I don't think there is any particular trope for that, because plenty of sci-fi settings assume Earth is somewhere in the mix, just in The Future. It might be used as an example of something else - that the Radch setting originated from an Earth That Was or Earth All Along, or chalk it up to Literary Agent Hypothesis.
The issue with that is that the songs are specifically described as originating in fictional cultures on other planets. Even assuming that the LiteraryAgentHypothesis applies here, the songs were still transplanted from one universe to another.
Edited by Macpenguin
Sounds like a Useful Notes thing, if it's anything.
I personally would chalk it up to the author knowing her limits and using something she liked the sound of rather than spending however much time and effort it would take to come up with something whole cloth. (Also, using Literary Agent Hypothesis like that is kind of backwards)
A few of the songs in Ancillary Justice are real-life choral pieces, and I was wondering if anyone knew the trope for using real songs in a fictional context.
Edited by Macpenguin Hide / Show Replies