Launch of Cirque du Soleil Musique, Inc.
Capitale
Oct 11, 2004
Bowery & Grand Street, NY, NY
 What
a treat:. The launch of Cirque Du Soleil Musique, the first private
record label for the music of all the famous Cirque du Soleil performances,
was launched to commemorate Cirque du Soleil’s twenty years
of magnificent performances. And what an atmosphere it was launched
in. Capitale was set up with “mystical” lighting. Many
of the characters from the 9 different Cirque du Soleil performances
marched around a number of them with their eerie facial expressions,
adding more mysticism to the event.
The evening was opened with the CEO of Cirque du
Soleil, Mr. Lamare Daniels, greeting the packed out crowd, and stating
how happy he was to be there. Mr. Daniels announced that, this year,
Cirque de Soleil will be introducing two brand new show performances.
Everyone cheered. Also, Mr. Ian Tremblay, the new General Manager
of Cirque du Soleil Musique, spoke, indicating that Cirque du Soleil
Musique was created to “challenge emerging artists” in
the field of theatrical music.
The live performance that was given on that night
was exceptional, with three to four lead singers, and a choir of
approximately twenty people on the balcony, singing with voices that
perfectly compliment that unique style for which Cirque du Soleil
performances are so widely known.
Given the wide popularity of Cirque du Soleil, and
the world fame its performances have gained, one would find it hard
to believe, at best, that Cirque du Soleil actually started in a
small town near Quebec City, Canada. A band of colorful characters
were roaming the streets doing a variety of circus acts from stilt-walking
to juggling and dancing, to even breathing fire, as well as, of course,
playing music. The group was the street threatre which Gilles Ste-Croix
had founded, entitled Baie-Saint-Paul. Impressing the town folk,
one of the young performers, Guy Laliberte, founded Cirque du Soleil.
In 1982, the troupe founded Le Club des talons hauts (or “High
Heels Club”,) and then organized an event that would bring
performers into the streets from everywhere to perform for several
days, an event referred to as La Fete. It was so successful that
in 1983 and 1984, they repeated La Fete, and the somewhat crazy dream
of creating a circus in Quebec and taking it worldwide was born.
To give one an idea of the growth, the number of
employees that worked for Cirque du Soleil increased more than forty-fold
over the last twenty years (from 73 in 1984 until over 3,000 at present),
with a diversity of over twenty five languages and a representation
of over forty nations, which have performed thus far for an estimated
42 million spectators. Of its nine shows, Cirque du Soleil has three
resident shows based in Las Vegas, “O”, “Mystere”,
and “Zumanity”, and one based in Orlando.
Cirque du Soleil continues to pursue its challenge,
namely, to continue to grow at a rate that can be sustained, while
facilitating creators’ ability to dream dreams and make them
a reality. Cirque du Soleil has also won numerous awards, including
a Primetime Emmy Award and two Gemini awards in 2003. It even haw
twso songs, “O”, Drlallion, have hit the top of the charts
as Billboard Magazine’s Top World Music Albums. The Cirque
du Soleil Musicque catalogue contains an estimated 15 albums (incl.
live and studio performances, film soundtracks, and remixes.) Each
of Cirque du Soleil’s performances feature a minimum of eight
musicians, in addition to two singers. This far, Alegria is the best-selling
album in the Cirque du Soleil Musique catalog.
Cirque du Soleil’s music composer, Benoit
Jutras, had been quoted as saying “Composing is like dancing
with the universe, a perpetual movement creating an ever-changing
dance. Music in all its senses is precisely what it implies-that
music is an experience that touches every sense. IT can move you
to tears, bring joy to your heart, stir sexual passion, evoke memories,
and prompt physical responses of all kinds.”
This event was fantastic (truly “fantastic”—as
there was indeed an element of fantasy which resounded with a certain
omni-presence that one would have to experience for themselves to
understand.) There was also a nice selection of hor d’ oeuvres
served for the pleasure of the palette.
We at Liberty News Online would like to thank Mr.
Bradley Ziefman, the Vice President of the Susan Blond, Inc Public
Relations firm, for inviting us to attend and report on this marvelous
event. Anyone wishing further information about Cirque du Soleil,
may visit their website, at www.cirquedusoleil.com.
If you are interested in having us cover one of your events, feel
free to notify us one week in advance, so we can add you to our master
calendar, and have our Liberty News Staff come and write an article
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or telephone us at (718) 507-7616 between the hours of 8:00am and
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