISBN:

Sunday Times Managing Editor, Ray Hartley – a former political correspondent – is brutal about the state of political journalism. He questions the lack of analysis and debate about government policy and dismisses a lot of the writing about President [Thabo] Mbeki and the government as 'hagiography'. While the government may have its media imbongis (praise singers), much of the problem lies with inexperienced political reports and poor newsroom leadership.

2005, Angela Quintal, “Political Reporting”, in Adrian Hadland, editor, Essays on South African Journalism, Cape Town: HSRC Press, published 2006, →ISBN, pages 55–56:

Modern South African film directors and performers as bards, izimbongi or storytellers have only residues of existing 'traditional societies' to bring to the surface. Where primarily oral cultures elaborate their stories within the epic form, fables and extraordinary heroes and fantasies, the izimbongi in The People's Poet and Songololo are more concerned with cultural loss, oppression, colonisation and emancipation.

2006, Keyan G[ray] Tomaselli, “Orality in African Cinema: Reasoning, Representation and Relativism”, in Encountering Modernity: Twentieth Century South African Cinemas (SAVUSA Series; 4), Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers; South Africa: UNISA Press, →ISBN, page 92:

Mandhlakazi provided a description of the dress and actions of izimbongi (praise singers) as they recited and performed praises and told Stuart, / I, Mandhlakazi, once asked a son of Magolwana how it was that the Zulu izimbongi were able to remember the praises of kings to so extraordinary a degree[…]. He said it was because they were given always tripe to eat. Moreover, they used to eat the drug umklele, […]

2015, Elizabeth A. Eldredge, “Oral Traditions in the Reconstruction of South African History”, in Kingdoms and Chiefdoms of Southeastern Africa: Oral Traditions and History, 1400–1830 (Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora; 64), Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press; Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, →ISBN, page 46:

An interesting exception to the generally formal, apprenticeship-based training assumed for the professions is that of the imbongi, or praise-poet, among groups such as the Zulu and Xhosa in southern Africa. The imbongi is in many ways a unique figure in traditional society; his role is part historian, part counselor, part social and political critic. The imbongi fulfills a role similar to that played by the medieval bard, relying both on the established oral tradition and his own ability to improvise in creating the appropriate izibongo (praise-poem) for the occasion.

2018, Timothy Reagan, “‘A Wise Child is Talked to in Proverbs’: Indigenous Educational Thought and Practice in Africa”, in Non-Western Educational Traditions: Local Approaches to Thought and Practice, 4th edition, New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 83:

(chiefly South Africa) A praise singer, a traditional bard in Zulu culture.


houngenikon

houngenikons (plural)
ounjenikon (alternative)

The houngenikon thereupon starts off the song, the drums and the chorus join in and when it is ended the houngan inquires: “Are you satisfied?”

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 51:

The drums changed and the Houngenikon came dancing on to the floor, holding a vessel filled with some burning liquid from which sprang blue and yellow flames.

Sometimes Bienaimé nods in the direction of a particularly noisy racket, and the houngenikon flicks at those kids with his whip.

I was told that the Vodou priest Cesar had had a serious fight with Nicole, the ounjenikon, mistress of song, of his temple.

1995, Karen McCarthy Brown, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 211

(voodoo) The leader of singing in a voodoo ceremony.


Baul

Baul songs

One of a class of a syncretic religious sect of hardy, mystic minstrels from rural Bengal.


parandero

On the Caribbean coast, the Ganfuna communities are known for their paranda, most of whose practitioners (paranderos) are fairly elderly and live in Belize.

2002, Moon handbooks: Guatemala, page 63:

The possibility, however remote, was enough for one parandero to point this out as part of my education into the tradition. In retrospect, during the first night of parang in 1989, I learned far more than chords and rhythms.

2008, Kevin K. Birth, Bacchanalian Sentiments: Musical Experiences and Political Counterpoints in Trinidad., →ISBN:

Few people know this, but at a time when many young people were turning away from Garifuna traditions, Andy's very first recording was a song on Traditional Music of the Garifuna (Black Carib) of Belize (Folkways, 1 982), with late parandero Gabaga Williams on guitar, backed by a female chorus and Garifuna drummers.

The paranderos, the singers, had arrived.

2016, Elizabeth Nunez, Even in Paradise, →ISBN, page 263:

Paul Nabor was a legendary Garifuna parandero from Punta Gorda, Wilfred Peters was a Creole brukdown accordionist from Belize City, and Florencio Mess is a traditional Maya harpist living in the farming village of San Pedro Columbia.

2016, Alex Egerton, Paul Harding, Lonely Planet Belize, →ISBN:

(Caribbean) A man who performs parang music.


barbershopper

(informal) A performer of barbershop music.


synthetist

(art) An artist working in the style of synthetism.

(music) A musician that plays the synthesizer.


sidegirl

An assortment of sidemen (and sidegirls) provide a varied accompaniment on mouth-harp, dulcimer, fiddle, and, of course, guitar.

Playing lead alto saxophone and doubling on soprano, Patterson stands to announce each tune in a set, beats off the tempo and then credits each "sidegirl" at song's end for the solos performed.

