Acerba of Cenarion Circle started a pretty fun discussion the other day on her server boards: What type of music would typify various races and cultures of Azeroth? Sure, we all have our soundtracks for when we get tired of the in-game music, and the in-game music itself often has various themes that show again and again music to represent various concepts, but thinking about what music your character would listen to or what sounds you might here around a bonfire at Razor Hill (Well, besides L70ETC) or in a fine mansion in Silvermoon City is a really fun exercise. I'm one who often creates soundtracks for my PnP and MMORPG characters alike in order to understand this, so I find it a useful exercise for us roleplayers, as well.So what would the cultural music of various races sound like? Tauren, to me, are the easiest to start out with. Looking around their villages and Thunder Bluff, you can see the Native American influences. Even their cultural beliefs and Shamanistic rituals reflect it to some degree. As a result, I can see their music fitting very well as well. I am sure many a Tauren Brave has wooed himself a mate with the Tauren Flute, and I imagine that the Drum Circle is an honored part of the festivities at many a Tauren council or gathering of the Clans.
Dwarves, to me, are definitely users of the Bagpipe. I can definitely see a bonny Wildhammer lass dancing to a highland reel, and when the War of the Three Hammers went down, I am certain the Bronzebeards marched forth with their pipers playing Ironforge the Brave.
Now Trolls are already a pretty musical bunch. You can even see their drummers drumming away in some villages. Tribal drums are certainly right up their alley then. I'd also venture to guess that the Darkspear might drag out the Steel Drums for all those rocking beach parties they must have.
Gnomes love tinkering with machines, so I have a feeling they'd make music with them too. Since they're also pretty quirky, I'm thinking we might get some synthesizer music that would be worthy of Devo. Maybe we'll even be able to get those cool red hats as a drop in Heroic Gnomeregan. Of course, they could also just go straight into Techno. How about a little Shake That? We also know that Rohan the Assassin is looking for a job in the Gadgetzan Discotheques. Do you think Gnomes and Goblins compete at DJing with as much fervor as they do at Engineering, maybe?
From here, the music, at least for me gets harder to pin down, but you can still brainstorm some ideas and come up with some amusing or insightful thoughts. Humans, I think, would be the most likely to produce bands like Dragonforce. Really, they're probably the only ones cheesy enough to do it (I mean that in a good way, totally!). Of course, I could always see a battalion of Human Paladins marching to war with a little Wagner. On the Horde side, everyone knows that the Forsaken are Metal. We're talking really metal here, the type of growling, screeching Death Metal that would barely sound like music to most. Actually, they probably have an advantage listening to it too, since their eardrums are half rotted away anyway.
So what do you think? What type of music do you expect various races and cultures make and listen to? Can you think of specific songs that sum up certain races as well?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-23-2008 @ 8:38PM
Z said...
For some reason, the orcs always struck me as big rockabilly fans. I can easily imagine a young orc in a black kodohide jacket, sporting a pompadour and tooling around with his goblin rocket car.
Maybe that's just me though.
I've always thought post-punk music was a better reflection of the Forsaken than metal, despite the Forsaken male's dance animation. It'd be something pretty bleak for them, like Joy Division.
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3-23-2008 @ 9:16PM
Xioyn said...
Draenei are the Techno
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3-23-2008 @ 10:13PM
z007gg2 said...
Yeah, gnomes are more Devo, Dranei would be like Digitalism/Daft Punk.
3-23-2008 @ 10:14PM
z007gg2 said...
Sooory misspelled the D word! Draenei
3-23-2008 @ 9:58PM
Drkon said...
Belfs are punk-Rockers .. .they go for the SUM41, Simple Plan n that shit... Orks go for the Arena/Oldies rock ... Undead go Metal/ Heavy Rock ... Tauren, i'd have to say go for country (unghh) .. and as for teh Trolls
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3-24-2008 @ 1:52AM
kevin said...
OMG please do not ever refer to Sum 41 and Simple Plan as punk rock
3-24-2008 @ 2:54AM
Shat said...
/signed, kevin.
3-23-2008 @ 10:46PM
Nizari said...
The problem is that most people tend to think of the music that a particular race makes is related to the culture they relate to in earth (Forsaken are metal, Dwarves are scottish bagpipe). It would be better to examine it from an anthropological perspective, looking at culture and environment to get an idea, and the /dance is one of the best indicators of that. Here's my take on them:
Orc: Both sexes have a very hip-hop/rap style of dance, so they probably have a slower form of music with a lot of swung 16th notes. However, the warrior culture would also imply that there would be an emphasis on dramatic, "call to arms" sort of music, so perhaps loud drums and horns playing long, drawn-out notes with complicated 16th notes underneath from softer instruments.
Troll: Dan's pretty much on the money here, dance and the presence of drums suggests an up-tempo, rhythmic style of music.
Undead: despite the "DEATH METAL!!!!" pop culture references within Forsaken culture, the technology obviously doesn't exist for it. I'd think they would more be into chamber music, focusing on string instruments, but with chaotic, extreme tempos (either very slow or very fast) and a lot of dissonance.
Tauren: Once again, very drum-oriented, but the dances seem to suggest an emphasis on, well, dance music. So probably not a lot of complexity, but with an emphasis on grove.
