#orinoco flow and tempus vernum

[medusinestories]

So you know that post about Enigma's "Sadeness" going round, where everyone in the 90ies was into Gregorian Chants for a month?

It was NOT just a month.

The 90ies is a whole decade of unexpected and weird bangers which were based on combinations of synth, traditional instruments, traditional music, choral work and religious music. This is why there was always a whole section in shops called "New Age" (which pretty much meant "weird music we can't classify").

So Enigma releases "Sadeness" in 1990 and it becomes wildly popular in Europe. The band is still going strong apparently, though I haven't heard of any of their other music.

In 1993 in France, another Gregorian Chant banger came out: the soundtrack from a (terrible) comedy called Les Visiteurs.

If the theme sounds familiar, it's because in 1996 the composer Eric Lévy formed the band Era (also still going to this day) and the song "Ameno" was another banger. The album was apparently France's biggest musical export in 1996.

In 1994, another choral banger hit the charts. Written phonetically in a language that sounds like Latin, it was used in adverts and the album generally sold really well.

Okay so how was it possible for this many Latin-sounding choral work weird-ass bangers to get so popular? Well, IMO, someone paved the way for them.

Enya topped the charts for weeks in 1989 with her album Watermark and single "Orinoco Flow". Her music heavily relies on choral work, is heavily inspired by religious and classical music, with her own Irish spin on it. While "Orinoco Flow" sounds quite far from that dark Gregorian style, a number of lesser-known tracks definitely have a feel of it. This is my favourite from 1995, all in Latin (other notable ones are "Cursum Perficio" and "Tempus Vernum"):

And if you're one of those snobs poo-poohing Enya as "just cutesy ambient music", she is still Ireland's bestselling solo artist 35 years later, in spite of the fact that she doesn't tour and only releases an album every 5 years or so. She has influenced many artists, been used in soundtracks and sampled into several songs which themselves became hits. Her music is complex and varied - if you care to dig further than her singles.

And since it's Christmas, it's only appropriate for me to end with this gorgeous adaptation of a Christmas hymn:

[oh-stranger]

What's wrong with Blair, specifically, is that he listened to too much Enya at a tender age.