Who would have thought it? :)

http://www.acappellanews.com/archive/001889.html

An obscure group of monks near Vienna.... suddenly rocket to superstardom :) well..not quite...

My question is: What is this telling us about the spiritual condition...longing...yearning.... thinking of the Westerner?

Why would a Gregorian chant, unreleased CD go gangbusters and top the US classical charts.

or... reach number 7 on the European pop charts?

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2008/2360806.htm

"Monks go platinum" :) sounds like some kind of oxymoron doesn't it

Nothing.

But it might say something about modern Western marketing.

What does it say about Western society that XTC can make a fortune out of 'Dear God'?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk41Gbjljfo

and that Sarah McLachlan can make another fortune out of covering it years later?

What can the Village People, or Kylie Minogue, or System of a Down, or Nirvana, or AC/DC, or Gwen Stefani tell us about ourselves?

Or Rammstein?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w9EksAo5hY

Western Society:

GODLESS and loving it.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7l5kQWjhyeg&feature=related

:D

Dear Polycarp,

I'm not at all surprised that the
Gregorian Chant music has once again
become popular. It is very spiritual.

I have a collection of tapes,
"Canto Gregoriano." (Coro De Monjes
Del Monasterio Benedictino De Santo
Domingo De Silos).

I enjoy listening to the tapes
especially whenever I need to stress out.
Its amazing the calming effect
the music has.

Perhaps, that's why the music has come back in vogue.
People today, lead such busy, hectic lives.

We could all use some calmness in our lives.

And what better way than with beautiful music
from an ancient oral tradition.

You've never listened to them then have you. I currently own all of the Gregorian CD's and their success is simple. They have Monks, who train for no less than eight years at their art, chanting popular songs from the last 4 decades to a rock ballad type beat. While this may seem like the worst thing that can possibly be done it fits perfectly together. This music is unique in that it brings the songs that people love in a new and sometimes better format, it is very calming and is not in the slightest spiritual as has been suggested.

But I could write forever about why it is good enough to get into the charts, if you wish to know why listen to it yourself. I suggest, because it is my personal favourite, Moment of Peace.

I love them Arthur...

I wish I could find more easily accessible.

I lean toward the 'spiritual condition' of Europe in my own understanding of their popularity... in a Post Christian society... the emptiness much be gnawing away at them... and then they hear something with some deep history and meaning from the past...

and...like Andrei Reau it strikes a chord in the longing heart.

Glad you like them Foxy.

When I do my "History of the world" in Music.. I'll use some of them for sure.

They've been floating around the charts forever. Ever since Enigma came out with MCMXC a.D. in 1990. What's that?, 18 years...

Congrats for catching up so quick, Polycarp. lol.

Cool. Do they cover "Smack My Bitch Up"? How about "Jesus Built My Hotrod"? "Antichrist Superstar"? Anything at all by Korn?

No Sancho, but I hear they do a great cover of "The Power of Lard".

Gregorian chants? I've had several CDs in my collection for decades. I like them because they provide a peaceful ambience conducive to doing other stuff. "Spiritual"? I don't think so.

The melodies and they way they are sung are quite beautiful, but very few people understand the Latin in which the chants are sung - including me.

Porky: << I lean toward the 'spiritual condition' of Europe in my own understanding of their popularity... in a Post Christian society... the emptiness much be gnawing away at them... and then they hear something with some deep history and meaning from the past... >>

Try again, old chap. It's popular for all the same reasons that all 'ambient' music is - it provides a nice background and, in the case of your latest musical discovery, is well-marketed - as Bugsy said.

Fraccy... as Jesus said

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

The only way a person can 'love' godlessness is when their brain chemistry has not been 'born again'.... yes..I know that the 'world' can have a certain charm...but having lived on both 'highways' I know which one reaches down to the deepest depths of our being and meets us there. (it's not the godless one)

I looked up Dandy Warhols and noted the atmosphere etc... seems to me like a manifestation of Peggy Lee's chorus

"Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is....."

But I don't know how long people can go in this life carrying the idea that it is meaningless and absurd...that idea leaves you with your body and senses...that's it. It makes relationships utterly meaningless...because there is nothing to bind 2 people together except mutual despair....oh what fun :)

Today..I've been asked to speak at my aunt's funeral and share a Bible verse.
I've been reflecting on the concept 'funeral'. It's that moment when we are all levelled out. No rich..no poor.. just the living and the dead. Someone we all love is gone... but is it 'goodbye'(and lets break out the booze) or.. "until we meet again"?

Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me shall live, even though he dies"

So.. a funeral can be doom gloom and despair...OR.. Joy, celebration and Praise, to Him who offers us eternal life.

The Monks chants connect us with those eternal truths.

Polly

So I guess the fact that Courtney is a total hottie has escaped you... sigh, too bad, old man. Have just placed 13 Tales from Urban Bohemia into the player table and cranked up the volume. Guess the Dandys aren't your scene, you're just not comfortable enough with your own masculinity.

:)

Oh, that's right, this is about Gregorian chant - excellent back ground music and so is Tibetan Throat singing - beautiful.

Check out:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7ktjUHjR6iU

Also fond of the Didge:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=DC9w4KWEgJE

There is a vibration common to Gregorian, Throat singing and didgeridoo. The Dandy's were simply my bait - and I GOTCHA, heh heh. (Although 'nietzsche' has a circular sound to it).

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=iEwoYK1kQR0

Frac... I checked out your links.. did an image search on Courtney T-T
Can't see anything about the Neitzche one to be excited about.

The didge one was great.. amazingly flexible instrument in the right hands.

but got distracted by the nice pins on the chick in the background :)

(Read Romans 7:21ff :)

So... lest I become as shallow as you :) (about your hottie) *grin* I left that one and checked out some other throat singing ones.. (no pins to distract me, just butt ugly blokes)
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=kO-QXyLSS20&feature=related pretty good...

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=QfcrSml8gj0&feature=related
I have nooo idea how that bloke gets the high tones there..

As John Wesley observed a couple of centuries ago, "it's a pity that the devil has all the best tunes."

This has always seemed a little churlish to me, considering that the church had a stranglehold on the production and dissemination of music for centuries.

A normal family - as opposed to the aristocracy - could only hear good music on a regular basis in church. It was one of religion's biggest draw-cards for the best part of a millennium.

Also, according to Wikipedia, "very little non-Christian music from this period [fifth to seventeenth centuries] survived, due to its suppression by the Church and the absence of music notation"

So it is hardly surprising that one of the dominant musical forms has survived to the present day.

However, it says absolutely nothing "about the spiritual condition...longing...yearning.... thinking of the Westerner".

Just that we all like a good tune. Despite the fact that the best ones apparently belong to the devil.