Adiemus – Songs of Sanctuary

The origins of the Adiemus concept dates back to 1994 when Welsh composer Karl Jenkins (and former member of the 1970’s jazz-rock group Nucleus and the progressive rock band Soft Machine), was approached to produce the music for the Delta Airlines Synchronised Flying TV commercial campaign. Karl had already achieved success in commercial music having produced the music for the 1993 De Beers A Diamond is Forever campaign, which memorably featured Palladio. The Delta Airlines creative brief was to produce an unique, contemporary and uplifting sound with reference to ethnic and ‘new age’ musical styles, which as well as being on-trend during the 1990’s, also reflected the global nature of the airline. Karl produced a thirty-second track especially for the commercial, which became an instant hit with the TV audiences worldwide.

Considerable public demand for an audio release of the Delta Airlines music prompted Karl to expand the thirty-second ad into a full four-minute track (entitled Adiemus). It was released in 1995 as a CD single and even spawned a 12” vinyl single of club remixes (cover artwork featuring Dolphin imagery from the TV commercial). Karl had produced eight more tracks which came together to form the best-selling album, Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary. Over the following years, the Adiemus concept grew from strength-to-strength with the release of four further volumes, live, and best-of albums, achieving worldwide sales of c.1.5 million albums.

Now, more than two decades on from original release, Songs of Sanctuary is finally available as an LP, pressed on high quality 140g blue vinyl. The ’glassy’ 1995 audio master was originally created for (and perfectly suited) the CD format. Expert mastering engineers at renowned AIR Studios (London) painstakingly prepared the audio for vinyl transfer by means of analogue processing to add warmth and presence to the sound and a deliver a more satisfying listening experience.