Cirque du Soleil

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Grand
Chapiteau

Musique

Alegría (Extended)
CDSMC-10008

Composer /// René Dupéré

Run Time (69:26)

   01: "Alegría"............ (5:47)
   02: "Vai Vedrai"......... (4:33)
   03: "Kalandéro".......... (5:16)
   04: "Querer"............. (4:34)
   05: "Irna"............... (4:46)
   06: "Taruka"............. (5:32)
   07: "Jeux d'enfants"..... (4:40)
   08: "Mirko".............. (5:03)
   09: "Icare".............. (7:25)
   10: "Ibis"............... (6:20)
   11: "Valsapena".......... (4:06)
   12: "Nocturne"........... (3:08)
   13: "Cerceaux"........... (4:00)
   14: "Malioumba".......... (4:16)

[ Liner Notes • CD Review • Release History ]

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Production Notes

Produced by — robbi finkel // Assisted by — rené dupéré // Arrangements — rené dupéré, robbi finkel // Additional Orchestrations — robbi finkel // Progamming of Synthesizers and Electronic Percussion — rené dupéré

Dutch Robinson, Joey Sommerville courtesy of Michael Williams Comm.

Recorded and Mixed by — rob heaney // Recorded at — studio st-vincent, studio victor, Montréal // Assistants — richard mischook, luc pellerin // Mixed at — studio st-vincent, Montréal. studio a.r.p., Ste-Anne-des-Lacs // Assistant — richard mischook // Mastering — bill kipper, Disques SNB, Montréal // Digital Editing — michel gauvin

Photographer — al seib // Illustrator — michel-thomas poulin // Graphic Design — cirque du soleil inc. // Producer — cirque du soleil musique inc. // Executive Producer — daniel aumais

Show Director — franco dragone

NOTE: "Cerceaux" and "Malioumba" were recorded live under the bigtop Sydney, Australia: 2001

Song Credits

ALEGRIA - { Credit }

VAI VEDRAI - { Credit }

KALANDERO - { Credit }

QUERER - { Credit }

IRNA - { Credit }

TARUKA - { Credit }

JEUX D'ENFANTS - { Credit }

MIRKO - { Credit }

ICARE - { Credit }

IBIS - { Credit }

VALSAPENA - { Credit }

NOCTURNE - { Credit }

CERCEAUX - { Credit }

MALIOUMBA - { Credit }

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Text by: Paul Roberts | September 2002
Fascination! Newsletter, Issue #13

Read

"Alegría: 'I Hear a Young Malioumba Sing'"

The music of Cirque du Soleil provides the soul for the show. At times the performance-accompanying themes go unnoticed but provide a subliminal controlling of the audiences' emotions. Every show has had a soundtrack CD released (except "Varekai", which is coming soon) and even though the studio recordings are incredible, nothing compares to the live music. In 1996, Cirque du Soleil re-released a live "Mystère" soundtrack that included newer songs written by Benoît Jutras to go along with original compositions by René Dupéré. But no other show has had the soundtrack re-released live. Not in its entirety anyway.

One of the latest extended CDs is "Alegría" (BMG Canada/Cirque du Soleil MUSIQUE; 74321-93442-2) that includes two René Dupéré-written songs previously unavailable anywhere: "Cerceaux" (4:00) and "Malioumba" (4:16). The CD package has been updated with a new cover picture, which matches the new North American Tour poster. The CD insert, however, is basically the same as the original release, with only updated track information for the new cuts. The CD itself has a picture of Little Tamir in full, vibrant color. But it's the tracks that I was most interested in.

[ Read More ]

A few years ago someone had downloaded a complete "Alegría" show on Napster and I remember hearing "Cerceaux" for the first time. I instantly fell in love with the song and as word spread around about the Napster downloads it had been revealed that the song accompanied Elena Lev's Hoop act. Now the song accompanies Maria Silaeva's Manipulation act. The song is an unusual mixture of classical music-like melody lines over a Latin beat-like rhythm. The White Singer and Black Singer echo each other using the famous Cirque du Soleil imaginary language. The ending crescendos with a rapid acoustic guitar chord progression as an accordion provides a musical scale of notes. Unfortunately, about three minutes had been cut out of the song (I had gotten used to the live DVD version) and feels a little rushed.

"Malioumba" accompanies the Flying Man act and I had never heard this song until I saw the "Alegría" broadcast on Bravo. Singer Fancesca Gagnon receives composing credit and I assume she wrote the lyrics. This has become one of my favorite Cirque du Soleil songs and reminds me of something Sting might record. There is quite a bit of low percussion and string-synthesizer chord progressions over a slow tempo. The airy vocal sonnet provides a floating sensation and you can hear the high notes echo throughout the big top. One of the highlights for me is the bridge, where bassist David Pelletier plays a gliding melody line on his fretless bass that leads back to the chorus-lyric of "Malioumba." I get chills at each listening of this tune. But once again, the CD version is edited and this time, I think way too much.

With the two new additions, the CDs total play time has been extended to 69:26. Hopefully, Cirque du Soleil will continue the extended CD trend with "O", "La Nouba", and "Dralion". But I really wish that they had followed the "Mystère" lead and re-released complete live recordings of each and every show. I know of at least one person who'd buy them all!

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Alternate Visuals

Poster Cover
{ 2002 Cover }

Edition Info

BMG Canada {2002}
Released: June 11, 2002 (CAN)

• Catalog #: 74321-93442-2 [ADD]
• UPC: 7-43219-34422-9

Cirque du Soleil Musique {2004+}
Released: Unreleased; Tracking Only

• Catalog #: CDSMC-10008
• UPC: None (Digital Only)