The music of
Black Panther is very deliberately SubSaharan African; the music of the
Mandalorian is just as deliberately...somewhat difficult to identify. Clear 'Western' vibe, and yet.... They're composed by the same person, so clearly he went in different directions with themes for these two fantasy worlds.
Regarding real world cultures - we are attempting to avoid 'lifting' any culture wholesale from the real world into Middle-earth. So, there are a variety of real world influences in the costuming choices, and in the music, and in the set design (clearly). But...it's not like those decisions are cohesive and united about a one-to-one equivalence between the real world culture and the fantasy culture. We don't want them to be.
So, for example, Amrod can live an itinerant life in yurts on the plains of East Beleriand, but his people are not
dressed like Mongolians while doing so. And the yurts shouldn't look exactly like Mongolian yurts, either.
As for Harad...we know* that Pelargir is at the latitude of ancient Troy. So, situating Harad at Carthage and points south is...fair enough. And we know Harad has elephants, so the African equivalencies aren't too difficult to reach. Geography shapes culture; if you choose a geographical area, you are making decisions that should influence all aspect of that people's culture. But we are hoping to create the appearance of a unique fantasy culture, not a clear nod to real-world cultures.
*Well....this is what we know: “The action of the story takes place in the North-West of ‘Middle-earth’, equivalent in latitude to the coastlands of Europe and the north shores of the Mediterranean (…) If Hobbiton and Rivendell are taken (as intended) to be about the latitude of Oxford, then Minas Tirith, 600 miles south, is at about the latitude of Florence. The Mouths of Anduin and the ancient city of Pelargir are at about the latitude of ancient Troy.” The latitude of ancient Troy is: Latitude:
39° 57' 16.19" N . In another letter, Tolkien compares Pelargir to Venice (which I take to mean that the port city has canals).
Location of ancient Troy:
Our Frame is set along the coast in Near Harad, so at the very least, we are 300 miles south of Pelargir.
So...Carthage, Crete, Cyprus, Beirut type of latitude, maybe. We can go further south if we want to, but we likely should not make it less southerly than those real-world locations. We'll want some sand and sun. We don't have to make it tropical, though.
