Colombian music terminology includes words derived from Spanish and other languages.

• agüelulo: A teenage gathering, originally held in private homes and then larger spaces; a teenager who frequented such a place was a agüelero or sometimes a cocacolos, after the main beverage drunk at agüelulos, Coca Cola
• música andina: An early national style of the 19th and early 20th centuries, developed from the Andean interior
• música antillana: A kind of popular dance music based on Cuban and Puerto Rican styles
• audición: literally listening, can refer to a "special musical tribute to the career of a particular artist or group", performed before the beginning of a concert
• baile: Literally, dance, dances are alphabetized under their descriptor, e.g. baile de cuota is alphabetized under cuota
• bambuco: An Andean style of dance music, perceived as a national music in the early 20th century, or an Andean lyric music performed along with pasillo as a common part of the música andina repertoire
• balada: In popular music, refers to a kind of "Spanish romantic popular music", found across Latin America
• bandola: A stringed instrument similar to a mandolin, used in llanera and musica andina
• bandolin: A larger relative of the bandola
• bingo bailable: A dance that includes bingo games and salsa music
• bolero: A loose term for love ballads
• bombo: A drum used in folklore groups on the Atlantic coast, laid with sticks and used to start a performance by calling on the other drums to perform; a bass drum used in traditional cumbia ensembles
• bugalú: An early form of New York salsa, popular in Colombia during the 1960s, a fusion of son with rhythm and blues
• bullerengue: A Costeño form, performed by flute-and-drum ensembles
• caja vallenata: A vallenato drum originally made from goatskin
• calle de las salsotecas: Literally, salsoteca street, referring to Calle 44, a three mile long road in Cali, referring to the numerous salsotecas and tabernas along the street, known for featuring salsa dura and Cuban music during the 1980s and 90s
• caballo: A rhythmic pattern played on the conga]]
• camaján: An alternate term for the pachuco
• campana: A cowbell
• campanero: A performer of the cowbell, notably played by audience members along with the on-stage performer
• capachos: Maracas
• música caribeña: A rarely-used synonym for música antillana
• carrilera: A form of guitar-based music from the Antioquia province, associated "with the urbanizing peasant or working class"
• carrito: Small, streetside vendors of recorded music
• carrizo: A form of Colombian folk flute
• caseta: A dance hall
• cencerro: A timbales cowbell
• champeta: A form of rootsy music from the Pacific coastal city of Cartagena, where an Afro-Colombian population developed the style; an Afro-Colombian style associated with Cartagena and Barranquilla, which combines elements of African pop, soca, zouk, mbaqanga and soukous
• champús bailable: A Caleño tradition of house parties, which began in the 1930s and were usually held on Sundays; champú, a beverage made from pineapple, corn, bitter orange leaves and a fruit called lulo
• chandé: A Costeño form, performed by flute-and-drum ensembles
• chirimía: A kind of ensemble found in the northwest corner of Chocó province
• chucu-chucu: An alternate term for raspa
• cokacolo: A teenage dancer at a agüelulo
• contrapunteo: An improvised, verbal duel
• música colombiana': Colombian music, formerly understood to refer to música andina in the 19th and early 20th century, when that style was perceived as a national music
• baile de cuota: A type of dance party in Cali's working class neighborhoods during the mid-20th century
• cuatro: A small guitar, used in llanera
• currulao: A marimba-based music found along the southwest littoral Valle, Cauca and Nariño provinces of Colombia, as well as Esmeraldas in Ecuador
• cumbia: A form of nation music, originally from the Atlantic coast and characterized by a "solidly grounded and complex layered rhythm with an airily syncopated melody"
• empanada bailable: An alternate term for champú bailable, referring to the empanadas often served
• fandango: A Costeño song form, performed by flute-and-drum ensembles
• festivales: Community dances in Cali, held in neighborhood dance halls or pavilions
• fiesta patronales: Saints days
• flauto de millo: See millo, flauto de
• gaita: A folk flute; a Costeño form, performed by flute-and-drum ensembles; conjunto de gaita is a traditional cumbia ensemble
• guabina: A kind of música andina
• guacharaca: A scraper, common in vallenato
• guache: Rattles made from filling metal or gourd tubes with seeds
• guateque: Originally a Cuban word referring to a rural campesino party, which came to refer to a form of salsa dura, characterized by "slow, grinding son montunos with heavy bass and percussion; associated also with El guateque de la salsa (The Salsa Party), a popular radio show from 1989 to 1993
• música de la interior: An Andean style, often used synonymously with bambuco, characterized by a gentle and melodic sound and a well-developed melody at the expense of rhythmic complexity
• joropo: Originally a folk dance performed in honor of saints days and other special occasions, such as birthdays and baptism; now more often a generic word for llanera based dance music; a courtship dance associated with central Colombia and that region's cowboy culture, a "dynamic, polyrhythmic mestizo style that fuses Andalusian, African and indigenous elements"
• kiosco: A community pavilion, used for musical performances
• llamador: A drum, traditionally used in cumbia as well as modern música tropical
• llanera: A form of harp-led music
• marimbula: A low-pitched thumb piano
• flauto de millo: A folk clarinet of the Atlantic coast
• melómano: A "music aficionado"
• música: Literally music, music forms are alphabetized by their descriptor, e.g. música antillana is alphabetized under antillana
• música de negros: Literally black people's music, a pejorative term used by the elite to deride musics such as música antillana
• nueva ola: Literally new wave, a kind of pop-balada performed by romantic crooners, which peaked in the 1960s and 70s
• orquesta: A dance band
• orquesta femenina: An all-female dance ensemble
• orquesta infantile: An all-child dance ensemble
• orquesta juvenile: An all-youth dance ensemble
• pachanga: An early form of New York salsa, popular in Colombia during the 1960s, especially in the city of Cali
• pachuco: An iconic figure, a "ruffian and a hustler... an antihero", especially important in the culture surrounding the Zona de Tolerancia
• parrandero: A typical lyrical focus of the more macho side of popular cumbia, referring to a boasting, aggressive and sexual "party-going man"
• pasillo: A lyric song form from the Andean region
• el paso Caleño: A traditional dance step from the city of Cali, characterized by a "rapid 'double-time' shuffle on the tips of the toes"
• pasta americana: Carrito slang referring to the thicker and higher quality vinyl of American records
• picó: Derived from the English pickup, a large sound system among DJs in Cartagena and Barranquilla during the 1980s
• pop tropical: A form of mid-1990s pop-salsa
• porro: A village brass band; a song form performed by the flute-and-drum ensembles of the Atlantic coast region, as well as mid-20th century urban dance orquestas
• raspa: A simplied form of música tropical which emerged in the late 1960s
• refajo: A street slang from the Zona de Tolerancia in Cali
• rock en español: Spanish language rock music, most closely associated with the cities of Bogotá and Medellín in Colombia
• rumba: Partying or merry-making, compare to rumbero, a party
• salsa: A Spanish Caribbean dance music created in New York City using elements of Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican music, a combination known in Colombia as musica antillana
• salsíbiri: A term coined by Fruko to describe his own style
• sals&oacute'mano: A salsa fan
• salsoteca: A venue that plays salsa
• serenata: A pan-Latin tradition of street serenades performed by small groups of instrumentalists, especially guitarists
• tambor hembra: The lead frum of the Atlantic coast drum choirs
• tambor macho: A conga-like drum that leads the basic rhythm of the Atlantic coast drum choirs
• terapia: An alternate term for champeta
• music