Word: gregorians
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...have been superseded by pious folk-rock in the Roman Catholic churches that gave it birth, but the ethereal, sinuous style of monophonic singing known as Gregorian chant is still alive and well, thank you. In the year's biggest musical surprise, a recording of Gregorian melodies sung by Benedictine monks from the abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos in Spain has suddenly become a monster hit. Issued, appropriately enough, by Angel, Chant has sold more than 220,000 copies in its first two weeks of release. The album is already No. 1 on the classical charts as well...
...Gregorian -- more properly known as plainchant or plainsong -- first surfaced as a popular phenomenon last year in Spain, where a two-disc version of Chant sold 325,000 copies in four months. The Benedictines' run-down 8th century abbey in northern Spain became a Mecca for music lovers, who came in throngs to hear the monks chant their communal prayers seven times a day. All this attention has flummoxed the abbey's 36 residents. "You have to understand," said one, "we are not rock stars...
...majority of Chant purchasers are ages 16 to 25, seemingly hooked on Gregorian's timeless, otherworldly quality. Angel has shrewdly given the album a New Age-ish appeal, with a Magritte-like cover painting of brown-robed clerics suspended in space and an ad campaign with the theme "Prepare for the Millennium." The basic appeal of the album, says Father Jerome Weber, a Catholic priest and an expert on chant, is "simplicity, purity and mysticism. There is an intuition of the beyond, both in the recording and in the way people are hearing...
Keep in mind that our Gregorian Calendar has undergone many reforms in its long history. Many dates of our holidays are quite arbitrary. There is no reason to think February 14 is the real Valentine's Day. There is no "deadline" for love. Love respects no timetable, no petty human conceptions of time. Every day can be Valentine's Day. Bask in the glory of love 365 days a year...
Despite its macabre name, Dead Can Dance is not a satanic disco band. And while there is plenty of dark magic on Into the Labyrinth, there are no banshee vocals or pounding beats. Instead, Dead Can Dance taps the ecstatic power of Middle Eastern devotional music, Gregorian chant and Celtic canticle to forge a mesmerizing sound that seems to transcend centuries and cultures. Pulsing with primal rhythms, layered keyboards and ululating vocals, this is World Beat music with a mystical edge...