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FAQ: Musique ]
Through the years a number of composers have created music for
Cirque du Soleil productions, they are:
o) René Dupéré o) Benoît Jutras
.) Le Grand Tour .) Le Cirque Réinventé
.) Le Magie Continue .) Fascination
.) Le Cirque Réinventé .) Mystère
.) Nouvelle Expérience .) Quidam
.) Fascination .) "O"
.) Saltimbanco .) La Nouba
.) Mystère .) Journey of Man
.) Alegría .) Alegria: Le Film
.) KÀ .) Worlds Away 3D
.) ZED .) Drawn to Life
o) Violaine Corradi o) Simon Carpenter
.) Dralion .) Zumanity
.) Varekai .) Wintuk
.) Solstrom .) Banana Shpeel (NYC+)
.) ZAIA .) Luzia
.) Bazzar
o) Jean-François Côté o) Philippe Leduc
.) Corteo .) Solstrom
.) Koozå .) Corteo
.) Banana Shpeel (CHI)
o) Berna Ceppas
o) Maria Bonzanigo .) OVO
.) Corteo
o) Nick Littlemore
o) Scott Price .) Zarkana
.) Banana Shpeel (CHI)
o) Raphaël Beau
o) Danny Elfman .) KURIOS
.) IRIS
o) Anthony Gonzalez
o) Bob & Bill .) VOLTA
.) Totem
.) Amaluna o) Maxim Lepage
.) KURIOS .) Crystal
.) JOYA
.) TORUK o) Jean-Phi Goncalves
.) Paramour .) Alegria-In a New Light
.) 'Twas The Night Before
o) Éric Serra
.) Believe o) Philippe Brault
.) AXEL
o) Du Wei
.) X-The Land of Fantasy o) Tyler Bates
.) R.U.N
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Originally, Cirque du Soleil released its own music on LP, Cassette
Tapes, and Compact Discs through their own in-house label – Nâga –
which was part of Cirque's "Le Groupe du Soleil" Services division
(one of the first attempts to incorporate Cirque du Soleil into a
genuine business operation). The first release of Cirque du Soleil
music was a vinyl 45 entitled LA FANFAFONIE, the name of Cirque's
first band, which contained two songs from the 1985 tour. Although
this vinyl 45 has never been re-released, the songs ("Le Cirque du
Soleil" and "Le Funambule") were featured on the Cirque "25" album,
celebrating Cirque du Soleil's 25th anniversary in 2009. Nâga would
go on to release "Cirque du Soleil" (full album) in 1987, "Les
Pingoins" (a vinyl 45) in 1988 and "Nouvelle Experience" (full album)
in 1990.
In 1992, Cirque du Soleil music interests were released through the
RCA/Victor label in the United States and Canada (and BMG label
elsewhere; RCA/Victor was part of the Bertlesmann Music Group). During
this era a number of albums were released: a second album entitled
"Cirque du Soleil (volume 2)", "Nouvelle Experience", "Collection",
"Mystère" and "Mystère Live", "Saltimbanco", "Alegría", "Quidam",
"La Nouba", "O", and "Dralion".
In 2002, Cirque du Soleil created its own music imprint – called
Cirque du Soleil Records/Musique – and re-released select titles from
their music catalog in association with BMG Canada.
In 2004, after the company's agreement with BMG Canada ended (and
BMG-RCA/Victor merged with Sony Music to form Sony BMG), Cirque du
Soleil decided to start its own music label – called Cirque du Soleil
Musique – and dedicated it to the creation, production and marketing
of music associated with current and future Cirque du Soleil
productions, and to the creation of other new music through the
support and development of emerging artists. The new label and its
debut album ("Le Best of Cirque du Soleil - 20th Anniversary Edition",
a collection of the most popular music from "Saltimbanco", "Mystère",
"Alegría", "Quidam, "O", La Nouba, Dralion and Varekai) was formally
announced on September 29, 2004.
From 2004 through 2008, Cirque du Soleil Musique releases were
distributed by ZING Distribution in Canada and by RED Distribution in
the U.S. Both owned or affiliated with the SONY-BMG Music Group.
In 2009, Cirque du Soleil Musique changed its Canadian distributor
from ZING to "Justin Time Records", an independent distributor. Justin
Time Records re-released the Koozå CD and a 25th Anniversary Alegría CD
(no changes in content), then continued with the release of Cirque 25.
Cirque du Soleil continued to use RED in the U.S.; however, its logo was
no longer prominent on the packaging.
Beginning in 2017, Cirque du Soleil Musique ceased to exist as a music
label, and as an imprint of the Cirque du Soleil business entity. All
music releases are currently being handled through Cirque du Soleil
Images.
