Asian musical motif

Cafe Society
1

Hi there-

Something I’ve wondered about for many years, and even asked Cecil about once upon a time…

What is the source of that familiar nine-note musical progression you hear whenever someone’s trying to indicate “Asian”? Roughly: Da-da-da-da-duh-duh-DA-duh-DAAAA! It’s used as a motif in the songs “Turning Japanese” and “Kung Fu Fighting,” and at the end of the excellent “Clonie” by Nellie McKay.

I had two theories:
(1) It’s from The Mikado. A friend who’s a Gilbert and Sullivan expert debunked this, though.
(2) It’s from Charlie Chan films. Having no Charlie Chan expert on hand, nor the initiative to rent a Charlie Chan film, I still think this is a possibility.

Anyone have any ideas? Thank you.

2

Do a search on this one, we had a lengthy thread on this which came to no specific conclusions sometime in the last year.

Helpful terms would be “Kung Fu Fighting” and “Chinatown” IIRC.

3

Since you can’t search, here’s the thread that **Crandolph ** was talking about.

4

Sorry I didn’t provide link, I’m at work & sometimes the connection is a bit slow for searches…

5

Cool, thanks. No definitive answer, but I knew it was a tough one.

6

Moved to CS.

-xash
General Questions Moderator