Conquest of Paradise (song)

"Conquest of Paradise"
Single by Vangelis
from the album 1492: Conquest of Paradise
B-side "Moxica and the Horse"
Released 1992
Format CD single and CD maxi
Recorded 1992
Genre Electronic, modern classical, ambient
Length 4:47
Label East West
Writer(s) Vangelis
Producer(s) Vangelis

"Conquest of Paradise" is a 1992 song recorded by Greek composer Vangelis. It was the soundtrack from Ridley Scott's 1992 film 1492: Conquest of Paradise[1] and the lead single from the album of the same name. The song achieved huge success in many countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland where it topped the singles chart, but was a relative failure in UK where it only peaked at #33. The song's popularity had been boosted in Germany by boxer Henry Maske using it as his theme song.[2]

"Conquest of Paradise" is played at home games for the New Zealand Super 15 rugby team Crusaders and Super League teams Widnes Vikings and Wigan Warriors. These days it is the unofficial theme tune for the city of Christchurch where the Crusaders rugby team is based. English football club Sheffield Wednesday also play Conquest of Paradise prior to their theme tune before kick off. "Conquest of Paradise" was also played at the Cricket World Cup (2011) and (2015) just before the national anthems of the two contesting national teams were played at the start of every match. It was also played during the 2010 and 2014 cricket World Twenty20 championships to uphold International Cricket Council's "spirit - of - cricket" concept just before the national anthems of the two playing teams. At the 2011 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, "Conquest of Paradise" was played when competitors finished the 150 km long race.[3] It is also used by the Engadin Skimarathon to introduce the start of the competitors waves. At least in the years 2010-2013. Usually every minute it is interrupted to announce the time until "go!".

The song has been covered by many artists, including Blake, Klaus Schulze, Free the Spirit, the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Project, John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra (1996), Daylight (1997), Dana Winner (2002), The Ten Tenors (2004) and Rhydian (2009).

It was used for many years in the Jeux Sans Frontières, using it during the credits. The single "Conquest of Paradise" has also been inserted in the 2007 Chinese television drama series Soldiers Sortie, and is used as the theme song in the Hindi film, Koyla (1997) and a Tamil film, Sundara Purushan (1996).

Its chord progression is based on the old European theme La Follia.

Track listings

CD single
  1. "Conquest Of Paradise" – 4:47
  2. "Moxica And The Horse" – 7:12
CD maxi-single
  1. "Conquest Of Paradise" – 4:47
  2. "Moxica And The Horse" – 7:12
  3. "Line Open" – 4:43
  4. "Landscape" – 1:37

Lyrics

Throughout the whole song, the following lyrics in pseudo-Latin were repeated several times:[4]

In nòreni per ìpe,
in noreni coràh;
tiràmine per ìto,
ne dominà.

One time this refrain is:

Ne ròmine tirmèno,
ne ròmine to fa,
imàgina pro mèno per imentirà

Credits

Charts and sales

Peak positions

Chart (1992/93) Peak
position
French SNEP Singles Chart[5] 12
UK Singles Chart[6] 60
Chart (1994) Peak
position
German Singles Chart[7] 1
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[5] 2
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[5] 1
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[5] 5
Dutch Top 40[8] 1
Swiss Singles Chart[5] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1995) Position
Austrian Singles Chart[9] 4
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[10] 2
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[11] 24
Dutch Top 40[8] 2
Swiss Singles Chart[12] 2

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Austria (IFPI Austria)[13] Gold 25,000x
Germany (BVMI)[14] 3× Platinum 1,500,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[15] Platinum 75,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Chart successions

Preceded by
"Zombie" by The Cranberries		 German number-one single
10 February 1995 – 21 April 1995 (11 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Back for Good" by Take That
Preceded by
"Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex		 Swiss number-one single
5 March 1995 – 23 April 1995 (8 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)"
by Scatman John
Preceded by
"Think Twice" by Céline Dion		 Dutch Top 40 number-one single
6 May 1995 – 8 July 1995 (10 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"I Wanna Be a Hippy"
by Technohead
Belgian (Flanders) number-one single
24 June 1995 – 12 August 1995 (8 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Scatman's World"
by Scatman John

See also

References

  1. ↑ King, Alex P. (2004). Hit-parade — 20 ans de tubes (in French). Paris: Pascal. p. 341. ISBN 2-35019-009-9.
  2. ↑ swisscharts.com (German) (Retrieved 21 September 2010)
  3. ↑ http://alanlucker.blogspot.com/2011/08/26th-28th-august-utmb-2011.html
  4. ↑ Vangelis lyrics: 1492, Conquest of Paradise
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Conquest of Paradise", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  6. ↑ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  7. ↑ "Vangelis singles, German Singles Chart" (in German). musicline. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Single top 100 over 1995" (pdf) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  9. ↑ 1995 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  10. ↑ 1995 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  11. ↑ 1995 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  12. ↑ 1995 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  13. ↑ "Austrian single certifications – Vangelis – Conquest of Paradise" (in German). IFPI Austria. Enter Vangelis in the field Interpret. Enter Conquest of Paradise in the field Titel. Select single in the field Format. Click Suchen
  14. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Vangelis; 'Conquest of Paradise')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  15. ↑ "Dutch single certifications – Vangelis – Conquest of Paradise" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers.