Adiemus (song)

"Adiemus"
Single by Adiemus
from the album Songs of Sanctuary
Released	premiered: 1994 Delta Air Lines commercial directed by Hugh Hudson official: 10 October 1995
Recorded	1994
Genre	new age, celtic, african
Length	4:01
Label	Caroline Distribution
Writer(s)	Karl Jenkins
Producer(s)	Karl Jenkins, Mike Ratledge

Adiemus is a new age song written by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins and performed by Adiemus. It was officially released on Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary in 1995.

The song was used in a 1994 Delta Air Lines commercial directed by Hugh Hudson. The song has no lyrics; the vocals consist of vowel sounds with no actual words. The whole sound was recorded with female vocals by Miriam Stockley and Mary Carewe with their vocal harmony tracks being multiplayed in the studio.

Recording

Adiemus was written in 1994 by Karl Jenkins when it premiered in Delta Air Lines television commercial. An important contribution to the song was made by the British composer Mike Ratledge, who was, like Karl Jenkins, a former member of Soft Machine. Jenkins chose South African singer Miriam Stockley as a lead vocalist due to her wide range of intonation and Purley resident Mary Carewe for additional vocals. The London Philharmonic Orchestra also performed.^[1]

The main idea was to create a modern song using classical forms, such as rondo and ternary. All the vocals were written as vowel sounds. The voice is used as another instrument to make music and not to convey any message through lyrics. The song is a mix of African-tribal and Celtic-style melodies.

Personnel

• Karl Jenkins – writer, conductor, producer
• Miriam Stockley – lead vocal
• Mary Carewe – additional vocals
• Mike Ratledge – arranger (programmed percussion), producer
• Mick Taylor – flute
• London Philharmonic Orchestra - guest artists

Charts

References