The Macedonian music refers to all forms of music associated with ethnic Macedonians. It shares similarities with the music of neighbouring Balkan countries, yet it remains overall distinctive in its rhythm and sound.

The ethnic Macedonian folk music (Macedonian: Народна музика, Narodna muzika) includes:

The Macedonian traditional music, which can be rural or urban (starogradska muzika), includes: lyric songs, epic songs, labour songs, ritual songs, humorous songs, circle dance ("oro"), the old urban style called Čalgija (not to be confused with chalga) etc. Popular traditional songs are: Kaleš bre Anǵo, Slušam kaj šumat šumite, Biljana platno beleše, Dafino vino crveno, Zemjo Makedonska and many others. Narode Makedonski is a nationalist folk song about the Macedonian national revival. Often referenced oro dances are Teškoto from the village of Galičnik, Kalajdžiskoto, Komitskoto (The Dance of the freedom fighters) and others. An internationally acclaimed professional folklore association is the award-winning Tanec.

The music of the Balkans is known for complex rhythms. Macedonian music exemplifies this trait. Folk songs like "Pomnish li, libe Todoro" (Помниш ли, либе Тодоро) can have rhythms as complex as 22/16, divided by stanza to 2+2+3+2+2+3+2+2+2+2, a combination of the two common meters 11=2+2+3+2+2 and 11=3+2+2+2+2 (sheet music). In order to add tension to notes, musicians (primarily from older schools) will add the distinctive characteristic of stretching out beats.

The gajda (гајда), a type of bagpipe, was the most common folk instrument in traditional Macedonian culture. It has now become an instrument for concert recitation, drawing on recent legends like Pece Atanasovski (video), leader of the Radio Skopje ensemble Ansambl na Narodni Instrumenti, as the source of modern tradition. Other instruments include:

Macedonian folk orchestras consist of a clarinet or saxophone, drum kit, bass guitar, accordion and guitar, sometimes with modern synthesizers and drum machines. These orchestras are very popular in Macedonia. Popular members are virtuoso musicians Skender Ameti and Goran Alachki on accordion and Miroslav Businovski on clarinet.

Čalgija is an urban style, played by bands (Čalgii) with a dajre (tambourine) and tarabuka (hourglass drum) providing percussion for ut (lute), kanun (zither), clarinet and violin. Though modern musicians have updated the Čalgija into a spectrum of hard and soft, classical and pop sounds, some traditional musicians remain. Perhaps the most influential of recent years was Tale Ognenovski, who plays a wide variety of traditional and modern sounds.

After World War II People's Republic of Macedonia sponsored the creation of professional ensembles such a "Chalgii orchestra", "Folk music orchestra" and "Authentic folk instruments orchestra" which were departments of "Radio Television Skopje" and performed arranged version of folk melodies. Folk music orchestras performed arranged versions of folk melodies.