Gamelan Music in Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 is a regular comfort game for me. On a recent playthrough, I noticed something new in the Haunted House Music. Take a listen from the time stamp I've set the video to start at:
Aside from the spook factor, you might hear the wild bell sounds going on in the background. To my kid-brain, this was just texture. To my Masters-in-Music-having-brain, though, I recognized this as Gamelan music!
If you're not familiar, the Bali Gamelan Sound is a great way to get introduced.
It's unlikely a coincidental choice on Koji Kondo's part. The desert music, for example, includes Indian sitar — a musical trope for hot levels. I'd suspect that perhaps it's a nod to specifically Balinese gamelan, which is used in certain rituals to ward off evil spirits.
The frantic nature of the xylophones is stylistically typical. Though, I like to think it's an emotional play on the fact that, well, this music doesn't seem to be doing any warding of spirits!
(Hey, perhaps it's not too late for a doctorate in Ethnomusicology!)