Music of Civ VI

[CivLuvah]

Just a random though/concern... I haven't played my copy of Civ6 yet, but are there variations in the soundtrack per era besides the score assigned per civ while playing the game?

Sorry if my sentence sounds weird. It's not that I have trouble typing in English - I'm actually very fluent. It's just that I'm swamped with college requirements now I can't structure sentences properly.

 

[BenZL43]

I hate the transition of Congo music between the Ancient and Medieval era.
It's deafening and annoying as well. I have no problem with the earworm-y melody though.

 

[Guandao]

It's a big disappointment that the music is in wem files. I converted some to ogg files, but not all made it, not sure what I can do about those.

Saladin's music sounds really familiar...I think I heard this song in music for a Civ5 mod civ

 

[Gabriel Sergio]

I hate the transition of Congo music between the Ancient and Medieval era.
It's deafening and annoying as well. I have no problem with the earworm-y melody though.

Seriously? Kongo theme is one of my favourite.

 

[darko82]

It's a big disappointment that the music is in wem files. I converted some to ogg files, but not all made it, not sure what I can do about those.

Saladin's music sounds really familiar...I think I heard this song in music for a Civ5 mod civ

Yeah, adding or modding audio files will be terrible.

 

[BenZL43]

Seriously? Kongo theme is one of my favorite.

The melody is fine, I, too, like it.
It's just.. the transition from the Ancient era to the Medieval era could be a lot smoother - it's not nice to hear it in loud volume.
I had no idea what the offending musical instrument, maybe an organ (?).

On another note, I really liked that they used Shakuhachi for Japan's music

 

[God of Kings]

Kongo's Ancient Era theme is played using the kalimba (aka the African thumb piano).

BenZL43, I believe the offending instrument to you is perhaps some bowed African instruments similar to those of the violin.

By the way, Kongo's theme (any era) is among my favourite themes, especially thanks to its catchy, upbeat melody. It helps that it is based on a children's song about bananas.

 

[sonicmyst]

Just a random though/concern... I haven't played my copy of Civ6 yet, but are there variations in the soundtrack per era besides the score assigned per civ while playing the game?

Sorry if my sentence sounds weird. It's not that I have trouble typing in English - I'm actually very fluent. It's just that I'm swamped with college requirements now I can't structure sentences properly.

The score evolves each era but the melody is the same. Think of ancient era music as using simple instruments, then it progresses to more complex as the civ goes through eras. Also note that the score of other civs that you meet as well as an ambient music will also be included in your soundtrack (like a playlist)

 

[iammaxhailme]

The score evolves each era but the melody is the same. Think of ancient era music as using simple instruments, then it progresses to more complex as the civ goes through eras. Also note that the score of other civs that you meet as well as an ambient music will also be included in your soundtrack (like a playlist)

Aha, I was just coming to ask why I was hearing Kongo's music instead of my Russia music, this would probably explain it.

Is there a way to see what civ's music is playing? Also is there a way to disable that so you just hear your own music?

 

[Hannibal XIII]

Poland confirmed?

This channel has all of the themes, as does Civtv.

 

[AliasMittens]

Well this is interesting...
Arabia's theme (available [here]) is Kâtibim - which is a great song, except it's actually Turkish, and is also known as Üsküdar'a gider iken ... And in true southeast European tradition the melody is also claimed by the Greeks, the Serbs... Basically it's claimed by everyone except the Arabs.

So, an odd choice to say the least.

 

[Morningcalm]

Update on digital deluxe--the soundtrack is 76 tracks long and only includes the leader themes (4 themes per leader).

From Geoff Knorr on Facebook:

"Sid Meier’s Civilization VI released today! Congrats to the team at Firaxis and 2K!

This project was by far the most demanding soundtrack I've worked on because of the truly massive scope. I had well over 100 mixes amounting to over 6 hours of music to finalize this summer for the game. Many required additional elements to be recorded and sequenced. And, of course, in the months before the mixing came the task of writing and orchestrating all of it! My family deserves a HUGE thank you for their patience and support through the craziness it took to get it all done!

Also, I've noticed that the soundtrack album that released alongside the game on iTunes today is unfortunately incomplete (only 38 or 76 tracks are included) and ordered incorrectly. It is out of my control, but hopefully 2K will fix this soon!"

Wow, 6 hours of music.

Well this is interesting...
Arabia's theme (available [here]) is Kâtibim - which is a great song, except it's actually Turkish, and is also known as Üsküdar'a gider iken ... And in true southeast European tradition the melody is also claimed by the Greeks, the Serbs... Basically it's claimed by everyone except the Arabs.

So, an odd choice to say the least.

No kidding. How peculiar. The song definitely matches the Arabian theme, and the song historically has little to no connection with Saudi Arabia, let alone Saladin. Maybe it was a musical mismatch? Maybe when the Ottomans arrive they will suddenly inherit Arabia's themes and Arabia will get new ones?

I still wish they identified the sources of all the songs.

