Regional Riff

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Oh, there's an actual flute in the scene. I thought that's just what Japan sounded like at night.
—Unskippable

Sound and music are significant in storytelling to help the viewer grasp the personalities, moods or locales in which the story takes place.

Leitmotifs are usually used to identify a character, and Mood Motifs are to help set the tone of the sequence.

Here we're exploring Regional Riffs—and the musical instruments that seem inexorably linked as cues to locations. This is sort of the audio equivalent of the Foreign Looking Font—a certain musical style is used because it resembles the actual music native to the setting, or because Hollywood has decided it just has the right "feel." Sometimes the composers try to be culturally accurate but Do Not Do The Research, employing Scotirish bagpipes or Spexican bands. Some Regional Riffs now carry Unfortunate Implications due to associations with stereotyped portrayals of the area in question.

Compare Standard Snippet, which is a specific song associated with a certain place, activity or situation. A Regional Riff might simply be The Jimmy Hart Version of a Standard Snippet.

Examples of Regional Riff include:


Australia

The East

  • The sitar and tablas of India
  • The dung (the 5m long monastic trumpets) of Tibet
  • The Koto, Woodblock, and Shakuhachi of Japan
  • The Asian Riff [often interchangeable for China and Japan]
    • The riff in question appears, using an electric guitar, in "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors, amongst many other Asian themed songs. It has become a Discredited Trope, though.
  • The gong, zither, erhu fiddle, and Pekin Opera of China.

The Middle East

  • The Female Vocal Of The Middle East
    • Ofra Haza's music fits the bill.
      • Ironically, Ofra Haza is Israeli, not the first place to come to mind when one considers "generic Middle Eastern music"
      • Well, she was of Yemeni heritage and her music reflected both Arab and Jewish influence. Her most popular albums are renditions of Yemeni traditional songs.
    • As does the Eastern influence of Sting's "Desert Rose". ("That Guy", by the way, is Cheb Mami from Algiers.)
  • The Hijaz scale (D Eb F# G...) is overused to represent both Middle Easterners and Jews, regardless of origin. This is likely due to the not only an "exotic" sound, but also popularity of songs such as Miserlou and Hava Nagila. In fact, Arabs are more likely to use the Bayati scale (D E/b F G...), but that may be too alien for Western ears.
    • It's also been used for South Asian snake charmers. In fact, pretty much any Asian setting that isn't Far East—and sometimes even then ("Golden Bangkok" from Chess).
  • The Adhan (call to prayer) of the Muslim World gets used in a lot of establishing shots. Bonus points if it's at sunrise or sunset.
  • There is also "The Streets of Cairo" which is used for a lot of generic Middle East/South Asia settings.
  • If the scene takes place in a bazaar (or, of all places, the formation of the Tengen Toppa Gunmen in the second Gurren Lagann movie), expect to hear the humming "DoooodoooDooodoooDOOODOO" flute sound at some point.
  • The Armenian duduk, usually playing a song by Komitas Vardapet (Krung or Lele Yaman are the most common).
  • Harmonious string violins are incredibly overused to represent any desert in the Middle East. This is possibly because of the soundtrack to Lawrence of Arabia and its influence.

Europe

  • The Lute of the Mediterranean
    • The Mandolin of Italy
    • The faster Mandolin of Greece
  • The European Accordion
    • French music (especially in Gay Paree), Polka music, German music
  • The people of France have apparently gone to great effort to ensure a generic chorus of "La Marseillaise" is playing every time a plane carrying a protagonist is landing in Paris.
  • The German Oompah Band ("Mit a bang, mit a boom...")
    • Beethoven actually wrote several short pieces of good-humored mockery of them.
    • Those unfortunate enough to find themselves there in late 1930s would get something very brassy and vaguely Wagnerian.
  • The guitar and castanets of Spain
    • Evidently, the only music in Spain is Andalusian Flamenco. Man of La Mancha is a case in point (though an anachronistic one).
  • The warbling gondolier of Venice
  • The hammered dulcimer or, more likely, the cimbalom of Central and Eastern Europe.
  • The Ominous Latin Chanting of the Vatican/other overtly Catholic setting.
  • The yodeler and alphorn of Switzerland.
  • The eerie violin of Überwald.

The Former Soviet Union

  • The Male Choir Of Communism
    • The Peasant Choir of Czarist Russia beginning at 1:22.
    • "Dark Eyes", which is actually a Gypsy romance.
    • Russian Orthodox choirs are used to represent both Soviet Union and modern Russia due to the church's centuries-old tradition of artful singing. Singing is actually very much a requirement for most Russian clerics).
    • The Balalaika Of Russia.
    • The Squeezeboxes of Russian Countryside.
  • The Throat-Singing of Siberia.
  • Caucasian Lezginka, although more generic "oriental" tunes can be used for Caucasian characters and/or settings in media.

