A professor taught us genre is defined by how you resolve dissonance...

And dissonance has cultural and physiological components...

And other traditions focus on rhythm over harmony...

That said this looks like a good introduction.

That's a great line from the professor. Really great.

Also, other traditions focus on melody over harmony (e.g. Carnatic and Hindustani), although they have to consider harmony as a by-product of polyphonic music (i.e. more than 1 instrument).