Music of Civ VI

[Guandao]

How were you able to access the files though? What's the folder path? I can't seem to find the music in the Assets folder.

Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Platforms\Windows\audio

 

[kingchris20]

Kongo's music reminds me of Sims 4

 

[utberguy]

I was looking for this topic, read it all and here's a complete list. The instrument part is done by researching musician's names in the credits. For example, Deepak Ram is credited for India's ancient era music so it's safe to assume that a bansuri is used for India's ancient era soundtrack.
Update: I also looked up credits.xml where everybody is listed with instruments they played and compared it to the credits for music scores on Civ's official YT channel

Civilization: Instrument (performer), Tune
America: Fiddle (Patrick McAvinue) and banjo (Brad Kolodner), Hard Times Come Again No More
Arabia: Qanun (Kylie Hilali), Talama Ashku Gharami (Arabic version of Kâtibim)
Aztec: South American Flute (Roland Rizzo), ?
Brazil: Seven-string guitar (Cesar Garabini) and cavaquinho (Kahil Nayton), Brejeiro
China: Guzheng (Bing Xia), Mo Li Hua
Egypt: Ney or kawala (Chakib Hilali), El Helwa Di
England: ?, Scarborough Fair
France: ?, Tourdion
Germany: ?, Ich hab die Nacht geträumet
Greece: ?, Seikilos epitaph
India: Bansuri (Deepak Ram), Vaishnava Jana To
Japan: Shakuhachi (Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin), Rokudan no shirabe?
Kongo: Mbira, Banaha
Norway: Norwegian Bukkehorn (Sissel Morken Gullord), Gjendines Bånlåt
Rome: ?, ?
Russia: Balalaika (Andrei Saveliev), Kalinka
Scythia: ?, ?
Spain: Classical guitar (Benjamin Beirs), Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Sumeria: ?, Hymn to Nikkal

thanks! there were a few songs that i recognized while playing but couldn't quite say what they are... now it makes a lot of sense.

at some point i was pretty sure there was a "Mary had a little lamb" when playing Rome

 

[nitedemon]

Is it me or is it that the Roman theme music sounds Asiatic? But again, this may be a coincidence that Roman music is primarily pentatonic like East Asian music.

It does sound very much like folk music in Northwestern part of China, especially it seems like they are using this instrument https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suona

 

[Kangaroo495]

Would love for the Celts to be in the game if only for their potentially amazing Ancient/Medieval era music

 

[rockhpi]

I hate to say it but because this is a slow-paced game with lots of downtime between turns, I usually have the sound turned off and the television on . I almost always do this when playing PC games where sound isn't important to gameplay (for FPS, for instance, you need to be able to hear). And they went to all that trouble on music and Sean Bean...

 

[Sagax]

I hate to say it but because this is a slow-paced game with lots of downtime between turns, I usually have the sound turned off and the television on . I almost always do this when playing PC games where sound isn't important to gameplay (for FPS, for instance, you need to be able to hear). And they went to all that trouble on music and Sean Bean...

Play Russia in Medieval

 

[Lyoncet]

One thing I was kind of dreading was the return of Modern Era Civ IV music. As much as I loved the soundtrack for that game, literally nothing but John Adams drove me nuts.

So playing the game and listening to the soundtrack, I really like the variety of styles Knorr and co. invoked for the Atomic-era themes. Japan and England, for example, have a kind of cyberpunk-inspired digital sound. Some others, like America, sound more like rock ballads. Greece sounds more like a film score. They even threw in some almost Phillip Glass-style minimalism for the Aztec.

This is true throughout eras, but I noticed (and appreciate) it most with Atomic.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

Play Russia in Medieval

Kaaaaaaalin.... Kan Kan Lin.. Kan Kan Lin. Maja.

Kaaalinka.. Kaaalinka. Kaaalina Maja

 

[Underseer]

I bought the Digital Deluxe edition just because I wanted the cheaper future DLC. I don't actually care about getting early access to the Aztec civilization (don't like playing warmongers), and the soundtrack, eh. I dunno.

I still have yet to sit down and listen through the whole soundtrack by itself. Just what I've heard in game through three games so far. I mean, I got it for free, I might as well listen to it, right?

For anyone else who got the Digital Deluxe version through Steam, you can find the soundtrack at:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\DLC\Soundtrack

From what I can see, they have four different songs for each civ by era (ancient, medieval, industrial, atomic), but I don't see any overall songs (e.g. the intro song). Although they brought Christopher Tin back, I still like the soundtrack for Civilization 4 a bit better. Honestly, I don't even remember the Introduction song, but I don't think it holds up to Baba Yetu from Civilization 4. Still, too bad it wasn't included in the "free soundtrack" for folks who bought the Digital Deluxe version.

I'm still in the process of listening through, but sometimes the songs for different eras of the same civ sound a little too similar, and to be honest, I'm a little disappointed in the lack of any type of pop music in the atomic era songs. I know Christopher Tin is a badass composer and all, and maybe he doesn't know diddly squat about pop music, but wouldn't you expect the atomic era song for England to at least sound like British Invasion rock 'n roll? Couldn't the atomic era song for Japan sounded at least a bit like J-pop? Atomic era Norway just screams for death metal.

Overall, I still have to say that the soundtrack for 4 is still my favorite by a wide margin, and the soundtrack for Civilization 3 will always have a soft spot in my heart because it sounded so much like Final Fantasy 7. Not sure where this soundtrack fits in the overall ranking. Equal to 5? Better than 5? Dunno yet.

As I said, I'm still listening through the whole thing, so these are all preliminary observations. Please feel free to tell me where I'm wrong, or at least tell everyone what you think about the soundtrack.

 

[Underseer]

Whoops. Sorry for not searching for other threads first. Eeek. Can a moderator merge this with one of the other threads?

Moderator Action: Merged. leif erikson

 

[Mustakrakish]

I'm still in the process of listening through, but sometimes the songs for different eras of the same civ sound a little too similar, and to be honest, I'm a little disappointed in the lack of any type of pop music in the atomic era songs. I know Christopher Tin is a badass composer and all, and maybe he doesn't know diddly squat about pop music, but wouldn't you expect the atomic era song for England to at least sound like British Invasion rock 'n roll? Couldn't the atomic era song for Japan sounded at least a bit like J-pop? Atomic era Norway just screams for death metal.

Yes, please

 

[King Jason]

4 was definitely great but I'm absolutely in love with civ5's soundtrack. Though I pray that Germany or Russia get in my games because their themes are both awesome.

 

[Zaarin]

One thing I was kind of dreading was the return of Modern Era Civ IV music. As much as I loved the soundtrack for that game, literally nothing but John Adams drove me nuts.

So playing the game and listening to the soundtrack, I really like the variety of styles Knorr and co. invoked for the Atomic-era themes. Japan and England, for example, have a kind of cyberpunk-inspired digital sound. Some others, like America, sound more like rock ballads. Greece sounds more like a film score. They even threw in some almost Phillip Glass-style minimalism for the Aztec.

This is true throughout eras, but I noticed (and appreciate) it most with Atomic.

Agreed. I hated Civ4's modern era music. With a passion. But Civ6's atomic age music is actually quite nice. Wish they had gone with jazz for America, though...

 

[Dray]

So... Poland's music was found inside the game files.

 

[Underseer]

Agreed. I hated Civ4's modern era music. With a passion. But Civ6's atomic age music is actually quite nice. Wish they had gone with jazz for America, though...

Jazz would have been perfect for Industrial era America.

 

[Txomin]

So... Poland's music was found inside the game files.

The music at 5:50 sounds different from the other songs in this video, at least to me. I wonder why it's grouped with the others.

 

[darko82]

I hope Polish music sounds Slavic.

 

[Dray]

The music at 5:50 sounds different from the other songs in this video, at least to me. I wonder why it's grouped with the others.

From the video poster:
"Every Civ has at least 4-5 variations on their Ancient Era theme. This video includes all those variations, the others do not."

 

[Big J Money]

Has a civ game ever had jazz? Now I'm a bit sad it doesn't. But maybe those songs are too catchy and so would become annoying or be too prominent. Maybe some background trio jazz would work though.