CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS:

• For those wanting examples of authentic Iranian, Turkish etc, music, you're on the right channel. That's my specialisation. Browse my channel and you'll find plenty of authentically arranged/composed music of the region, all the videos accompanied with descriptions that'll give you a good base with which to do your own searches afterwards. Check out playlists dedicated to the specific cultures. Check out my Epic Talking playlist for more videos like this one.

• "What do you think of the Dune soundtrack?" Why is everyone bringing up the Dune soundtrack? I'm talking about the representation of real life MENA cultures here. Arrakis isn't a real life culture, you can't represent it accurately or inacurately. Dune's soundtracks falls completely outside the periphery of this discussion. Sci-fi and fantasy should create soundtracks by mishmashing real world sounds, that's the entire point of those genres.

• I guessed in the video that the accurate pieces of music in the Crusader Kings 3: Legacy of Persia DLC soundtrack were most likely created by the Iranian collaborators of the Swedish composer, but the latter, Håkan Glänte, contacted me and I learned that he indeed did write those songs after careful research into the Persian Classical Dastgah system; which goes to further show my point that Western musicians absolutely have the ability to render authentic foreign music, and that the prevalence of Orientalism is simply due to complacency and laziness in the industry.

• "What about Occidentalism? How about the view of non-Westerners towards the West?"

So there is such a thing as Occidentalism but it's not the yin to the yang of Orientalism as some may think. Most often, it takes the form of irrational hostility towards the West. Things like rejecting well researched truths presented by Western academia solely on the basis that it's Western. I've been highly critical of this in my videos, as it obfuscates "anti-colonialism," with anti-Western bigotry in order to get away with it. Occidentalism as a stereotypical view of the West, however, doesn't really exist as a perfectly symettrical counterpart to Orientalism.

The reason why it's mostly a one way street, and non-Westerners are generally better at representing the West than the other way around is because the West is currently the hegemon of this planet, in terms of cultural soft power. Therefore everyone around the world is intimately familiar with the generalities of Western culture because everyone is exposed to it.

The average Iranian who lived in Tehran all their life can tell an English accent is distinct from Scottish, and they do associate Received Pronunciation British with "posh." They do know the organ is a church instrument, and that the banjo doesn't sound fancy. Typical Western associations are well known to the average Iranian in Tehran.

At the beginning of the video, my uncle and I mention Mozart and Ketèlbey, Western Classical composers, and the musical form of "alla turcas," and "Baroque music". That's because every musician in the world knows Western music and its genres, styles, composers, etc. But it may take you months to find a single Classical Western musician who knows the names of Sheydā, Dimitrie Cantemir, or who know what the terms "peşrev" or "kalofonía" mean, and what musical forms they refer to.

All musicians around the world know the basics of Western music. We all do chords, harmony, play the piano and guitar. Only a tiny fraction of Western musicians learn any music theory outside of their own. There's a reason why Western musicians are the only ones who call their form of ethnic music "Music Theory," whilst everywhere else, even between them, people preface their music theory with the cultural specifier like "Iranian music theory," "Japanese music theory," etc.

I'm aware that this presents a rather unflattering picture of the West, but please understand that this is not a consequence of us non-Westerners being oh so wiser. Not trying to portray Westerners as inherently bad or evil. If we were the current cultural hegemons of the planet, we'd be just like that. In 500 years, if China or Brazil become the next superpower, they'll be the ones generally ignorant about other cultures whilst everyone else knows about them. Average Westerners aren't ignorant by default, they simply naturally embody the traits of a region with hegemonic global cultural influence, and we non-Westerners are simply luckier than them because unlike them, we all grow up listening to both our music, and Western music.

TLDR: everyone in the world knows that Madonna exists. Most Westerners have no idea who Fairuz or Shajarian are. That's just how it is due to the current geopolitical context. But that's just this context. In 500 years, if Central Asia becomes the next cultural hegemon, they'll be the exact same.

• I mistakenly use the term "Southeast Asia" in the video, but what I mean is "South Asia." Southeast Asia is countries like Laos, Cambodia, and I'm talking about the Desi cultures like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, hence South Asia.

