SONG OF THE DAY

“Adiemus” by Karl Jenkins (Adiemus: Songs Of Sanctuary, Jenkins Ratledge Records, 1995). Written by Karl Jenkins.

MY TAKE

For a week, I have been desperately trying to think of a great childhood music memory to blog about today in honor of my sister Lili’s birthday, but kept thinking of Disney songs and musicals and “Lightning Strikes” by Lou Christie….yeah….basically missing the mental mark of worthy songs for today. Then it struck me: the vivid memory of watching t.v. in the early 1990’s in the back room of the house on Melton, and those ridiculous Pure Moods infomercials. My first, and pretty much only, taste of New Age music. We had that commercial memorized (and the Cat Stevens greatest hits infomercial!! “Moonshadow, Moonshadow!”). It’s really such a bizarre commercial for little kids to be into, and I wonder to this day why they paid for advertising on channels that were clearly playing daytime children’s programming. It’s not like we were watching VH1…well, we watched that a LITTLE when mom wasn’t looking! But I swear this commercial was playing on Nickelodeon. I swear.

Okay, so below I have posted a youtube.com video of the original Pure Moods informercial. I have so much love for that commercial, especially how it switches from Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells Part 1” (soft, cheesy, sorta jazz album my dad made us listen to once) to the totally 1990’s dance remix of the X-Files theme. It’s a ridiculous transition. Plus they advertise the CD as “direct from Europe”….hello, 11 year old me wants in! I want Muzzy and I want Pure Moods!

This particular track is so Avatar soundtrack, right? I feel like it’s the score for every epic moment in every movie. Good work, Karl Jenkins.

A few resources if, after you read the wikipedia summary below, you want a little more!

1. The Unofficial Adiemus series website
2. Karl Jenkins’ website (link is to the section on Adiemus)

PURE MOODS (1997 Re-release) PLAYLIST

1. “Return to Innocence” - Enigma – 4:10
2. “Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)” - Enya – 3:46
3. “Sweet Lullaby” - Deep Forest – 3:51
4. “Oxygene Part IV” - Jean Michel Jarre – 3:19
5. “The X-Files Theme (DADO Paranormal Activity Mix)” - DJ Dado – 3:30 <——–RIDICULOUS TRACK.
6. “Tubular Bells, Pt. 1” - Mike Oldfield – 4:59
7. “Sadeness, Pt. 1” - Enigma – 4:16
8. “Adiemus” - Adiemus – 3:59
9. “Crockett’s Theme” - Jan Hammer – 3:34
10. “Theme from The Mission” - Ennio Morricone – 2:52
11. “Main Title Theme from The Last Emperor” - David Byrne – 4:03
12. “Yeha-Noha (Wishes of Happiness & Prosperity)” - Sacred Spirit – 4:26
13. “The Theme from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” - Angelo Badalamenti – 5:01
14. “Makambo” - Geoffrey Oryema – 5:01
15. “My Wife with Champagne Shoulders” - Mark Isham – 5:32
16. “The Promise” - Michael Nyman – 3:13
17. “Lily Was Here” - David A. Stewart, Candy Dulfer – 4:18

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– Released in 1995, Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary is the first album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins as part of the Adiemus project.

– This album quickly garnered critical acclaim as the title track “Adiemus” had been previously well received during its use in a Delta Air Lines television commercial and release on the album Pure Moods.

– Adiemus is the title of a series of albums by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins. It is also the title of the opening track on the first album in the series, Songs of Sanctuary.

– Each Adiemus album is a collection of song-length pieces featuring harmonised vocal melody against an orchestral background. There are no lyrics as such: instead the vocalists sing syllables and ‘words’ invented by Jenkins. However, rather than creating musical interest from patterns ofphonemes (as in scat singing, or in numerous classical and crossover compositions), the language of Adiemus is carefully stylised so as not to distract the listener’s attention from the pitch and timbre of the voice—for example, syllables ending in consonants are rare, in this respect it is similar to Japanese and several other languages.

– The core concept of Adiemus is that the voice should be allowed to function as nothing more than an instrument, an approach that has become something of a trend in recent choral writing (compare, for example Vangelis’s score for the film 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), or “Dogora”, symphonic suite by french composer Étienne Perruchon).

– The session singer Miriam Stockley performed the vocal parts on the first four albums. Additional vocals were provided by Mary Carewe on all but Dances of Time, which saw the introduction of the Finnish Adiemus Singers (who would later reappear on Vocalise). Extra vocals and the chorus effects were created by overdubbing multitracked recordings of the singers (in some cases up to forty times) and varying the speed of the tape. Stockley was described by Jenkins as central to the Adiemus project due to her range and intonation, however for reasons that remain unclear she was not re-engaged for Vocalise.

– The Songs of Sanctuary orchestra consisted of a string section augmented by various ethnic percussion instruments, with occasional further additions such as bells, a recorder and a quena.

– Though there has been considerable evolution over the course of the project, the musical language of Adiemus draws heavily on classical and world music.

-The underlying mood of Adiemus is generally either energetic and uplifting or calm and tranquil, complemented by pieces with what Jenkins describes as an ecclesiastical mood.

– Many listeners identify the sound of Adiemus with New Age or Celtic music; indeed The Eternal Knot is an explicitly Celtic-themed album that formed the sound-track for the documentary The Celts. In classical music circles Adiemus has struggled to distance itself from the chill out quasi-genre, but the earlier albums are considered important crossover works nonetheless.

– The album Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary was a huge commercial success, topping classical album charts. It is considered by critics to be the quintessential album, on which Jenkins’ vision succeeds to the greatest extent with the fewest resources.

– Though none of its successors has achieved the same critical acclaim, Adiemus acquired a cult following and maintained a place in mainstream consciousness through its use in TV commercials, in particular the track Adiemus.

– The albums:

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Here’s the vintage 90’s commercial for Pure Moods, that for some reason was often played during the day on channels like Nickelodeon, which is how my sister and I knew of it at ages inappropriate for new age fanaticism. Don’t ask me, man:

And here’s the song “Adiemus”: