Organic house

Organic house is a subgenre of house music that emphasizes acoustic instruments and natural sounds.^[1] The genre was made as a way to express a "deeper, more meditative, and occasionally slower shades of house music",^[2][3] often combining elements of Deep House, Melodic House, Electronica, and Afro House.

Organic house
Stylistic origins	Deep house ambient Afro house Melodic house
Cultural origins	2020
Typical instruments	Kalimba, violin
Subgenres
Organic house and downtempo
Other topics
Deep house Ethnic music

Background

Genre naming

The term was first officially introduced by electronic music specialist Beatport in June 2020,^[4] although music possessing organic house characteristics had already been present since around 2017, including at well-known festivals such as Burning Man, Lightning in a Bottle, and Desert Hearts.^[5] Beatport's operators introduced the new category as a new genre to catalog house music having common elements, which previously went into segments less specific to it.

Style

The genre is characterized by a deeper mellow sound that is a combination of a multi-layered percussion line based largely on the sound of African drums such as bongos and congas, and atmospheric melodies created using both synthesizers and traditional instruments - violin, vibraphone, or kalimba.^[6]

Prominent artists of the genre include Lee Burridge, Sébastien Léger, Oliver Koletzki and Roy Rosenfeld amongst many others. Some top selling labels include All Day I Dream, Songuara, Cafe De Anatolia, Melody Of The Soul, Hoomidaas and Amulanga.^[7] At the 2024 DJ Awards the Organic House category was won by WhoMadeWho.^[8]