Calling All Dawns is a classical crossover album by Christopher Tin

Christopher Tin

Christopher Tin is an American composer of Chinese descent whose work is primarily classical, with a world music influence. He won two Grammy Awards for his classical crossover album, Calling All Dawns. He is also a composer for films, video games and commercials...

 released in 2009. The album won two Grammys at the 53rd Grammy Awards

53rd Grammy Awards

The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...

 for Best Classical Crossover Album

Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album

The Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album was awarded from 1999 to 2011.The award will be discontinued from 2012 in a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Basically, the Best Classical Crossover Album category will disappear. If a classical crossover release is a non-classical artist...

 and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the song, "Baba Yetu

Baba Yetu

"Baba Yetu" is a song by composer Christopher Tin.While 'Baba Yetu' is the opening track on Tin's debut album, "Calling All Dawns", the song was originally created to serve as the theme song for the video game Civilization IV...

". The win marks the first time in history that a Grammy has been awarded to a composition written for a video game.

The album is a song-cycle in three uninterrupted movements: day, night, and dawn (corresponding to life, death, and rebirth).

The twelve songs are sung in twelve languages, ranging from Swahili

Swahili language

Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

 to Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

, from French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 to Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 to Maori

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

. The lyrics are taken from diverse sources, including the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita, ancient Persian and Japanese poetry, and lyrics by contemporary writers. Vocal traditions include African choral music, opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, medieval chant, Irish keening

Keening

Keening is a form of vocal lament associated with mourning that is traditional in Scotland and Ireland.-Etymology:"Keen" as a noun or verb comes from the Irish/Scots Gaelic term "caoineadh" and references to it from the seventh, eighth and twelfth centuries are extensive.-History:Written sources...

, and more.

Track listing

Album Trivia

A direct descendant of the Maori prophet who wrote the original "Kia Horo Te Marino" text contacted composer Christopher Tin

Christopher Tin

Christopher Tin is an American composer of Chinese descent whose work is primarily classical, with a world music influence. He won two Grammy Awards for his classical crossover album, Calling All Dawns. He is also a composer for films, video games and commercials...

 after hearing this song on the album. She shared with him the full text of the proverb, stating that the widespread internet version is actually truncated. The full text as given on Tin's blog is:
Kia hora te marino

kia whakapapa pounamu te moana

kia tere te karohirohi

i mua i tou huarahi

Haere e tama haere


Let Peace be widespread

Let the sea glisten like the greenstone

May your path be straight

Like the flight of the dove

Go in Peace and with my blessings Moko

- however, the last line of the English translation does not match the last line of Maori. "Haere, e tama, haere" means something like the Spanish "Vaya con dios"; like the Latin "requiescat in pace" or R.I.P. it farewells the dead. But "Moko" is not seen in the Maori version, though it is a Maori word meaning tattoo. The more usual quoted form of the proverb is simpler and more general: "kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, ka tere te karohirohi".

The Author: Rangawhenua Tawhaki

Hapu (Sub-Tribe): Ngaati Pahere

Iwi (Main Tribe): Ngaati Manaiapoto

Marae (Home): Te Koura Putaroa Marae

Place: Taumarunui, Aotearoa (New Zealand)