Adiemus

Adiemus (pronounced ) is the title of a series of albums by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins:

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• ' (1994)
• ' (1997)
• ' (1999)
• ' (2001)
• ' (2003)
• The Journey: The Best of Adiemus (2000)
• Adiemus Live (2002)

(Adiemus is also the title of the opening track on Songs of Sanctuary.)

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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 of phonemes as in scat singing, 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, as in African languages, syllables ending in consonants are rare. The core concept of Adiemus is that the voice should be allowed to function as nothing more than an instrument, a post-modern approach that has become something of a trend in recent choral writing, for example Vangelis's score for the film ' (1992). The word Adiemus itself sounds like (but is spelt differently to) a Latin word meaning 'We will draw near'; Jenkins claims to have been unaware of this.

Adiemus: Concept ►



 

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Karl Jenkins: Karl Jenkins (born 1944) is a Welsh musician and composer....