God Is My DJ
Encyclopedia
God Is My DJ is the fifteenth studio album by Italian
singer-songwriter
Alice
, released in 1999 on WEA/Warner Music.
After the release of two pop albums, Charade
in 1996 and Exit
in 1998, Alice again changed musical direction and set out on a low-key tour with a six-piece acoustic band performing in smaller venues and churches in the North of Italy, interpreting sacral - but not exclusively religious - music. As the singer writes in the liner notes: "This is not an exploration of spiritual music as such but rather a search for the spirit in music." The partly instrumental concert God Is My DJ, which later was recorded in studio and released on Warner Music, comprises works by composers as diverse as Arvo Pärt
, David Crosby
, Popol Vuh
, Gavin Bryars
, Franco Battiato
and Jane Siberry, French
, Hungarian
and Livonia
n traditionals as well as eleventh and fourteenth century hymns sung in Ancient Greek
and Latin
.
Gabriel Fauré
's "Pie Jesu" was first recorded on the 1988 classical album Mélodie passagère, the French folk song "Orléans" on the pop album Il sole nella pioggia
in 1989 and the Hungarian "Istenem Istenem" (as part of "In viaggio sul tuo viso") and "Madre notte" ("Mother Night") both on 1992's Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi
. Franco Battiato
's original version of "L'oceano di silenzio" ("The Ocean of Silence") was included on his 1988 album Fisiognomica, which also featured his version of Alice's "Nomadi", and "L'ombra della luce" on 1991's Come un camello in una grondaia and later also on the EMI Classical volume Shadow, Light. Eleni Karaindrou
's "Refugee's Theme" is originally from the soundtrack to Theo Angelopoulos
' film The Unsuspended Step of the Stork.
Among the songs originally performed as part of the God Is My DJ concert but not included on the studio album were Peter Gabriel
's 1989 instrumental "With This Love" from the album Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ
, the hymns "Planctus Mariae Et Aliorum in Die Parasceven" and "Crucifixio Iesu Christi Domini nostri Mysterium Crucis", "Il cielo sopra il cielo" from Alice's preceding album Exit
, the title track from 1989's Il sole nella pioggia
, "Dammi la mano amore" from 1995's Charade
and "Nomadi" from 1986's Park Hotel
.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Alice
Alice (Italian singer)
Alice , also known as Alice Visconti is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist, active since 1971...
, released in 1999 on WEA/Warner Music.
After the release of two pop albums, Charade
Charade (Alice album)
Charade is the thirteenth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in late 1995 on WEA/Warner Music.After a three year long artistic and legal dispute with her label EMI Music Alice signed with WEA in 1995 and then released her first studio album since 1992's Mezzogiorno sulle...
in 1996 and Exit
Exit (Alice album)
Exit is the fourteenth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in 1998 on WEA/Warner Music.After the musically experimental and lyrically introspective albums Mezzogiorno sulle Alpi and Charade Alice released Exit in 1998, her most pop-oriented and melodic studio album since the...
in 1998, Alice again changed musical direction and set out on a low-key tour with a six-piece acoustic band performing in smaller venues and churches in the North of Italy, interpreting sacral - but not exclusively religious - music. As the singer writes in the liner notes: "This is not an exploration of spiritual music as such but rather a search for the spirit in music." The partly instrumental concert God Is My DJ, which later was recorded in studio and released on Warner Music, comprises works by composers as diverse as Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
, David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
, Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh is a corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic Quiché kingdom in Guatemala's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People."...
, Gavin Bryars
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
, Franco Battiato
Franco Battiato
Francesco Battiato is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes...
and Jane Siberry, French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and Livonia
Livonia
Livonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
n traditionals as well as eleventh and fourteenth century hymns sung in Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
.
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
's "Pie Jesu" was first recorded on the 1988 classical album Mélodie passagère, the French folk song "Orléans" on the pop album Il sole nella pioggia
Il Sole Nella Pioggia
Il sole nella pioggia is the eleventh studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in 1989 on EMI Music.The album, whose title translates as The Sun in the Rain, includes the single releases "Visioni" and "Il sole nella pioggia" as well as popular tracks like "Tempo senza tempo", "Le...
in 1989 and the Hungarian "Istenem Istenem" (as part of "In viaggio sul tuo viso") and "Madre notte" ("Mother Night") both on 1992's Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi
Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi
Mezzogiorno sulle Alpi is the twelfth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in 1992 on EMI Music.Three years after the commercial success of Il sole nella pioggia Alice returned to the music scene with her most mature and complex work to date, exploring genres like experimental...
. Franco Battiato
Franco Battiato
Francesco Battiato is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes...
's original version of "L'oceano di silenzio" ("The Ocean of Silence") was included on his 1988 album Fisiognomica, which also featured his version of Alice's "Nomadi", and "L'ombra della luce" on 1991's Come un camello in una grondaia and later also on the EMI Classical volume Shadow, Light. Eleni Karaindrou
Eleni Karaindrou
Eleni Karaindrou is a Greek composer, born in Teichio. She studied piano and theory at the Hellenikon Odion in Athens. She is best known for scoring the films of Theo Angelopoulos...
's "Refugee's Theme" is originally from the soundtrack to Theo Angelopoulos
Theo Angelopoulos
Theodoros Angelopoulos is a Greek filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer.-Life:Angelopoulos studied law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, but after his military service went to Paris to attend the Sorbonne. He soon dropped out to study film at the IDHEC before returning...
' film The Unsuspended Step of the Stork.
Among the songs originally performed as part of the God Is My DJ concert but not included on the studio album were Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
's 1989 instrumental "With This Love" from the album Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ
Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ
Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ is a musical album released in 1989 by Peter Gabriel. It is his second soundtrack and eighth album overall...
