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Author Topic: Worldbuilding: Music!  (Read 2961 times)

Offline Prydania

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Worldbuilding: Music!
« on: December 28, 2015, 04:14:30 PM »


Everyone loves music and every culture has it. So what about your nation? Instruments? Songs? Melodies? National anthems?

A Prydanian army song dating to the Dixie War of Independence.

Over the Waves and Far Away
Here's forty shillings on the drum
For those who volunteer to come,
To 'list and fight the foe today
Over the waves and far away

O'er the waves and o'er the main
Through Dixie, Lakotah and Ryk
Queen Alex commands and we obey
Over the waves and far away

When duty calls me I must go
To stand and face another foe
But part of me will always stray
Over the waves and far away

O'er the waves and o'er the main
Through Dixie, Lakotah and Ryk
Queen Alex commands and we obey
Over the waves and far away

If I should fall to rise no more
As many comrades did before
Then ask the pipes and drums to play
Over the waves and far away

O'er the waves and o'er the main
Through Dixie, Lakotah, and Ryk
Queen Alex commands and we obey
Over the waves and far away

Then fall in lads behind the drum
With colours blazing like the sun
Along the road to come what may
Over the waves and far away

O'er the waves and o'er the main
Through Dixie, Lakotah and Ryk
Queen Alex commands and we obey
Over the waves and far away
« Last Edit: December 28, 2015, 07:11:41 PM by Prydania »

Offline Myroria

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Re: Worldbuilding: Music!
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2015, 01:44:34 AM »
As a nation with a collision of Myrorian, Pelagian, and Ozian cultures, Myroria's musical traditions can be diverse and a melting pot of different styles. One of the most famous is Quarrith's Wooden Wedding, a folk song about the marriage of a Myrorian woodsman to a Pelagian seamstress. The lyrics reflect Myrorian culture, while the tune is heavily Pelagian in nature; the subject matter, about mixing cultures, and the tune itself lends the song to modern translations into Prydanian/Cefnori/whatever.

One such translation aims to keep the song singable by lyricizing it. This is shown below:

Five years ago last Sunday night when Quarrith took a wife
'twas little Annick Heussaf who would stick to him for life
and he gave a wooden wedding the event to celebrate
and he sent out invitations to his friends both small and great

Now everyone was supposed to bring a present made of wood
some of the things they brought were bad and some were very good
but everyone who came they did the very best they could
when Quarrith had a weddin' made of wood

There was all kinds of wood brought to the house that night
hard wood, soft wood and kindling wood delight
there was wood and wooden shavings enough to fill a bed
'twas brought to Quarrith's house when he was five years wed

Now the first one to get there was Gils Olanisath,
he brought for a present a Letonnese bath
then came Caradec just as neat as a pin
he brought a cradle for to rock the baby in

Andarith brought a sawhorse handsomely engraved
Tanet brought a cord of wood for which he didn't pay
Merveth brought the clothespins and Gallou brought a broom
and it looked as though a lumberyard exploded in the room

Wood that came from Ozia, wood that came from Khem
wood from Annuminas across the ragin' span
wood that came from Hemland sent by the Baan
wood that came from Thanelen, enough to cover a lawn
wood that came from Geadland, wood that came from Dix'
wood that came from Pela', though those were just sticks
they passed around the whiskey and they passed around the ale
and if the glasses wasn't big enough they used a wooden pail

Everyone was feelin' good no one was feelin' dry
all around the glory and the glory it was high
someone asked Quarrith, "Would he sing a song?"
Quarrith said he would, but his voice was gone
Up jumped Caradec and he gave a recitation
all about the kind of wood that grew in every nation
"Spirits, such a racket, I can't keep it mum!"
Andarith called Caradec an educated bum

Well up jumped Caradec and he gave him such a whack
it raised up a hump in the middle of his back
that was the signal and they all began to fight
and the women hollered, "Murder!" and they said it wasn't right

Merveth threw the poker and it hit Olanisath
Andarith threw the kettle and he toppled the bath
Louic lost his false teeth and through the window dove
Caradec sat down on a red hot stove

Well there was all kinds of wood went flyin' through the air
Corré hit Queré with the round of a chair
Merveth took Aravoth and threw him on the bed
stabbed him with a clothespin and left him there for dead

Police got twenty five and thirty got away
they took them up before the judge the very next day
the judge looked them over as before them they stood
he gave them sixty days in jail,
now they're all sawing wood.
"I assure you -- I will be quite content to be a mere mortal again, dedicated to my own amusements."

Offline Khem

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Re: Worldbuilding: Music!
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2016, 06:48:56 PM »
Without going into the minutia of Khemish music a prominent feature remembered by tourists are the immense harps, horns, and drums which are built into amphitheaters producing immense bass tones as they play during festivals. These immense acoustic devices are collectively known as the Ta'Lea'Loa and were initially devised by the Great Library under the direction of Py'tho (a renowned mathematician) who sought to bring music beyond the sphere of Taijitu.

Peoples Confederation of Holy Isles of al'Khem
:tai: Persona :tai: Worldbuilding Guide :tai: Nation of al'Khem :tai:

Offline bigbaldben

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Re: Worldbuilding: Music!
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2016, 01:26:10 AM »
My nation is Metal. 

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMjP-IkeyR8[/yt]

Offline St Oz

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Re: Worldbuilding: Music!
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2016, 09:45:25 PM »
Ozian Music, contrary to what you may think, is very free, probably freer than other countries, and most music is free of charge or extremely cheap because Ozian copyright laws only last for 15 years before it is ischinai puvlika (benefit of the public).

The top 40 music of 2000-2020 Ozia is never pop, but instead really annoying acoustic and vocal feel good-music. Ozians as a whole hate most foreign music, and foreign musicians hate Ozia back because of their tough crowds, shitty copyright laws, and fanbases that never drop a dime for even online mp3s.

There is one exception, Jazz. Mainland Ozia can't get enough it, and the islands even dig it a little. (Not sure who we established invented it.) Myrorian and Rykkovaan jazz and blues artists are especially popular and can make a killing by playing at theaters there. Ozia has its own versions of jazz and blues such as Vosha Noisha (like bossa nova), Arktikalia (a variant of bossa nova that later becomes the schlocky top40 Ozian music they listen to today, and Rastinav Blues, which incorporates elements of rock and roll into blues.

Ozian traditional music on the other hand is heavy in its use of percussion, oboes, and a traditional string instrument called the Zhatukat. There's a genre of traditional Ozian music that translates to trance or meditation and it's about meditating and dancing around naked and covered in colored chalk while playing a gigantic drum. Lots of Gaean temples have this really large drum that a priestess will play around like a madwoman. It's also a recommended treatment for trauma and anxiety.

The marimba is a sacred instrument to Ozians as Gaean mythology states that when the first listener was a young child she first heard Gaea playing a marimba before she slept. Gaea materialized 49 bars of different notes and 49 mallets and played a complex and beautiful melody before she slept. Groups will assemble 20-49 people together to play these bars and attempt "the lullaby"