Exotica is a musical genre that was popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s with Americans who came of age during World War II. The term was coined by Simon "Si" Waronker, Liberty Records co-founder and board chairman, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album Exotica. The musical colloquialism exotica means tropical ersatz, the non-native, pseudo experience of insular Oceania, Southeast Asia, Hawaii, the Amazon basin, the Andes, the Caribbean and tribal Africa. While the South Seas forms the core region, exotica reflects the "musical impressions" of every place from standard travel destinations to the mythical "shangri-las" dreamt of by armchair safari-ers. This album featured lush orchestral arrangements along with tribal rhythms and offered such classics as "Quiet Village", "Jungle River Boat", "Love Dance", and "Stone God." Ritual is the seminal exotica record, influencing all that came after it. As the 1950s progressed, Baxter carved out a niche in this area, producing a number of titles in this style including Tamboo! (1956), Caribbean Moonlight (1956), Ports of Pleasure (1957), The Sacred Idol (1960) and Jewels of the Sea (1961). Baxter claimed Ravel and Stravinsky as influences on his work.
In 1957, Martin Denny covered Les Baxter's "Quiet Village", with exotic bird calls and a vibraphone instead of strings, which established the sound of the Polynesian styled music. The song reached #2 on Billboard's charts in 1959 with Denny's Exotica album reaching #1. Soon the new technology of stereo further opened up the musical palettes of Denny and other prominent exotica artists such as Arthur Lyman and Juan García Esquivel.
The distinctive sound of exotica relies on a variety of instruments: conga, bongos, vibes, Indonesian and Burmese gongs, boo bams (bamboo sticks), Tahitian log, Chinese bell tree, and Japanese kotos. Additionally intrinsic to the sound of exotica are bird calls, big-cat roars, and even primate shrieks, which invoke the dangers of the jungle. Though there are some standards which contain lyrics (including those by Yma Sumac), singing is rare. Abstract, siren-like ululations, chants, vocalized animal calls, and guttural growls are common. Intended as a sound library recording, it soon took on a life of its own. Although clearly influenced by the exotica arrangements of Baxter, Martin Denny, Frank Hunter and Dick Hyman, it went beyond the simpler themes used by those composers to employ "a series of motifs, leitmotifs, and modes that were out of the musical sphere at the time: they took rock and classical and bossa and jazz and easy listening, wove them together with polyrhythmic invention and a boatload of sound effects".
In the 1990s exotica resurfaced more generally, along with a new category in which to place the genre: lounge. Dozens of long out-of-print LPs were reissued on CD. The revival accompanied a related swing revival and general appreciation for tiki culture. A new crop of bands, such as Pink Martini, were influenced by the classic albums, and Combustible Edison for one featured songs like "Breakfast at Denny's", a tongue-in-cheek title for a song styled on the music of Martin Denny.
The early 2000s saw additional exotica revival efforts, such as Hawaii-based Don Tiki, the comeback of 1960s composer Robert Drasnin, Waitiki 7, The Martini Kings, The Tikiyaki Orchestra, Kava Kon, and Hawaii Music Award winning Tiki Joe's Ocean, formed by multi-instrumentalist/composer Andy Nazzal. The Florida-based ensemble called Stolen Idols followed in the tradition of Robert Drasnin by playing new music composed by their leader, Drew Farmer, along with some reinterpreted classics. Their album Moonlight Offerings was a welcome contribution to the genre. They were for a few years regular performers at the Hukilau festival. After a lengthy hiatus, they have recently come back together.
Several podcasts broadcast classic and new exotica and tiki revival music, such as The Quiet Village Podcast, Lounge King Radio, and Exotic Tiki Island. In late 2024, San Francisco online radio station SOMA FM started a tiki and exotica-focused stream called Tiki Time. In 2025 the exotica artist Arnold Mars released a debut exotica album titled Lost Island.
See also
- World music
- Worldbeat