Abstract

Sid Meier’s Civilization from Firaxis Games (1991-present) is a very successful turn-based strategy game, where each player develops an empire going through several historical stages. The soundtrack of the 2005 version (Civilization IV) is articulated in two main phases: an archaic one, characterized by stereotyped non-Western music, and a post-Mediaeval one, characterized by the music of the Western literate art music tradition. The appearance of Western music thus comes to signify to the player the chronological and technological progress of the civilization. As this message flows very smoothly through the player’s ears, the communication must be grounded in a broadly shared horizon of expectation. The article aims to explain how the coupling of western musical development came to be associated with modernity-coloniality early on.