, the hymns "Planctus Mariae Et Aliorum in Die Parasceven" and "Crucifixio Iesu Christi Domini nostri Mysterium Crucis", "Il cielo sopra il cielo" from Alice's preceding album Exit
Exit (Alice album)
Exit is the fourteenth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in 1998 on WEA/Warner Music.After the musically experimental and lyrically introspective albums Mezzogiorno sulle Alpi and Charade Alice released Exit in 1998, her most pop-oriented and melodic studio album since the...
, the title track from 1989's Il sole nella pioggia
Il Sole Nella Pioggia
Il sole nella pioggia is the eleventh studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in 1989 on EMI Music.The album, whose title translates as The Sun in the Rain, includes the single releases "Visioni" and "Il sole nella pioggia" as well as popular tracks like "Tempo senza tempo", "Le...
, "Dammi la mano amore" from 1995's Charade
Charade (Alice album)
Charade is the thirteenth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in late 1995 on WEA/Warner Music.After a three year long artistic and legal dispute with her label EMI Music Alice signed with WEA in 1995 and then released her first studio album since 1992's Mezzogiorno sulle...
and "Nomadi" from 1986's Park Hotel
Park Hotel (Alice album)
Park Hotel is the eighth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in late 1986 on EMI Music.The album was recorded with a four-piece band consisting of Italian keyboardist Michele Fedrigotti plus three internationally acclaimed musicians: American bassist Tony Levin , American...
.
Track listing
- "Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet (Gavin BryarsGavin BryarsRichard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
- 1974) - 1:20 - "Calling All Angels" (Jane Siberry - 1991) - 4:56
- "Madre notte (AliceAlice (Italian singer)Alice , also known as Alice Visconti is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist, active since 1971...
, Francesco Messina, Paolo FresuPaolo FresuPaolo Fresu is a trumpet and flugelhorn jazz player, as well as an arranger of music, and music composer.-Career:Fresu was born in Berchidda, Sardinia. He picked up the trumpet at the age of 11, and played in the band Bernardo de Muro in his home town Berchidda...
- 1992) - 1:32 - "Kyrie" (Florian FrickeFlorian FrickeFlorian Fricke was a German musician who started his professional career with electronic music using the Moog synthesizer within the Krautrock group Popol Vuh...
/Popol VuhPopol Vuh (German band)Popol Vuh was a German electronic avantgarde band, in the mainstream-media so called Krautrock, founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Holger Trülzsch and Frank Fiedler...
- 1972) - 5:26 - "L'ombra della luce" (Franco BattiatoFranco BattiatoFrancesco Battiato is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes...
- 1992) - 3:55 - "Victimae Paschali Laudes" (Unknown - eleventh century) - 1:53
- "Where Will I Be?" (David CrosbyDavid CrosbyDavid Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
- 1972) - 3:26 - "L'oceano di silenzio" (Franco Battiato, Fleur JaeggyFleur JaeggyFleur Jaeggy is a Swiss writer, of Italian mother tongue.-Life:After completing her studies in Switzerland, Jaeggy went to live in Rome, where she met Ingeborg Bachmann and Thomas Bernhard. In 1968 she went to Milan to work for the publisher Adelphi Edizioni, and married Roberto Calasso. Her first...
- 1988) - 4:15 - "Unerhiireke" (Livonian heritageLivoniaLivonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
, Veljo TormisVeljo TormisVeljo Tormis is an Estonian composer, regarded to be one of the greatest living choral composers and one of the most important composers of the 20th century in Estonia. Internationally, his fame arises chiefly from his extensive body of choral music, which exceeds 500 individual choral songs, most...
- 1970) - 2:51 - "Für Alina" (instrumental) (Arvo PärtArvo PärtArvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
- 1976) - 1:45 - "Istenem Istenem" (Hungarian traditionalHungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
) - 1:42 - "Orléans" (French traditional, arranged by David Crosby) - 1:05
- "Ághios O Theós" (Unknown - fourteenth century) - 1:40
- "Refugee's Theme" (instrumental) (Eleni KaraindrouEleni KaraindrouEleni Karaindrou is a Greek composer, born in Teichio. She studied piano and theory at the Hellenikon Odion in Athens. She is best known for scoring the films of Theo Angelopoulos...
- 1991) - 2:18 - "Pie Jesu" (Mass from Requiem, op.48Requiem (Fauré)Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op. 48 between 1887 and 1890. This choral–orchestral setting of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead is the best known of his large works. The most famous movement is the soprano aria Pie Jesu...
, Gabriel FauréGabriel FauréGabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
- 1888) - 5:00
Personnel
- Alice - lead vocals, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, backing vocals - Marco Guarnerio - electric & acoustic guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s trks 1, 2, 4, 7 & 11, vocals trk 2, keyboards trk 6 - Simone D'Eusanio - electric violinElectric violinAn electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...
trks 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 & 11 - Ines Hrelia - violoncello trks 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 & 14
- Michele Fedrigotti - keyboards trks 1, 4, 5, 8, 11, 13-15, backing vocals 13
- Alberto Tafuri - electric piano & sound programming trks 2 & 11
- Francesco Messina - additional keyboards & loops trks 1-3, 7, 11-14
Production
- Francesco Messina - record producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
- Recorded and mixed by Pino Pinaxa Pischetola at Stonehenge Studio, MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
July - October 1999 - Preproduction at Didde Studio, November 1998
- Computer programming & processing - Pino Pinaxa Pischetola & Marco Guarnerio
- Sounds programming - Francesco Messina
- Transcriptions courtesy of Michele Fedrigotti, Marco Guarnerio & Alberto Tufuri
- Polystudio - cover designDesignDesign as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
- Polystudio archives - imageImageAn image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
s - Sheila Rock - photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, portraitPortraitthumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...