Le Grand Chapiteau: Varekai

Much of the music at Varekai’s premiere was pre-recorded, with the musicians filling in as needed. Two of the interludes had accompanying music from outside Cirque du Soleil – the Cloud and Crutches scenes. Music for these pieces was composed by Goran Bregovic for the film Arizona Dream. These are titled “Dream” and “Death” respectively, and are commercially available on the movie’s soundtrack.

Unlike the Icarus of fabled tale (in which Icarus plummets to his death) the Icarus of Cirque du Soleil falls into a fantastical world of good and evil where he is given the chance to redeem himself. Much of the story is told through the show’s score. To create the musical score for VAREKAI, Violaine Corradi drew inspiration from the vast repertoire of world music. Each piece seems to evoke a meeting or juxtaposition of different cultures, which are not always identifiable. Violaine Corradi combined the sounds of Hawaiian ritual, the songs of 11th century troubadours from the south of France, traditional Armenian melodies and gospel music with contemporary arrangements to conjure up the unique musical universe of Varekai. The 7-piece band includes a bandleader/keyboards player, a second keyboard player, drummer, percussionist, bassist, violinist and a wind instruments player, plus 2 singers — one male (The Patriarch) and one female (The Muse).

"I think the landmark of Cirque music is the quest we have to bring to the world textures and sounds that were forgotten, colors people have never heard before," said Corradi. "Guy looks at every level of the show, but there are two main horses that he's riding, because they're his passion: acrobatics and music," Corradi said. "He's always hands-on with music and acrobatics. If it's not up to his standard, we go back to the grindstone."

Laliberte has some favorite things. For example, the bandoneon, the instrument central to the Argentine tango, is heard in many shows. "He'll say, "Where's my bandoneon?' when we play something for him," Corradi said. "He loves bandoneon. It gets to your heart, puts you right in this magical feeling, the spirit of circus." So what exactly is the Laliberte aesthetic? First and foremost, Corradi said, "He wants to be surprised. He always says, "Surprise me.' And to surprise him, we have to go into the core of our soul. If we surprise him, who has seen and heard so much, you can be sure that the rest of the world will be surprised."

She emphasizes that the primary duty of her music is to complement the performers. Unlike a Broadway musical, say, a Cirque score has to have flexibility built into it. "A Broadway show has a certain structure, and the musicians will stick to that structure, as opposed to a Cirque show, where the musicians are at the service of the visual," Corradi said. "They really have to inhabit every millisecond of the acrobatic act. Sometimes an acrobatic sequence takes 10 seconds more, or 30 seconds more, depending on the mood or the strength of everybody onstage, and the musicians have to be able to be in synchronicity with the acrobats. They have to vamp without sounding like they're vamping."