TIKI | LOUNGE

List of Tiki and Lounge Music Genres and Subgenres

​There are many variations of tiki and lounge music, at FeeLIT Records we strive to and carefully select the latest up-to-date popular and hard to find titles on vinyl & CD releases

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What is tiki music?

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The music, like the tiki decor itself is eclectic. depending upon the person, it covers a full spectrum, including exotica, surf, rockabilly, Hawaiian contemporary, mid-century, Caribbean, calypso, Cuban, hula billy, as well as all points in between in any variety of fusions.

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Tiki culture is an American-originated art, music, and entertainment movement inspired by Polynesian, Melanesian, and Micronesian cultures, and by Oceanian art. Influential cultures to Tiki culture include Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, the Caribbean Islands, and Hawaii. The name comes from Tiki, the Māori name for the first human, often represented in the form of hei-tiki, a pendant and important taonga. The hei-tiki was often appropriated by Europeans as a commercialized good luck charm, hence the name of Tiki culture. Despite spanning over 10,000 miles and including many different unrelated cultures, religions, and languages, Tiki aesthetic is considered by some to be amalgamated into one "fantasia of trans-Pacific cultures" and "colonial nostalgia".[Because of this, and the simplistic view of the Pacific taken by the aesthetic, Tiki culture has often proved controversial.

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What is lounge music?

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Exotica, space age pop, and some forms of easy listening music popular during the 1950s and 1960s are now broadly termed "lounge".

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Latin Jazz (Merengue, Cha Cha, Bossa Nova, Salsa), Reggae, and Calypso would probably be best. But for a true Tiki Party experience, you need Exotic Music. “Exotica” means just what you think

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Mondo Exotica: True Tiki Bar Music. 

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Cocktail Capers: This one mixes Exotic with Jazzy styles and just “out there” 50’s riffs. Mix in with Mondo Exotica for a dash of spice.

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Bachelor Pad Royale: Not Exotic, but definitely 50’s lounge stuff, including Playboy’s Theme by Cy Coleman…a necessity in any lounge collection.

Wild, Cool & Swinin’: Again, not Exotic, but a great compilation of lounge stars of the era including Dean Martin, Sam Butera, Vic Damone, Julie London, Louis Prima and Sammy Davis, Jr

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Saxaphobia: More crazy 50’s stuff, blaring saxes!

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