1980 November 15, Dave Dexter Jr., “Billboard”, in All-Female Big Band Rolls In L.A., volume 92, number 46:

The sidegirls paraded into their place beside the gangplank;

2016, Mike Shepherd, Kris Longknife: Bold, →ISBN, page 218:

(music) A female soloist playing with a band or group of which she is not a regular member.


sopranoist

Someone who plays the soprano saxophone.


subcontrabass saxophonist

subcontrabass saxophonist (plural subcontrabass saxophonists)

subcontrabass saxophone
subcontrabass saxophone

A person who plays the subcontrabass saxophone.


contrabass saxophonist

contrabass saxophonist (plural contrabass saxophonists)

contrabass saxophone
contrabass saxophone

A person who plays the contrabass saxophone.


bass saxophonist

bass saxophonist (plural bass saxophonists)


baritone saxophonist

baritone saxophonist (plural baritone saxophonists)

A person who plays the baritone saxophone.


tenor saxophonist

tenor saxophonist (plural tenor saxophonists)


alto saxophonist

alto saxophonist (plural alto saxophonists)


soprano saxophonist

soprano saxophonist (plural soprano saxophonists)

A person who plays the soprano saxophone.


sopranino saxophonist

sopranino saxophonist (plural sopranino saxophonists)

A person who plays the sopranino saxophone.


soprillo saxophonist

soprillo saxophonist (plural soprillo saxophonists)

A person who plays the soprillo saxophone (soprillo).


sopranissimo saxophonist

sopranissimo saxophonist (plural sopranissimo saxophonists)

A person who plays the sopranissimo saxophone (soprillo).


singing girl

She was a stranger in Palembang: she had fled from some one in in the interior, and had lately entered the house of Tumunggung Nora Wangsa; who was patron, also, of another singing girl present, called Sahdeeah.

1856, Walter M. Gibson, The Prison of Weltevreden: And a Glance at the East Indian Archipelago, Sampson Low Son & Company, page 213:

The Guide to the Yoshiwara gives a list of fifty-five singing-girls, besides a host of minor stars. These women are not to be confounded with the courtesans.

1870, “Tales of Old Japan, No. II—The Loves of Gompachi and Komurasaki”, in The Fortnightly Review, volume 14:

A girl is not considered disgraced if, for her parent's sake, she sells herself into the life of a "singing girl", geisha, or plain prostitute.

1943, Clyde B. Camerer, Peter E. Huth, “The Social Evil in Japan”, in United States Naval Medical Bulletin, volume 41:

One was a revolt of the people of Medina, who had publicly withdrawn their allegiance to Yazid, in spite of his attempts to conciliate their leaders, in reaction, we are told, to the caliph's personal unsuitability for his office—charges such as enjoyment of singing girls and playing with a pet monkey are brought against him in the tradition.

2000 July 13, G. R. Hawting, The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate, AD 661-750, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 47:

A young woman of low social status (often enslaved) who performs as a musician and entertainer, especially in Asian societies.


Yankee tunesmith

Yankee tunesmith (plural Yankee tunesmiths)

(music, historical, US) One of a group of self-taught composers active in New England from 1770 until about 1810.


azmari

An entertainer who sings and plays traditional string instruments of the Ethiopian highlands.


boy group

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-boy group.wav

Well, 2017 must have been a very happy year for k-pop fans because so many rookie boy groups debuted in the year.

2018, UK Jung, BTS: The K-pop Pioneer, →ISBN:


super-duo

(music) A duo formed of well-known musicians.


(c)rapper

rapper (canonical)
c (romanization)
(c)rappers (plural)
c'rapper (alternative)
c-rapper (alternative)

Blend of crap + rapper. Written so to disambiguate from the other senses of crapper.

Ah (c)rappers with gun, aka thugs, chasing after people
that don't listen to (c)rap. What is the mentality of
these people?

1990 May 3, Streaker,Stall # 1,,, “Rap”, in rec.humor (Usenet):

The point is, why are the (c)rappers so intent on creating yet more
discontent and hate in the mind of the (usually) younger generations of
kids? (Usually black, but also hispanic, white, oriental, whatever.)

1991 November 8, Michael Hart, “(C)rap music”, in alt.peeves (Usenet):

You don't, cause those (c)rappers aren't even musicians. In fact, they
even sample all their music, they don't write music at all. So they're
not even COMPsicians! I mean, if Vanilla Ice & Tone Loc are the best
(c)rap has to offer, then give me rock!

1992 September 16, Ray Shea, “Need information about " The Doors " .”, in rec.music.misc (Usenet):

It didn't take me long to realize that I didn't like it. Why waste money
on something you don't want? As I said, even though I don't voluntarily
listen to it, I am (over)exposed to (c)rap on a constant basis. I can
name you ten (c)rappers; can you name ten Industrial artists? See what I
mean?

1997 May 2, JBytes, “Music & the BIG Picture”, in soc.culture.haiti (Usenet):

My Kenyan (Africa) roomie views
(c)rappers and the folks who listen to (sh)it as quite goofy and
silly. He likes Journey (the band). You don't even want to know of
what he thinks of Jesse Jackson.

2001 June 21, Jason, “Rockford Files”, in humanities.philosophy.objectivism (Usenet):

> - An entertainment lawyer
defends (c)rappers when they are charges with plagarism^([sic]) a.k.a. 'sampling'
music

2004 May 27, Jasper PNL Mfg Co, LTD, “Will we ever get reparations?”, in soc.culture.african.american (Usenet):

German rapper who joined ISIS killed in U.S. strike, official says
By Paul Cruickshank, CNN

2015 October 30, Byker, “German (c)rapper-turned-jihadist killed in Syria”, in alt.fan.rush-limbaugh (Usenet):

(slang, derogatory, vulgar) A crapper; a rapper.