Customer Reviews

Zaia (OST)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Violaine Corradi returns again to write the score for 'Zaia', Cirque du Soleil's first permanent show in Asia. Including the vocals of 'Chicago' Rose Winebrenner and Swedish soprano Maria Andersson, 'Zaia' has an obvious influence from classical, folk and above all, Latin themes, which Corradi has incorporated into all of her tracks on the album.

Despite all my complaints to follow, I wouldn't call Zaia a bad album. 'Noi' (a piece which uses Rose's voice right) is a wonderful way to open the album, and features the whole cast for a slightly chilling, but enchanting vocal experience. 'Blue Ales' is also an intriguing composition, if slightly odd. 'Ellām Onru' is a mostly lovely piece, incorporating wonderful rifts of Maria's voice into an exotic beat accompanied again by strings. 'Caelestis' has also been popular among fans, with it's slight electronic feel which includes a strong presence from the orchestra again. The real gem in this album is 'Ignis', which features Maria's soft, lilting vocals accompanied by a string orchestra. The entrancing cellos result in a wonderful piece piece that is the one true moment of Cirque on the album. However, these tracks aside, I found myself getting quite bored of tracks and skipping through them almost constantly.

My main complaint in the album is that Corradi has drenched the pieces in heavy, dull and repetitive rhythms, and as usual, includes random and sometimes totally unnecessary sections in pieces. 'Utinam' incorporates some kind of random xylophone at the end of the album which no-one really cares about. 'Undae' concludes with some weird sexual vocal noises from the singer and a wood flute that overstayed it's welcome, whereas 'Hatahkinn' might as well be two separate tracks. While none of the compositions are terrible, some of them are certainly passable. 'Comissatio' is totally forgettable, in addition to 'Gaudiumni', 'Temperatio' and 'Aquilex', which are all mostly instrumental pieces.

The several things I dislike on this album include the dull mixing of the strings and especially the vocals. Corradi's prior albums, notably Dralion, was criticized for bad mixing, but Zaia takes the cake with it's less than imaginative mixing which makes the instruments sound rather lifeless in some points. Rose's voice is probably the final nail in the coffin for me. By no stance would I call her voice plain or mediocre, and her slightly aggressive tone sounds good on some of the latin sounding pieces. But her atrocious attempts of singing in a soprano range sounds like a mock voice and leave her sounding nasal.

Perhaps I've been too pedantic regarding Zaia's production but I believe this album is the weakest of Corradi's compositions for Cirque. As I've said above, I do enjoy a good portion of this album, I just can't seem to find that sparkling Cirque du Soleil as often as I would like. Zaia is a must have for Cirque Music collector, other wise I'd recommend giving this one a skip for the moment.

At first, it didn't really stand up to the other Cirque I know. I never regretted the purchase, I just wasn't impressed. But after the album was finished, I found I just wanted to hear it again, and then again, and again. It kept getting better every time through and it really grew on me. Even now it continues to amaze me.

I haven't seen the show, but it is apparently about a young girl's dream journey through outer space. You can imagine what Cirque du Soleil would do with a setting like that, and yes, it is very cool. It sounds like the infinite depths of the wonders of space. If you're Cirque fan, you'll quite possibly enjoy this album very much. It's one of my favorites.

If you are a collector of Cirque du soleil, this CD is alittle different from the others but still very good. I have purchased many of their CD's and have been well satisfied.

If I was to describe the ZAIA, CD in 1 word it would be... BEAUTIFUL!

If I added words to the description they would be... ARTISTIC, VOCALISE, CREATIVE, EXITING, ORIGINAL, WONDERFUL, SPECTACULAR, TRIBAL, MELODIC, SENSUAL, ROMANTIC, MISTY-MAKING, ORGASMIC, SOOTHING, DREAMY, RHYTHMIC, ORCHESTRAL-DELIGHTFUL, FANTASTIC-PERFECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAGNIFICENTLY-ARRANGED TO SOOTH THE SOUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ZAIA, was the perfect CD to listen to on my favorite morning SUNDAY, Relaxing in my undies drinking my java!!! I loved it!!!

Chicago Rose's voice is in tip-top-misty-making-shape! :)

Violaine, has a wonderful artistically creative soul!!!!

I'm proud of EVERYONE with ZAIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rob Byrd

I have listened to this album 4 times since I bought it and I just love it!

Every song is a musical gem. Each different from the other. What a unique sound this band has. Each song has credits so that you know which instruments are used. It looks like most of the musicians play more than one instrument. What a talented group.

I think that this CD has the most diverse sound of all the Cirque CDs while still maintaining a thread of continuity. Notice how the beginning and ending of the CD are different arrangements of the same song. This is the theme song and is hinted at in various parts of the live show. Very nice touch.

There is obviously a lot of heart that went into the interpretations of the musicians. It is apparent that the musicians on the ZAIA CD are the ones that play the music in the show every night. They are all magnificent players who execute this music brilliantly.

As far as the singers, I fell completely in love with their sound. What a beautiful blend both in unison and in harmony. Maria Andersson's Ignis is so pure and free in her voice. And Chicago Rose displays a diverse range of vocal styles.

I highly recommend it.

Amazon.com, has, and will be until proven otherwise, the greatest enterprise for those individuals that enquire more of the 'box' we choose to exist within. I, personally, would give them a rating of '11'. Apologies for the '70's cliche.