Music of Civ VI

[6uho Koe]

Not sure if this was mentioned but Rome music is Magna Mater by Synaulia.

 

[CivLuvah]

Not sure if this was mentioned but Rome music is Magna Mater by Synaulia.

I don't think it was mentioned yet.

We should seriously have a master list of the themes.

 

[Civciv5]

...I can't tell if you're serious...

What? I'm not being sarcastic! Ancient Egypt was not an Arabic civilization so its theme shouldn't be some Arabic folk song or something! That's only logical, right?

 

[Underseer]

That would be a bit early (they heyday of jazz was the 30s and 40s) but I'd roll with it.

The era after industrial is atomic age, which according to most people start at 1945, right?

So the period you're talking about would be the tail end of the industrial age.

 

[Plus Ultra]

Sorry if this has been answered before, but how does the Music work, exactly?

Does each Civ have its own soundtrack during the whole game? Are there "common tracks" that play for every Civ on certain eras? Do you get a combination of the Music from every Civ present in your game?

I'm wondering because I kept listening to "Kalinka" (as posted before) during a Japan playtrough. I did have Russia in the game, but the music played during several long turns without visiting my friend Peter.

 

[GermanSettler]

I really do like the music and how it seems to get more diverse once you meet the other civs (at least that is how I think it works...).

Love "Sogno di volare" and sometimes stay in the menue for a few minutes before starting a game

 

[upi00r]

I don't think it was mentioned yet.

We should seriously have a master list of the themes.

This is what Polish music is based on (at least in case of 9 of 10 tracks cos "PolandAncientDance_New" sounds much different than the rest of the melodies, for me it has Japanese vibe or something like that):

 

[Uberfrog]

What? I'm not being sarcastic! Ancient Egypt was not an Arabic civilization so its theme shouldn't be some Arabic folk song or something! That's only logical, right?

The issue is that no Ancient Egyptian musical notation survives. We know the sorts of the instruments they used, but that's about it.

All the "Ancient Egyptian Music" on YouTube, therefore, are modern compositions inspired by and conjectured upon what the musicians feel Egyptian music should sound like. A lot of it falls under the category of generically middle-Eastern sounding (that is to say highly influenced by Arabic musical traditions ) new age world music. So really, no better than what the Civ VI composers did anyway.

 

[CivLuvah]

Sorry if this has been answered before, but how does the Music work, exactly?

Does each Civ have its own soundtrack during the whole game? Are there "common tracks" that play for every Civ on certain eras? Do you get a combination of the Music from every Civ present in your game?

I'm wondering because I kept listening to "Kalinka" (as posted before) during a Japan playtrough. I did have Russia in the game, but the music played during several long turns without visiting my friend Peter.

In my game I also heard Spain's music.... even after Spain was defeated early game...

 

[blu_res]

Worth noting that Japan's theme isn't Rokudan no Shirabe, but the Lullaby of Itsuki.

 

[Martinus]

Sorry if this has been answered before, but how does the Music work, exactly?

Does each Civ have its own soundtrack during the whole game? Are there "common tracks" that play for every Civ on certain eras? Do you get a combination of the Music from every Civ present in your game?

I'm wondering because I kept listening to "Kalinka" (as posted before) during a Japan playtrough. I did have Russia in the game, but the music played during several long turns without visiting my friend Peter.

My understanding is this works like this:

- your civilization's theme is the most common / default theme
- you also hear themes of other civilizations you have met - I noticed this often happens after they do something significant (like build a wonder or declare war on somebody) but this could be a coincidence
- there is more ambient/generic music that is not any civilization's theme, but it seems to be tied to the culture of your civilization (so you hear Western folk songs during playthrough by France, England or Germany or something more Asian during Chinese or Japanese games).

All in all, I am yet to get sick of any particular theme - they seem to offer enough variety.

 

[Martinus]

This is what Polish music is based on (at least in case of 9 of 10 tracks cos "PolandAncientDance_New" sounds much different than the rest of the melodies, for me it has Japanese vibe or something like that):

The "Japanese vibe" probably comes from the use of the pentatonic scale which was commonly used in Polish folk music and is still largely used in East Asian music.

