# Do you ever wonder about the Star Wars cantina band? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798 "2016-04-10T15:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/1 "2016-04-10T15:05:39Z")
Do they have groupies they get to go home with every night? Did they ever get a recording gig? Did they move off Tattooine? Or are they still stuck in that backwater hell hole, playing for drunk, scummy ruffians and villains who can’t appreciate true genius when they hear it? I think there needs to be an expanded universe novel featuring their story. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/2 "2016-04-10T15:17:48Z")
Do you mean [Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Figrin_D'an_and_the_Modal_Nodes/Legends)? > [@](#): > > Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes were an all-Bith music band, > > The bandleader and organizer was an overbearing, compulsive Bith named “Fiery” Figrin D’an. The Modal Nodes were members of the Intergalactic Federation of Musicians (IFM), and maintained a reputable standing within the trade guild. The band’s matching stage costumes were somber in tone and reflected the moody aesthetics attributed to their preferred style of music. Although the Modal Nodes enjoyed success on the Intergalactic circuit, they never rose to great prominence beyond the Outer Rim Territories worlds, owed largely in part to the fact that they incorporated no vocalists into their act. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/3 "2016-04-10T15:39:50Z")
> [@](#): > > …and reflected the moody aesthetics attributed to their preferred style of music. Are we talking about [this band](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWO5Ai_a80M)? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/4 "2016-04-10T16:18:09Z")
Yeah, they seem peppy and upbeat to me. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/5 "2016-04-10T17:09:51Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Do you mean [Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Figrin_D'an_and_the_Modal_Nodes/Legends)? Wookiepedia kinda ruins the fun of threads like this one. We could have fun speculating what the cantina band does in its free time. But no, everything is already mapped out and answered in excruciating detail. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/6 "2016-04-10T17:15:52Z")
Considering how often Figrin D’an threw their escape money away in Jabba’s Mos Eisley casinos, I’m surprised the rest of the band didn’t dump him into a Sarlacc pit themselves… ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/7 "2016-04-10T17:51:00Z")
Plenty of local bands here on Earth that no one’s ever heard of. I love how Wookiepiedia gives them names and backgrounds. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/8 "2016-04-10T18:19:50Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Did they ever get a recording gig? Did they move off Tattooine? Or are they still stuck in that backwater hell hole, playing for drunk, scummy ruffians and villains who can’t appreciate true genius when they hear it? Stuck? No man, they kept it real. They could have sold out and played in some neon and plastic franchise club on Coruscant for the soulless spawn of the bureaucrats, but they were in it for the Music and the real fans who knew what honest artists were ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/9 "2016-04-10T18:22:50Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Wookiepedia kinda ruins the fun of threads like this one. We could have fun speculating what the cantina band does in its free time. But no, everything is already mapped out and answered in excruciating detail. I feel the same way about the Wikipedia pages on pirates, vikings and ninjas. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/10 "2016-04-10T18:23:32Z")
If the _Knights of the Old Republic_ game is any indication, Bith bands usually have Twi’lek dancers associated with them. That the Mos Eisley group didn’t likely indicates their declining fortunes. Also, playing at a wretched hive of scum and villainy wouldn’t have done them any favors. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/11 "2016-04-10T18:25:57Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > If the _Knights of the Old Republic_ game is any indication,\*\* Bith bands usually have Twi’lek dancers associated with them.\*\* That the Mos Eisley group didn’t likely indicates their declining fortunes. Also, playing at a wretched hive of scum and villainy wouldn’t have done them any favors. She dropped out. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/12 "2016-04-10T18:35:58Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > She dropped out. In retrospect, she should have stayed with the band no matter how much money Jabba was offering. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/13 "2016-04-10T18:37:05Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Stuck? No man, they kept it real. They could have sold out and played in some neon and plastic franchise club on Coruscant for the soulless spawn of the bureaucrats, but they were in it for the Music and the real fans who knew what honest artists were They do occasionally [play at Disney World, though](http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Figran_D'an_and_the_Modal_Nodes). ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/14 "2016-04-10T18:39:00Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > In retrospect, she should have stayed with the band no matter how much money Jabba was offering. Even though they all tried to keep things friendly, the parting was not without rancor. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/15 "2016-04-10T18:42:40Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Are we talking about [this band](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWO5Ai_a80M)? 😕 The Bith are greatly offended by the merry reactions of other sophonts to the traditional funeral dirges of their people. To react with good cheer - even dancing! - when listening to these tragic meditations on the transitory nature of life and the impenetrable mysteries of the next world is a disrespect of the highest order! But the money’s good, so what the hell. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/16 "2016-04-10T19:08:52Z")
When the movie had its debut in Seattle, our band was playing a gig in the Pioneer Square district and we decided to go and see it. When the ‘cantina band’ scene played we all pretty much shouted “Holy Shit, it’s the XXX’s” !! Band name hidden to protect the guilty parties. Probably every ‘club’ musician who ever saw this for the first time had the same reaction. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/17 "2016-04-11T00:17:55Z")
in the expanded universe (before Disney decanonized it) one of the denizens of the cantina (can’t remember which now) ran a bit of a scam on Figrin Dan and ended up owning the band’s instruments. He was in the employ of Jabba and worked it so that the band ended up basically in indentured servitude to Jabba playing at his palace and on his barge. It was all in the anthology ["Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina"](http://http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tales_from_the_Mos_Eisley_Cantina)that told the back stories of the various characters seen there. ETA I have the book, but may have the details a bit off. In the link the guy with the horns is the dude who maneuvers them into the gig in Jabba’s palace Why? He’s a HUGE fan of theirs ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/18 "2016-04-11T00:43:34Z")
You can buy their CD on Amazon. > **[Various, John Williams, John Williams - Cantina Band & Cantina Band No. 2 -...](https://www.amazon.com/Cantina-Band-No/dp/B000003GBL)** > > Various, John Williams, John Williams - Cantina Band & Cantina Band No. 2 - Amazon.com Music ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/19 "2016-04-11T00:48:16Z")
I know that Max Rebo is not a blue elephant. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798/20 "2016-04-11T01:06:32Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > She dropped out. She didn’t appreciate being tied down. Y’know, to a contract. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-wonder-about-the-star-wars-cantina-band/751798.md?page=2)