Music of Megelan
The music of Megelan reflects the diverse influences that have shaped Tyran's country of Megelan over the course of its history, with its traditional ethnic, linguistic and religious groups having contributed to the creation of a shared musical heritage. Megelanese folk music is an important part of the Community's musical heritage, and spans a diverse array of local styles, instruments and dances; it can be roughly subdivided into five categories: epic songs, ritual songs, love songs, work songs, and pub songs.
The earliest Megelanese popular music was the opera of the 19th century; opera tunes spread through brass bands and itinerant ensembles. In the same century, street musicians became a common sight in pubs and taverns, where they entertained the diners with folk songs and nursery rhymes.
Café-chantant and jazz were introduced to the Community in the 1890s and 1910s; in the 1950s, foreign styles became more prominent, especially rock - in the same decade, songs about the criminal underworld of the country grew in popularity. The later 1960s saw the emergence of singer-songwriters, while the Community's rock scene, originally very reliant on Gylian influences, soon diversified into progressive, punk, funk and folk-based styles.
Megelan was also an important country in the development of disco and electronic music, with Italo disco being one of the earliest electronic dance genres, featuring a futuristic sound and a prominent use of synthesisers and drum machines.
The first song contest in the Community took place in 1891; it was joined by another song contest in the 1950s. Today, Megelanese popular music - especially after the birth of the Internet - can often be either very lighthearted pop music or very dark metal.
Folk music
Megelanese folk music is characterized by its syllabic nature, as there is a one to one correspondence between a note and a syllable, and by alliteration, as words or syllables often begin with the same consonant or vowel; the oldest such song dates back to the 5th century CE: it tells the story of the wife of a petty king that, having been convinced by her lover to poison her husband, is found out and tipped off by her own infant son, and is forced by the sovereign to drink her own poison. Such ancient, epic ballads were spread all over the country by itinerant, professional storytellers.
Devotional and religious pieces are just as widespread, due to the festivals and rituals linked to the practices of Megelanese traditional witchcraft and of the faiths that syncretized into it; and of course, love songs are ubiquitous, and are often done in a call and response style, stuffed with double entendres and less than veiled sexual references. Tunes linked to old crafts and trades rarely lack socially relevant undertones, even when they glorify idleness and slacking.
Pub songs are, of course, characterized by coarse and ribald humour and themes, and often borrow their melodies and tunes from various other sources, up to and including classical and popular music; due to their irriverent and spontaneous nature, they can now be heard in places such as sports venues - a practice that has however given Megelanese sports fans a not undeserved reputation as insulting and offensive for the sake of insult and offense. It is not unheard for parts of existing pieces to be played one after another, often with overlap.
Musical instruments typical of Megelanese folk music include the bagpipe, the fife, the hurdy-gurdy and the violin, musical instruments that are also in widespread use in fusion genres of folk music and popular music such as folk metal and folk rock.
Classical music
Megelan has long been a center for classical music in Tyran; opera was born in the city of Gradaro in the 17th century and, by the beginning of the 20th century, Megelanese classical music had forged a distinct national sound that was decidedly Romantic and melodic, in which vocal lines prevailed over and were never overshadowed by the instrumental accompaniments.
Even though opera was originally aimed at an elite of aristocrats and intellectuals, and especially at the urban patriciate, it soon acquired the character of entertainment for the masses through cheap opera houses as well as through the brass bands and itinerant ensembles of the 19th century, that spread opera tunes throughout the Community. Even small villages had occasional opera productions, and the techniques used in opera influenced rural folk music.
The early 20th century saw a shift away from the traditional classical concepts of melody and harmony that had its peak in the experimental music favoured by the Futurist regime. After several decades of declining interest, classical music has gained new audiences and performers through video game soundtracks, with Megelanese composers of video game music crossing over to concert halls since at least the late 1990s.
Popular music
The café-chantant and jazz were introduced to Megelan in the 1890s and 1910s, just as street musicians became a common sight in pubs and taverns; foreign styles such as jazz and tango were adapted to the various languages of the Community, and the first song contest in the country entirely devoted to popular music took place in 1891.
Despite the disruptions caused by the Megelanese Civil War, the production of popular music continued in those areas of the Community not under Futurist control; in the 1950s, with the end of the conflict, songs about the criminal underworld of the country grew in popularity, before being overtaken by the new Gylian Sound.
The later 1960s saw the emergence of singer-songwriters, while the Community's rock scene, originally very reliant on Gylian influences, soon diversified into progressive, punk, funk and folk-based styles. Megelan was also an important country in the development of disco and electronic music, with Italo disco being one of the earliest electronic dance genres, featuring a futuristic sound and a prominent use of synthesisers and drum machines.
The 1980s saw the birth of the Megelanese hard rock and heavy metal scene: to this day, one of the leading scenes in Tyran for both genres, especially in the folk metal and power metal sub-genres; the 1990s, on the other hand, saw a return to electronic music in the form of Eurobeat and Europop, genres that eventually birthed a distinctly Megelanese school of self-aware and, occasionally, socially aware teen pop over the course of the 2000s and 2010s.
Industry
The rules and regulations that make up the economic and social policies of the Megelanese model are fully adhered to by the Megelanese music industry; therefore, the Megelanese music industry is largely made up by small and medium-sized enterprises that cooperate and pool their resources through various guilds affiliated to the General Confederation of Labour, Technology and the Arts. These guilds offer education and provide scholarship and, due to the belief that workers should be able to build skills by on-the-job training, as well as being able to earn a living while learning new skills, established artists often feature debuting and fledgling artists in their records.
Although the guild system's distinction between apprentice, journeyman and master has resulted in a music industry with superficial similarities to the idol industry of a few Sinosphere countries, in which trainees learn essential skills in a rounded system which is provided by guilds and labels in equal measure, the lack of binding contracts between the guilds and labels on one hand and the apprentices and journeymen on the other, as well as the free or at least inexpensive nature of the training process, makes the average Megelanese guild devoted to music (be it folk, classical, or popular) closer in nature to a music school that also owns several records labels, the profits of which finance the learning and teaching process.
To counter the rise of piracy, Megelanese record labels have, since at least the 2000s, provided deluxe box sets and high-quality physical formats for their releases, with bonuses and feelies often included. Despite their higher price when compared to standard physical formats, such releases are highly sought after and highly valued, and physical music sales have, as a result, been rising consistently ever since. This strategy has been since copied and emulated by other industries in Megelan with a history of piracy, such as the Community's video game industry.
Magazines, on the other hand, now have online counterparts that have long surpassed the profits and revenue of their physical sales, whereas the many hundreds of private FM radio stations broadcasting in the Community, with much of their programming devoted to live or recorded music, have long had more listeners than television has viewers, at first due to piracy, and now due to streaming - a practice that has advantaged audio formats and hurt video formats, as it's easier to listen to something than watch something while on the go or while at work.