(Guess I remember something from my music theory lessons from highschool!)

 

[upi00r]

The "Japanese vibe" probably comes from the use of the pentatonic scale which was commonly used in Polish folk music and is still largely used in East Asian music.

(Guess I remember something from my music theory lessons from highschool!)

Well, I meant 5:48 - 7:21 part. No idea what it is or why it's so different from the other tracks

 

[Lesser Ajax]

But why is Cleopatra's theme some Arabic sounding song? Shouldn't it sound more Egyptian? As in Ancient Egyptian?

Sayed Darwish was very much an Egyptian musician, though as you note in the sound, operating in the early 20th century, and not from the time of the Pharaohs. He's considered the father of Egyptian popular music and perhaps Egypt's greatest composer. His other works include the music for Egypt's national anthem. But it is also very much Arab music, from the modern circumstances of the region.

 

[Hannibal XIII]

The only theme I'm truly not fond of is Kongo's... love love love their rendition of Kalinka, and El Helwa Di is also pretty nice.

 

[Sagax]

Reddit is one step ahead again. Japan's theme is Itsuki no Komoriuta - Itsuki Lullaby.

 

[Namaspamus]

Don't know if it's been said but french theme is the Tourdion (XVIth century I think) (jump to 0.45 for fast check)

I also heard in game "Quand je suis au retour" by Guillaume de Machaut (XIVth century, France)

and Dulce Dame Jolie (XIIIth, unknown author, France)

but couldn't find them in full soundtrack

About Ancient Egypt It's fascinating how we all feel like we know an "ancient egyptian" music style, and I always wondered where it came from.
In all documentaries or movies about Ancient Egypt we can hear this style, and recognize it, it evoques us this civilization very strongly... and yet it's all "faken", this music style was forged in XXth century I don't know by who but it snowballed and now we all firmly believe Cleopatra was listening to that stuff all day.

Also Saladdin theme is an old klezmer (so...east europeen jewish music) but I don't know the name, I'll try to find it if someone didn't already (didn't read all thread I confess)

edit: Saladdin isn't a klezmer I should have read thread: (quote from AliasMittens) "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..".

 

[Zaarin]

What? I'm not being sarcastic! Ancient Egypt was not an Arabic civilization so its theme shouldn't be some Arabic folk song or something! That's only logical, right?

Yes, but since we know nothing about Egyptian music except what instruments they used, later music from the region is the next best thing.

The era after industrial is atomic age, which according to most people start at 1945, right?

So the period you're talking about would be the tail end of the industrial age.

Most people would put the end of the industrial age around the turn of the century; the period of 1900s-1940s is usually called the modern era, or in American culture, quite appropriately, the Jazz Age.

 

[Underseer]

Yes, but since we know nothing about Egyptian music except what instruments they used, later music from the region is the next best thing.


Most people would put the end of the industrial age around the turn of the century; the period of 1900s-1940s is usually called the modern era, or in American culture, quite appropriately, the Jazz Age.

Fair enough, but I tend not to think of the "modern" era as a thing.

 

[Underseer]

I really don't like the music in this game. It's a snorefest. Loved it in civ4 though in that game real classical masterpieces were used, But hey, it's not easy to compete with composers like Bach and Beethoven. I also don't really aporeciate sogno volare but thats not a problem. It's the ingame music that counts. If they fix the game and I ever play IT again I'll probably just turn it off.

It's a civilization game. I don't know about you, but I'm going to play an extreme number of hours of this game just like I did with the other versions.

That kind of means no matter what, eventually I'm going to get sick of the music, turn it off, and run an MP3 player in the background, or long lectures on YouTube.

The music is still important to me, if only for those initial weeks or months.

Civilization 3 will always have a soft spot in my heart because the soundtrack sounded so much like Final Fantasy 7. It still brings a grin to my face. The Civilization 4 soundtrack is the only one I would actually play in my car, which I still do from time to time.