Music in Aventuria

[Vinsalt]

I was wondering about the development of music and arts in Aventuria. Christianity, as you know, played a key-role in the development of western music. Aventuria hasn't even heard of christianity, so I imagine this would have some effect in the development of arts. I would imagine that the Novadi and Mhanadistan cultures would have mostly the same basic artistic affinities as those of real-world medieval Arabic nations'. But what of the Horasrealm and Garetia? They probably won't be going around singing "Domine filis, agnus dei" if the popular belief system is totally different from the medieval christianity.
There were also more down-to-earth music styles in medieval and renaissance Europe, such as chansons and madrigals, and these would be possible in Aventuria.
Music and the enjoyment of arts has been a popular pass-time for nobles and peasants alike since who knows when. You can imagine how boring living would be without any types of entertainment, and music happens to be an excellent distraction from everyday dullness and labour. If someone knows of Aventurian composers or famous virtuosos, please write about them aswell. It would be nice to know what kind of music to play while roleplaying, to create a good gaming atmosphere.

[gwaedin]

[moved this topic to a more approriate section]

[Rondrikan]

Hmm, difficult topic. The information about music in Aventuria is not very detailed.
In general I would say, music in Aventuria is not primarily about whorshiping gods (like on earth), but entertainment. Ok, let's take a closer look:

Music in religion:
There is religious music, and it is not unimportant. But due to the fact, that Rahja and Hesind are "responsible" for music, indicates that the main purpose of music is not religion itself.

Music in tradition:
In a traditional sense music is also important but not that much in the "civilized" regions. A very important role music has in Thorwal: the skalds are tale-tellers and lores men in one. The use music to keep the Thorwalian culture and also educate their listeners in this way.

Music in magic:
In some magical traditions music is important. Best example are the Elvish Songs, but also the druming of the dervishes.

Music in entertainment:
Bards and jugglers are the most important musicians in the civilized regions. They play at all celebrations, for nobles, burgois' and peasants. There are even some bard festivals. A few bards are famous, like Amber Zahrjan, the Imperial Court Bard.
Then there are some composers for orchestral music, but only in the "high civilized" regions like the Horasian Empire. But that is only something for the nobles and the rich.


I will now draw a conclusion, that is based not only on my writing in this post, but will also take in consideration of what I know about painting and acting:

Music (and art) in Aventuria is wide spread and important, but its development is not comparable to the development on earth. It is more about rediscover styles and techniques of old civilizations (and there are a lot), and copying, combining and quoting them. There are some patterns in each culture, which say that "music (art) has to be this way", but the people are usally tolerant to all ways of making music (art). The problem is (in my opinion) that (the role of) art is not reflected enough in the published materials, in most cases there are only clues, what art is like.

So that was more like an introduction to this topic. Maybe someone else can be more specific.

Regards,
Rondrikan

[Vinsalt]

You missed a few important uses for music. Nobility and royalty are likely to enjoy the "sophisticated arts" and high culture, and thus music would be at its pinnacle of complexity within the courts. Music is also probably used frequently in the military. Since Aventuria has many similarities to our world, some types of music would be plausible in that setting. In Horasrealm all sorts of renaissance music would be popular (not the religious stuff, of course).

With regard to other arts, the difference is probably clearer. All things not related to Tellusian religions are to be disregarded. Artistic skills and techniques are probably pretty much the same as ours was during the same periods.

It would be odd, though, if religion did not use music, as it has a tendancy to draw people to the flock, so to say. It also keeps the believers from reverting away from the mother church (the twelvegods in this case).