00:00 Iranians react to Orientalist music
03:45 Defining Orientalist music
11:44 Disclaimers
17:44 "Indian, Arab, same thing"
37:50 How to write orientalist music
43:28 The OBSESSION with the Double Harmonic Major
54:52 Why the Double Harmonic Major?
1:00:42 The limitation of digital instruments
1:08:33 The vicious circle of Orientalism
1:12:24 Westerners CAN write Eastern music
1:21:00 How Orientalism sucks for Easterners
1:26:34 How Orientalism sucks for Westerners

This video reminded me of how every time Brazil appears in any media whatsoever, they always put some kind of salsa/caribbean music on, which of course just sounds entirely foreign to our ears.

"Persian and Arabs are the same" says some Texan who would literally throw hands if you said he looks like he's form Oklahoma.

"My music is authentic enough that it's played for actual cultural events" is a flex and you should be proud of yourself

I like the term “desert level music” and think it should be official. It’s a very neutral descriptor, it indirectly acknowledges the self-referential nature of Orientalist music, it’s honest about referring to a “vibe” that pretty much everyone knows, and it can easily be used in the titles of video uploads of songs rather than trying to tie it to an extant culture. XD

Orientalism is basically: 1) All Arab countries are the same 2) All middle easterners are Arab 3) All Arabs are Indians

Just imagine an alien creating "Earth Music" by combining the erhu, sitar, digeridoo, piano and djembe drum.

Song name?

Hollywood: Duduk - Sandstorm

I am from India and I was genuinely impressed by this video. In India we have two main classical music traditions, Hindustani and Carnatic. I have had a lot of exposure to both ( I’ve been learning Hindustani for 8 years and the region I live in has predominately Carnatic traditions. Western movies mainly portray Indian music as if it is one tradition. Me and my friends (I’m 14) all learn different styles and instruments and share stuff to each other. Almost every day I get to know of new techniques and styles. That is the diversity in India, it never ends.

conspiracy theory: there's one Armenian duduk player in hollywood with HELLA connections

I love how he just casually started grilling kebabs and never even mentioned it.

5:55 Reminds me of how 4kids anime would treat their audience. “Erase all of the Japanese text! Give them American names! Those aren’t onigiri, they’re jelly donuts! We can’t confuse the kids by showing them something slightly culturally unfamiliar in this fantasy show about a boy and his pet lightning mouse!”

47:32 “By the way, can you play Middle Eastern music?”

*plays one of Farya’s Persian compositions*

“No, no. I mean Middle Eastern music. You know, Arabian Nights and all that stuff?”

*plays one of Farya’s Arabian compositions*

“No, no! You don’t get it at all! I mean Middle Eastern music! Y’know, scimitars and turbans and camels and bellydancing harem giiiirls?”

*angrily plinks out hijaz tetrachord*

“THAT’S IT!”

As a westerner, its so JARRING how the further the video goes the worse the orientalist music starts to sound because i get to hear actual middle eastern music and it's like.... trying the actual food you only had as an artificial flavoring before. Mind blowing experience, like I unlocked the shrimp vision or something

I'm pretty sure the basic conception of "Persian" among a lot of westerners is just "Luxury Arabic"

Man now I really wanna hear European music made with the Orientalist mindset. That fusion goes way too hard.

In 2026, with apps like Suno dominating this music, this video is very, VERY important and must be watched and promoted. I'd love to work you on music projects sometimes in the future. As a post-colonial literature expert and enthusiast, I salute you.

"Scimitars of the turban hummus of the desert allahu akbar shawarma oasis" if released would no doubt be a total success

Fun fact: The Disney Film "Brother Bear", focuses on an Alaskan 'tribe' ( which could mean any group such as the Alaskan Creoles, Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tsimshian, Tlingit, Haida, Eyak, Inuk, and a number of Northern Athabaskan tribes).
For the 'Spiritual scene, they used a BULGARIAN Choir to sing the tune as it would sound vaguely foreign. They didn't even use music of a "Native American" tribe, they used a Bulgarian group to sing the 'Spiritual' musical scene

I'm an architect and a westerner, and I want to say that I really appreciate your example of Chinese vs. Japanese architecture. I spent time studying in both Japan and Korea, and it was astonishing to me how different the architectural styles of Japan, Korea, and China are. I would argue that the styles of those three cultures are more distinct from each other than the styles of France and Germany, especially when you take into account just how enormous China is. But most Westerners (including my younger self) just see big roofs with flying eaves and assume they're all the same. The average person just hasn't had the exposure to these differences that they need in order to understand the differences.

All that to say, I really appreciate that you took the time to talk on this. I'm never going to be able to unhear the duduk in pop culture, and that's all your fault.