Latin America/Caribbean

  • Mexican Guitar
  • Mexican Conga drums
  • More stereotypically: Trumpet with a guitar in the background, at pasodoble rhythm which happens to be from Spain, regarded as such in Mexico and not played outside bullfights.
    • Realistically, that trumpet and guitar sound is mariachi style and should be played in a fast 3/4 time. It still gets heavy airplay on Spanish-language stations in the Southwest.
  • The Rainstick of the South American Rainforest
  • The Steel Drums of the Caribbean
  • Quena, charango and bombo from Los Andes

The United Kingdom and Ireland

  • The Stately Horns of England
  • The Great Highland Bagpipes of Scotland - virtually always skirling the Standard Snippet Scotland the Brave
  • The Uilleann Pipes of Ireland
    • Or, if it's in a pub, generic diddly aye fiddle music. On rare, often "mystical" or sad occasions, Sean Nós singing. By which I mean Clannad.
  • The Drums of the Picts
    • Braveheart
  • The young-English-male chorus of muscular Christianity
  • The tinkling pianoforte of the Jane Austen adaptation
  • The brass band of Oop North
  • And the Male Voice Choir, keeping a welcome in the hillsides of Wales
  • Ironically enough the actual national anthem (officially titled "National Anthem", more commonly know as "God Save the [King/Queen][1]") is rarely used, since it shares the same tune as the US's "America" (better known for its first line, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee"), meaning it's likely to be confused.
  • The Bells of Westminster and/or Big Ben, cut any way you like. So iconic it doesn't even need an establishing shot of the Palace of Westminster/St. Stephen's Tower/the Westminster Clock to go with it.
  • In some contemporary works, 70s Punk Rock will be the official anthem of England. If the director wants to be even more hip, they'll use 90s techno.
  • The opening bars of "Rule, Brittania".

United States and Canada

USA:

  • The Brass of USA - just about anything composed by John Philip Sousa (except perhaps the Liberty Bell March) or music largely considered patriotic to the United States.
  • Any establishing shot of the White House will, of course, be accompanied by "Hail to the Chief".
  • The strings and horns of the West
  • The War Drums of Injun Country (Mercifully far less common than it once was.)
  • The Saxophone of New Orleans.
  • The surf guitar of Los Angeles.
  • The Banjo of the Deep South. Clucking chickens optional.
  • Light jazz music usually tells you you're in San Francisco. Not because the music derives from the area, but because it fits the feel of the city that most filmmakers are shooting for.
    • Also occasionally some '60s folk or pop/rock, especially "California Dreamin'", "Somebody to Love", and oh yeah, "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)".
    • The first minute or two of "Le Jazz Hot" (especially the bass and trumpet parts) will be instantly recognizable as "the music that plays in every 1920's dance club and/or speakeasy."
    • Instrumental hip-hop is becoming increasingly popular for SF.
  • A warbling clarinet or sax, or something Big Band-sounding, often welcomes you to New York City.
    • Or The Windy City, for that matter. May or may not include more fiddling.
    • That warbling clarinet is often a play on Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
    • The saxophone immediately invokes Saturday Night Live.
  • The ukulele and steel guitar of Hawaii.
  • The wailing fiddle of Appalachian/Ozark poverty.
    • Occasional jug and washboard added for effect, along with the Jews' Harp—that "boinging" instrument.
  • The hammered dulcimer of idyllic rural settings.
  • The guitar and/or harmonica of the lonesome prairie.
  • Very time and/or place specifically, you'll frequently hear the music for the "Charleston" for 1920's America and specifically for Charleston, South Carolina at pretty much any time period. It's not even the state dance.
  • An Elvis Presley or Sinatra-sounding tune for Las Vegas.

Canada:

  • Some people consider Bob and Doug Mackenzie's theme from SCTV to be "Canada's Riff". The theme is a parody of the boring flute solos associated with Canadian nature programs.
  • The folk fiddle of the Maritimes (the three provinces south of Quebec and east of New England).

Africa

  • The generic drums of Darkest Africa, which may be indistinguishable from the abovementioned "War Drums of Injun Country."
  • Chant or shouts evoking images of the tribal Scary Black Man.
  • The flute of Egypt.
  • Harmonic choral singing a la Ladysmith Black Mombazo.
  • Rattles and shakers/rainsticks/ocean drums.
  • Anything that's played in a harmonic minor scale (or double harmonic [dead link]) will become instantly associated with Arabic or Egyptian music.
  1. ↑ Delete as apropriate.
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