It's probably been a while since you heard that old Delta Airlines commercial with what sounded to be a woman and a grand chorus of African children singing what sounded like, "A-ri-a-di-a-mus la-te, a-ri-a-di-a-mus da!" That was in fact not a bunch of children but a group of white women under the name "Adiemus," which is a pet project of composer Karl Jenkins (he of De Beers "Diamond Music" fame). Adiemus has also had a couple of songs featured in the "Pure Moods" collections, which is where I got my first taste of them, and first bought this album on cassette (I later upgraded to CD). That was back in either 1997 or 2000. I still remember listening to "In Caelum Fero" to an approaching thunderstorm--once you hear that song you likely won't forget it either. --- Adiemus's music can appropriately be placed in the New Age, world, or classical categories yet none of these labels capture all that is their style. To this day, this, and their followup album "Cantata Mundi," are their best CDs in my opinion.

Getting really inspired. Don't let the "New Age" label fool you--it's anything but heavy synthesizers designed to make you "chill out." If anything, it'll make you want to get up and start singing along. And they use a REAL orchestra (the London Philharmonic!) with REAL instruments.

The track made famous by Delta Airlines, of course...but now I love just about all of it. "Kayama" is especially gorgeous, and sounds like some kind of victory. "Amate Adea" is just heartbreaking.

There's nothing to not like. But be aware that some of these tracks (such as "Tintinnabulum" and "Kayama") run LONG--over eight minutes! (That's a bonus IMO, though others might not agree.)

Listen to it again--and learn the words. (Keep reading for more on that.) And buy their other CDs!

Inspired, and like singing.

Is "Adiemus," a group of women led by Miriam Stockley, who has since gone off into a solo career. The composer is Karl Jenkins, who also releases albums under his own name. In fact, I had some trouble locating this exact CD at Amazon due to different versions of it being listed under "Adiemus," "Karl Jenkins," and even a misspelling, "Adimus"!

It's beautiful, moving, and much better than what can be experienced in a simple airline commercial. More New Age/classical/world music should be just like this.

I have no reason not to recommend this. In fact, this CD and the followup, "Cantata Mundi," are Adiemus's best CDs to date, while their more recent releases have grown more disappointing.

A standard feature of Adiemus recordings is that they tend to sing songs in a "made-up" language. Meaning, many of their songs make no real sense. (They've since broken this pattern with the release of their fifth album, "Vocalise.") This isn't much of a drawback, though, as it just means that the listener can take away from the songs any meaning that they want--even different meanings after different listens. I would recommend buying this CD in combination with "Cantata Mundi" as both are equally good--and try listening to "In Caelum Fero" during a thunderstorm and not being awed. --- The made-up lyrics to the songs on this CD can be found at http://www.adiemus.f2s.com/extra/songsofsanctuary.htm http://www.adiemus.f2s.com/extra/adiemus.htm http://www.adiemus.f2s.com/extra/tintinnabulum.htm http://www.adiemus.f2s.com/extra/cantusinaequalis.htm http://www.adiemus.f2s.com/extra/incaelumfero.htm http://www.adiemus.f2s.com/extra/cantusiteratus.htm http://www.adiemus.f2s.com/extra/amateadea.htm http://www.adiemus.f2s.com/extra/kayama.htm http://www.adiemus.f2s.com/extra/hymn.htm

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Created Apr 18, 2006 at 2:23am • Submit your own review...