 

[Usama84]

I absolutely loved the music in Civ 4 and how it changes as the technology evolves

 

[God of Kings]

This one is the most complete:

(0:00:00) 01. America - The Ancient Era
(0:02:53) 02. America - The Medieval Era
(0:06:05) 03. America - The Industrial Era
(0:10:46) 04. America - The Atomic Era
(0:14:35) 05. Arabia - The Ancient Era
(0:17:13) 06. Arabia - The Medieval Era
(0:20:40) 07. Arabia - The Industrial Era
(0:24:41) 08. Arabia - The Atomic Era
(0:28:32) 09. Aztec - The Ancient Era
(0:29:54) 10. Aztec - The Medieval Era
(0:32:38) 11. Aztec - The Industrial Era
(0:36:12) 12. Aztec - The Atomic Era
(0:39:43) 13. Brazil - The Ancient Era
(0:42:27) 14. Brazil - The Medieval Era
(0:46:32) 15. Brazil - The Industrial Era
(0:50:25) 16. Brazil - The Atomic Era
(0:53:59) 17. China - The Ancient Era
(0:55:55) 18. China - The Medieval Era
(0:59:31) 19. China - The Industrial Era
(1:03:06) 20. China - The Atomic Era
(1:06:25) 21. Egypt - The Ancient Era
(1:08:38) 22. Egypt - The Medieval Era
(1:11:48) 23. Egypt - The Industrial Era
(1:17:51) 24. Egypt - The Atomic Era
(1:23:28) 25. England - The Ancient Era
(1:25:28) 26. England - The Medieval Era
(1:29:37) 27. England - The Industrial Era
(1:33:36) 28. England - The Atomic Era
(1:37:18) 29. France - The Ancient Era
(1:40:25) 30. France - The Medieval Era
(1:43:39) 31. France - The Industrial Era
(1:47:11) 32. France - The Atomic Era
(1:50:39) 33. Germany - The Ancient Era
(1:52:16) 34. Germany - The Medieval Era
(1:56:03) 35. Germany - The Industrial Era
(2:00:04) 36. Germany - The Atomic Era
(2:04:03) 37. Greece - The Ancient Era
(2:05:25) 38. Greece - The Medieval Era
(2:08:38) 39. Greece - The Industrial Era
(2:12:57) 40. Greece - The Atomic Era
(2:16:57) 41. India - The Ancient Era
(2:19:03) 42. India - The Medieval Era
(2:22:28) 43. India - The Industrial Era
(2:27:20) 44. India - The Atomic Era
(2:31:57) 45. Japan - The Ancient Era
(2:34:41) 46. Japan - The Medieval Era
(2:38:46) 47. Japan - The Industrial Era
(2:42:29) 48. Japan - The Atomic Era
(2:46:09) 49. Kongo - The Ancient Era
(2:48:07) 50. Kongo - The Medieval Era
(2:51:50) 51. Kongo - The Industrial Era
(2:54:59) 52. Kongo - The Atomic Era
(2:58:04) 53. Norway - The Ancient Era
(2:59:25) 54. Norway - The Medieval Era
(3:02:35) 55. Norway - The Industrial Era
(3:06:06) 56. Norway - The Atomic Era
(3:09:59) 57. Rome - The Ancient Era
(3:11:59) 58. Rome - The Medieval Era
(3:15:38) 59. Rome - The Industrial Era
(3:21:17) 60. Rome - The Atomic Era
(3:25:57) 61. Russia - The Ancient Era
(3:28:16) 62. Russia - The Medieval Era
(3:32:13) 63. Russia - The Industrial Era
(3:36:48) 64. Russia - The Atomic Era
(3:41:06) 65. Scythia - The Ancient Era
(3:42:36) 66. Scythia - The Medieval Era
(3:46:32) 67. Scythia - The Industrial Era
(3:50:55) 68. Scythia - The Atomic Era
(3:55:05) 69. Spain - The Ancient Era
(3:56:23) 70. Spain - The Medieval Era
(4:00:12) 71. Spain - The Industrial Era
(4:04:44) 72. Spain - The Atomic Era
(4:08:57) 73. Sumeria - The Ancient Era
(4:11:31) 74. Sumeria - The Medieval Era
(4:14:58) 75. Sumeria - The Industrial Era
(4:18:15) 76. Sumeria - The Atomic Era

 

[BenZL43]

Kongo's Ancient Era theme is played using the kalimba (aka the African thumb piano).

BenZL43, I believe the offending instrument to you is perhaps some bowed African instruments similar to those of the violin.

By the way, Kongo's theme (any era) is among my favourite themes, especially thanks to its catchy, upbeat melody. It helps that it is based on a children's song about bananas.

Great! Learn new things today.
You seem to be very knowledgeable about music.
Could it be Kora? Because that's what I first saw when googling "African string instruments"

 

[kul]

So, what melody does the Aztec theme is based on? Anyone already had any ideas?

 

[Usama84]

was playing as the russians, very nice music actually

 

[God of Kings]

Great! Learn new things today.
You seem to be very knowledgeable about music.
Could it be Kora? Because that's what I first saw when googling "African string instruments"

Turn out that they are just Western violin-family instruments, as the same instruments were used in other leaders' themes.

The Kora is a plucked string instrument.

 

[TruthfulCake]

The music can be a tad repetitive, but it's never annoying. Probably because I somehow always stumble upon China and its theme always plays over mine, and China has a really good theme.

 

[Red Khan]

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), Itsuki Lullaby
Kongo: Mbira, Banaha
Norway: Norwegian Bukkehorn (Sissel Morken Gullord), Gjendines Bånlåt
Rome: ?, Magna Mater
Russia: Balalaika (Andrei Saveliev), Kalinka
Scythia: Duduk (Sandro Freidrich), original melody
Spain: Classical guitar (Benjamin Beirs), Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Sumeria: ?, original melody