Ancient Voices

 is the main theme song of the reality television series, Survivor. It is used mainly for the opening credits for each episode, where it contains photographs or very short motion pictures of the castaways.

Composition
Ancient Voices was musically scored by American composer Russ Landau. Contrary to popular belief that the song was merely "incoherent chanting," its lyrics is actually based from a Russan folk song entitled Poidu Vyidu na Ulitsu, which meant "I'll Go and Get Outside," a fitting title to a game show where contestants are subjected to the outdoors.

Survivor
Ancient Voices has been used by the US version of Survivor since its inception in 2000, and it has been rehashed every season to fit in with the location's culture. Survivor: China and Survivor: Thailand theme songs included oriental tones. It may sometimes include local instruments, like the Aboriginals' didgeridoo, which was used in the theme song of Survivor: The Australian Outback (and some subsequent background music used in future seasons).

thumb|251px|right|Survivor: Palau extended version

While shortened versions of Ancient Voices are used in the opening credits of the series, which lasts about a minute to a minute and ten seconds, each rendition has its own "extended version" that is available through iTunes and soundtracks released by CBS.

List of Renditions
 Notes: 

This was the intended theme for Survivor: Nicaragua. However, it was unapproved and replaced with the original theme from Survivor: Borneo.

Controversy
In 2001, composer Paul Winter filed an $800,000 lawsuit against Russ Landau and Survivor Executive Producer Mark Burnett for copyright infringement. Winter claimed that there are hints of his 1987 album Earthbeat that are in the Survivor theme music. Earthbeat was a collaboration between Winter's new age band and a traditional Russian group, the Dimitri Pokrovsky Singers. The result of the accusation is currently unknown.

Awards

 * In 2001, Ancient Voices won a Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Main Title Theme Music."

Trivia

 * The rendition of Ancient Voices for the eighth season, Survivor: All-Stars, was an amalgam of the renditions of the show's first seven seasons.
 * Earlier seasons of Survivor used the ending part of Ancient Voices during challenge wins.
 * For the theme of Survivor: China, Landau commissioned a female Chinese choir to translate the Poidu Vyidu na Ulitsu into Mandarin and added a Chinese folk song to the edit.
 * Starting from Survivor: China, opening credits have been shortened by cropping out eliminated contestants from the video.
 * During the titles for Survivor: Nicaragua, the theme was the original version from Survivor: Borneo. Although there was a theme created, it was dropped though remains available on iTunes.