Episode 3: “Geoculture‪”‬ Game Music 101 – CFRC Podcast Network

Video games often take influences from real-world cultures, sometimes to reflect particular eras and locations in historically-based games, but in other cases as a ‘shortcut’ for suggesting particular cultural norms.  From Nordic influences in Skyrim to Middle-Eastern instrumentation in Assassin’s Creed and The Legend of Zelda, this episode will present a number of examples.  The podcasts hosts will discuss how such borrowing can give game designers a quick method to generate a rich game world, but how in the process cultural appropriation becomes a major issue.







Musical examples:







1:58:  New Donk City, Super Mario Odyssey







2:31:  Main Theme, Battlefield 1 







3:16:  City of Jerusalem, Assassin’s Creed 1







4:01:  Main Theme, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild







4:46:  Woman’s Battalion of Death, Battlefield 1: In The Name of the Tsar DLC







5:30:  Cimbalom sample, Hammered Dulcimer Family, Tim Manning Music Magic (Bohak) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFaXcvHpJwU&list=PLfxFd1oEv69SNsbTPN4qBCbf0HMv26NRL&index=5 (1:50)









6:05:  Dean Shostak Plays Cristal Baschet, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVHzwdnYdEc







6:57:  Tibet: Tibetan Monks – Playing Long Horn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1_C3TLXRlI







9:18:  Tostarena Ruins, Super Mario Odyssey







10:37:  Polonaise, op. 53, Frederic Chopin







11:30:  Nocturne in E-Flat Major, op. 9 no. 2, Frederic Chopin







12:15:  Volvo Queen of the Night Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRnXONCj45Q







12:44:  Queen of the Night aria (“Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen”), from

The Magic Flute, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart







14:45:  (Best Service) Voice Spectral Vol. 1 “Track 76” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U34MFcJdGCo (12:03)







16:00:  City of Jerusalem, Assassin’s Creed 1









17:16:  Darkness Falls in Florence,

Assassin’s Creed 2







17:02:  Access the Animus, Assassin’s Creed 1







17:50:  Phoibe the Orphan, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey







18:20:  Gerudo Town (Night), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild







24:12:  Tostarena: Town, Super Mario Odyssey







25:33:  Las Alazanas, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klVe7_2UEQ8







27:28:  Chaharmezrab Nava, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95amB7kUu-k







29:12:  Dawn of a New Time, Battlefield 1







29:39:  Zajdi, Zadji, https://www.youtube.com/watch?