Using a stringed instrument called a sintir, roughly in the cello range, they snapped out bass lines, riff after riff, that could propel any funk tune.

But such casual music - a funk tune, a bebop blues, a soul ballad - depends on rhythm sections, and this one wasn't breathing very well.

The medleys, whether of lines from funk tunes or first verses of ballads, are the show's main weakness.

A Galactic song that starts out as a funk tune stays that way all the way through, keeping the groove steady and the structure obvious.

And it closed with a funk tune, which but for its theme stayed in one chord.

Since the late 1980s hip hop artists have regularly sampled old funk tunes.

Musicals also tend to have a number of styles which can range from a soulful ballad to an involved funk tune to a hard rock song.

Needless to say, Smith was surprised when Castro graciously asked him join him for a "gratuitous funk" tune.

These soft versions formed a romantic sub-genre called melodic funk in Brazil, adding melodies and arrangements to the raw, beat-y funk tunes.

And he doesn't let one idiom contain him; the song cycle included unaccompanied saxophone quartets, unconventional funk tunes and a modernist tango.