Belf: the dances seem to suggest a style with sexual undertones (think disco or R&B). The heavy presence of hookahs in SC would also suggest some sort of "Jam" music empasis, something a young female belf could spend hours dancing to.
Humans: Bring on the cheese! Males do the Saturday Night Fever dance, and females do the Macarena, so I'd say they prefer their music to be rather mild and unthreatening, sort of medieval pop music.
Gnomes: The combining of music with technology is likely, although probably more like music boxes than synths. The dances are rather jerky though, so they'd have a style with steady, highly staccato (short, brief) 8th notes.
Nelfs: Similar to belfs, although with rhythms more attuned to Taurens.
Dwarves: I'm going to nix the bagpipes idea here in favor of high-paced music, something similar either to dance music or Eastern European music, with a lot of 16th note flurries.
Dranaei: Very busy music. Lots of complicated beats, multiple rhythms building off each other.
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3-23-2008 @ 10:59PM
Destron said...
That was very well-written and interesting. Thank you for posting it here.
(By the way, this is Z... I used Z by mistake.)
3-24-2008 @ 12:05AM
csarcops said...
This is fascinating...could you maybe give examples so we (or at least I) could have a more concrete idea of what types of music you mean? I love the idea of dissonant chamber music for the Forsaken, that's just wicked cool.
3-24-2008 @ 12:50AM
Cat said...
For the nelves, I would think something more along the lines of Asiatic stringed instruments. Very busy, but harmonious and soothing and less tribal as we think of it. They'd probably also use a different scale than the traditional octave (assuming that's what Azeroth uses) since they've been so isolated for 10,000 years. But overall, I do agree.
3-24-2008 @ 1:44AM
Tenchan said...
While I agree that we have to look at this question with less attachment to 'earth' music, as long as L70ETC is canon/lore, the "no appropriate technology" argument doesn't hold up. It may work magic based instead of electricity based, but the 'modern' type of music is there.
3-24-2008 @ 10:05AM
Synergistic said...
Man that is a brilliant post. I have a similar feeling with the Gnomes, but no way could have I said anything like that.
I would've just called it ska.
3-23-2008 @ 11:23PM
Ayalafatalis said...
I really think Orcs would be metal-- but more straightforward metal (like what L70ETC sounds like).
Forsaken- While males I think would be death metal-ish-- I think the females I think would go for the darkwave/rave, industrial, goth metal styles of music.
I love music but I'm going to stop this post here for fear of a massive wall'o'text. D:
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3-24-2008 @ 2:57AM
Shat said...
Orcs? Metal? The male orc does the MC Hammer dance, for Thrall's sake!
3-24-2008 @ 12:10AM
twh said...
I think we were talking about culture here. So here's my take on them.
Orcs:
Considering their shamanic heritage, I would imagine a lot of them would have a lot of horns, used from the bones and beasts they kill. Not so much with drums, considering it's not so much a thing they'd do and lots of vocals... well, roars... something to that effect.
Night Elves:
Considering their architecture and culture, there'd be a lot more flutes and strings than anything else. Very similar to the Blood/High elf culture, though with a greater emphasis on flutes than strings, which would serve as a cultural opposite to the aforementioned.
Humans:
A nice balance of everything. Strings, vocals, percussion, woodwinds. Though, for some reason, vocals always wins out.
Dwarves:
Woodwinds. Definitely woodwinds, or even brass, considering their affinity to the earth and the minerals she holds.
Gnomes:
Avoiding the whole thing about techno, I would think that Gnomish contribution to music would sound more similar to 'mechanical music'. Something along the lines of Avant Garde, which places more emphasis on sound, than actual attempts at rhythm or harmony.
Draeni:
Chants. Considering they live in a Theocracy, where vocal worship would be more favored than anything else, it would stand to reason that all most of, if not all, Draenei, were taught how to sing.
Tauren:
Already covered much better than I.
Forsaken:
See above.
Trolls:
See above.
BElves:
See Night Elves.
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3-25-2008 @ 6:45AM
Andreith said...
Very well written, I love to hear a musicians POV for things like this. Although I would suggest you give more thought to the Night Elves.
Despite the pop-influenced dances, I know that they would have some of the most beautiful music of all. I'm thinking slower paced melodic strings, woodwinds, and maybe some brass. Music very close to nature that flows with an almost enchanting feel.
The closest examples to this I can cite are some of the wonderful scores in The Elder Scrolls III & IV around the forest areas.
3-24-2008 @ 12:31AM
Kyver said...
For the fanboys/girls
With Patch 2.1.2, the song was included in World of Warcraft. It can be listened to in-game by entering the following into the chat window: /script PlaySoundFile("Sound\\Music\\ZoneMusic\\DMF_L70ETC01.mp3") The file name "DMF_L70ETC01.mp3"
http://www.wowwiki.com/Power_of_the_Horde
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3-24-2008 @ 1:15AM
feadin said...
for me... the undead music is the one playing on the inn of brill... on the other hand... Belfs are more chamber music PPL damn! punk? goth? PPL!!!!!!!! they are the highest civilization in azeroth how the hell you ppl EVEN think they are goin to do rock? geeez
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3-24-2008 @ 1:31AM
Hurode said...
I can picture traditional medieval British music flowing all around the area of the kingdom of Stormwind, with the mood changing at least a bid between elwynn, redridge, westfall, etc.
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