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This is often tricky to determine at face value, as generally the album cover artwork, insert booklet contents and general packaging visuals did not change from label to label (although the recent incarnations by Cirque du Soleil Musique do sport changes in visual), but differences can be discerned by examining the album's catalog number, located on the spine of the album or on the album's back cover. This number will generally be displayed in a string of letters and numbers, hyphenated into three sections: a prefix, a selection code (often also denoting the product number) and a suffix. The album's prefix helps determine the lablel and the suffix helps determine in what medium the album was released. All RCA/Victor releases are denoted with a Catalog Number prefix of 09026. Example: Mystère Live (09026-68596-2) Also note that the suffix (-2) denotes a Compact Disc release. There are also (-1) Vinyl and (-4) Cassette notations where applicable. An RCA/Victor or BMG Logo is also promanently displayed on the album visual. All BMG/CDS Musique releases are denoted with a Catalog Number prefix of 40000 or 74321. The suffix here is omitted as all releases were in Compact Disc format. A Cirque du Soleil Musique logo is promenantly displayed on the album back cover. All Cirque du Soleil Musique releases are denoted with a Catalog Prefix combination explained as follows: Prefix: C Cirque D du S Soleil M Musique C Core Music (Show Music) N New Music J Jewel Case D Digipak P Promo L Limited Edition Selection: 10 Canadian Release (Zing) 20 US Release (RED) xxx Product ID Suffix: -1 Vinyl -2 CD -4 Cassette Therefore, as an example, the Saltimbanco (2005) album is denoted: CDSMCJ-10005-2 in Canada and CDSMCJ-20005-2 in the United States accordingly. { Return to Top }
In 2002, the BMG/Cirque du Soleil Musique alliance re-released three studio albums with two extra tracks apiece: Saltimbanco, Alegría and Quidam. All tracks were recorded live under the bigtop and tacked on to the original studio album masters without much fanfare. The extended editions were also released without the consent of the composers and have since been discontinued, but not necessarily due to any objections. { Return to Top }
In 1987, Cirque du Soleil released the music for Le Cirque Réinventé on their own in-house label - Nâga - and titled the CD/LP release "Cirque du Soleil", as the show had yet been titled. In 1989, Cirque du Soleil released a second version of the show's music and subtitled the release "Volume 2" so as to avoid confusion between the two different albums. In 1992, when Cirque du Soleil music interests were released through the RCA/Victor label in the United States and Canada, only Volume 2 was selected; therefore Volume 2 is the more widely known issue. But to confuse matters, the RCA/Victor release did not include the "Volume 2" notation. To answer the question outright; yes both Cirque du Soleil Volume 1 and 2 are different. Volume 1 has a few selected tracks that were not remixed for Volume 2 and Volume 2 features a few tracks from Volume 1 remixed as the show evolved. { Return to Top }
Before the Cirque du Soleil Musique releases in 2005, little confusion existed between these two titles; however, after the CDS Musique releases, one title was dropped -- "Mystère" -- and the other renamed -- "Mystère Live" to "Mystère" -- but the latter is still the live recording. To help clarify: In 1994, RCA/Victor released the studio recording of the production Mystère, entitled "Mystère." Two years later (in 1996), RCA/Victor released a live compliation of the show it entitled "Mystère Live." While both albums were distributed under the RCA/Victor and BMG/Cirque du Soleil Musique alliances, the original studio (1994) album was not selected for distribution under the Cirque du Soleil Musique label (created in 2004). Instead, Cirque du Soleil chose to rename "Mystère Live" to simply "Mystère" and change the album artwork. The studio recording featuring musical compliations by René Dupéré from the original debut of Mystère is no longer in production or available in the Cirque du Soleil Musique catalog. { Return to Top }
Other than the original studio album (denoted "Saltimbanco (1994)") and the Extended edition album (denoted "Satlimbanco (Extended)"), only one other commercially available album exists under the Saltimbanco moniker. Its official title is simply "Saltimbanco" but denoted (2005) because the album's music was remixed and re-released that year making it different than the original studio and limited Extended edition albums that have been previously released by either RCA/Victor or BMG/Cirque du Soleil Musique alliances. The "Saltimbanco (2005)" album is the only one currently in production and available. Consequently, as a side note, there is one other album in the Cirque du Soleil repertoire bearing the name "Saltimbanco" and that is "Saltimbanco Live in Amsterdam." The album is an employee issue CD, recorded live under the big top in Amsterdam 1996 through the sound board. Since it was never commercially available, the title is not consiered a canon album in the Cirque du Soleil music catalog. { Return to Top }
Cirque du Soleil took a different approach to the Varekai album when it was released on CD in 2002. Rather than it be a direct recording (studio mixed) of the music as heard during the performance, they decided to branch out and create the album as an "experience"; therefore, the music, while quite familiar, took on a totally different tone than what you heard under the Grand Chapiteau. Including the addition of repetitive voice-overs on a couple of the tracks. About a year after releasing the first Varekai CD (which includes the original show visual), Cirque du Soleil musique took certain critiques to heart and repurposed the voice-overs onto their own track. AND released a second CD compilation that included a bonus CD, which included some tracks recorded live. A third album was released when Cirque music interests changed, discontinuing the "bonus" extended CD but keeping the new repurposed track listing. The third album is the only one of the three in print today. { Return to Top } |
