adiemus

The Story of Adiemus

We will draw near

Adiemus, literally translated, means 'we will draw near'. Curiously enough, Karl Jenkins was unaware of the word's meaning when he created it. He believed it to be an invented word of his own imagination.

Now, years after the initial Adiemus project was launched, Karl has discovered that Adiemus has a meaning in Latin (with a slight variation in spelling). The irony does not escape him, especially since one of the core ideas in the Adiemus project involves using vocals singing an invented language.

As Karl puts it: "The text in Adiemus is written phonetically, with the words viewed as instrumental sound. The human voice is the oldest instrument and by removing the distraction of lyrics, we hope to create a sound that is universal and timeless. The knowledge that Adiemus has a meaning - 'we will draw near' invokes what I feel to be an appropriate concept of bringing people together.

West meets East (and everywhere in between)

"When I conceived the Adiemus concept initially, I was thinking of it purely as a recording. My intention was to compose a work based in the European classical tradition but with vocal sound more akin to ethnic or world music."

Since Adiemus has risen in popularity around the world, it has become a growing entity meaning many different things to many different people. Vocally, the spread of influence grows wider all the time, taking in Arabic and African sounds as well as "Celtic" and ecclesiastical ones. The percussion too has expanded using Indian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Chinese and even Australian instrumentation.

Karl: "One of the things that has excited me has been how my initial idea of Adiemus as a recording project has evolved into a live experience. The live performances have taken on a whole new dimension. In fact, the Adiemus compositions themselves may be performed by any orchestra with any number of female voices."

Bridging the gap

The evolving nature of Adiemus has meant that it has been difficult to categorise. New age, classical crossover, world music, even pop. Karl sees this as a good sign: "To me, Adiemus transcends labels. That fact that it reaches people of different backgrounds, faiths and cultures gives it a universal appeal which is special. The compositions can be spiritual, religious, meditative - it's open to 'move' people in a away that they choose to experience.

Karl's path to Adiemus

As with most success stories, there is a mixture of talent, coincidence, hard work and good luck involved. Karl graduated from Cardiff University in 1967 (Bachelor of Music) and completed a postgraduate course at London's Royal Academy of Music in 1968 (Licenciate of the Royal Academy of Music). His career kicked off when he co-founded the group Nucleus with Ian Carr in 1969. The group, which included Chris Spedding on guitar, recording three albums and won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

How the Adiemus project became airborne

Ironically, the Adiemus project "got off the ground" initially due to a television commercial for an airline. Karl: "I'd been toying with a new idea, completely separate to my work in advertising. At this time, Jenkins Ratledge were commissioned to come up with the music for an airline commercial. We presented the agency and the client with a demonstration tape of one of my completed compositions. They loved it."

That composition became known as Adiemus. The music for the airline commercial was aired and immediately drew interest from the public. As chance would have it, Karl met Helen Connolly at this time. Helen was in the music business and, having heard Adiemus and other works in progress, became Karl's manager and started courting record companies. Soon afterwards, long-term recording contracts were signed.

Karl: "It's ironic that a piece of music not originally intended for a TV commercial should end up on a TV commercial, and that this music became the springboard for the success of the Adiemus project."

Ironic it may be. But fortunate for music lovers the world over.