Cirque Du Soleil Passionates love most all aspects of Cirque shows. They especially tend to pay particular attention to show music. In many cases it is the timeless beauty of the melody and the virtuosity of the musicians and singers that first pulls a viewer into Cirque’s magical world and makes them fans for life.
But how does Cirque find those musicians? Not surprisingly for a company of Cirque’s stature the musicians find Cirque and apply for jobs directly with the company by sending audition kits.
The number of audition packages sent to Cirque from hopeful artists is impressive. Each year, Cirque receives more than 4000 demo tapes for its six artistic disciplines (dancing, acting, acrobatics, circus arts, singing and musicians). Of those 4000 demo tapes Cirque seriously considered only 1900-2000 of those tapes in 2003. And only about half of those (1000) were extended an invitation to an audition. And of those that auditioned only 100-200 were hired as artists. And a very small number of those were musicians.
The sheer quantity of submissions presents Cirque with a problem; how should it evaluate potential musician candidates’ talents and abilities on their chosen instrument? How can it separate the truly talented worthy of further consideration from those who wouldn’t makethe cut?
To address this, several years back Cirque du Soleil started creating “Audition Kits” for various instruments and vocal ranges. The kits include multi-language instructions for submitting an audition kit along with several MP3 musical samples along with score sheets for that particular instruments part in the song.
It might not be obvious at first blush, but while created for the “behind-the-scenes” business purpose of evaluating candidates, what a treasure trove this is for Cirque music lovers! Over SIX HOURS of musical segments as played by the show bands in performance, many tracks complete! And at absolutely no cost to download!
The songs are presented in the audition kits in two forms; a “Reference” version with the particular instrument included in the mix (normally isolated in the right channel with the rest of the band plays in the left channel) and an “Accompaniment” version for the candidate to play (or sing) along to. The selections are a variety from all of Cirque’s productions except Ovo, Love, Viva Elvis, Wintuk, and Believe, and were chosen to provide a challenge to the candidate. As the introductory letter in the package explains:
“For each piece, you will find the full mix version as a reference and an instrumental version that you will use to record your interpretation. Please reproduce the melody, phrasing, style and texture of the songs, staying in the spirit of the song while adding your own vocal colour and personality. In other words, we do not need to hear how well you imitate the sound of another voice, but how you make each piece your own while respecting its essence.”
The audition kits are divided between those for singers and those for musicians, and are listed on different pages.
On the page for Singers, found at < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/jobs/casting/demorequest/singers.aspx > are links these kits:
- Mezzo-Soprano
- R&B Mezzo-Soprano
- Soprano
- Baritone
- Tenor
- Counter-Tenor
On the page for Musicians, found at < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/jobs/casting/demorequest/musicians.aspx > are links to these kits:
- Bandleader (which leads to two kits – “Bassist” (which goes
to a kit called “Electric Bass” and “Keyboardist” (the same
as the “Keyboard” kit listed below)) - Keyboard
- Guitar
- Bass and Double Bass (which leads to “Bass and Upright”)
- Drums
- Percussion
- Saxophone / Keyboard
- Violin
- Accordion
- Oboe (which leads to a kit called “Dralion Woodwind”)
- Recorder (which leads to a kit called “Varekai Woodwinds”)
- Trumpet
- Trombone
- Bassoon (which leads to a kit called “Bassoon-Duduk”)
- All Other Instruments (this listing does not link to any kit)
The tracks in the kits are not pristine studio recordings. In some cases they’re not even complete versions of the songs, including only enough for a good demonstration or challenge for the candidate. For the most part they were recorded live, on tour and in resident show theaters during actual performances. These are often referred to as “soundboard” recordings because they were recorded straight from the audio mixing board in the tent or theater with no audience or tent ambiance and no post-production or careful mixing.
Because of that you can hear muffled audience applause for the acts being showcased while the music is performed. Sometimes you can hear stray musician noise and instrument clicking on open microphones. You’ll hear an occasional “stray” note. Some tracks have slight distortion. There is also the occasional “click track,” a metronome that the musicians use to keep in sync that is removed from the sound before it reaches the audience. Occasionally this can be a distraction but it can also add to the momentum of a track.
Show tracks are spread throughout the various kits; if you were to download one version of each track here’s a breakdown of what you’d get sorted by show.
- Alegria – 6 tracks – 13 minutes
- Corteo – 14 tracks – 30 minutes
- Delirium – 4 tracks – 14 minutes
- Dralion – 7 tracks – 14 minutes
- KA – 8 tracks – 21 minutes
- Kooza – 7 tracks – 28 minutes
- La Nouba – 5 tracks – 10 minutes
- Mystere – 1 track – 3 minutes
- O – 4 tracks – 14 minutes
- Quidam – 4 tracks – 9 minutes
- Saltimbanco – 4 tracks – 16 minutes
- Varekai – 13 tracks – 40 minutes!
- Zaia – 1 track – 3 minutes
- ZED – 6 tracks – 31 minutes!
- Zumanity – 9 tracks – 29 minutes!
A look at the kits reveals many collectible tidbits for collectors of Cirque music, all free for download – right now! Several tracks are not available in any “official” form elsewhere, including:
* Several tracks from Varekai (totaling almost 40 minutes) appear in the Woodwind and Violin kits and are sprinkled throughout several other kits. Since the official CD’s arrangements are radically different from the live show these tracks are especially interesting. In addition, several tracks are presented in full-length versions, such as “Straps” in Baritone, “Luna” in Bass and “Trapeze” in Woodwind. The tracks feature original singers Mathieu Lavoie and Zara Tellander.
* Several tracks from Zumanity (totaling a half-hour) appear in the Trombone, Trumpet and Bass kits and are sprinkled throughout several other kits. Since the official CD used very little of the show music these tracks are also especially interesting. Included here is the sung “Warning” (thou shalt not photograph) from the beginning of the show.
* “Debbie” (otherwise known as the “Journey of Man” theme) from “O” in both the Mezzo-Soprano and Soprano kits. Sung by a fan favorite, Roxane Potvin.
* The Fire Knife music from Alegria, in Drums.
* “Ledjendia” (show opening) from Dralion, in Countertenor.
Several songs in the kits are not just excerpts but full-length versions as played in the show. Some examples include:
* “Let Me Fall” from Quidam (3:35) in Tenor. Sung in the original “Cirque-ish.”
* Juggler music from Corteo (6:09) in Keyboard-Sax.
* High Wire music from Kooza (7:42) in Mezzo.
Several tracks from Tokyo Disney Resort’s ZED appear in the kits as well. Of note is “Birth of the Sky” in the Soprano kit. It’s divided into two parts, with the acapella introduction separated from the rest of the song. (The second part includes the “improvised” dialog missing from the official CD.) “Birth on Earth” in the Bassoon kit
includes a virtuoso bassoon solo. And the high wire acts “Celebration” and hand-to-hand acts “World’s Meet” are included in their full length (though without the prerecorded choral embellishments played through surround speakers in the theater) at 7 and 9 minutes plus, respectively!
On occasion, Cirque would create a kit for a specific purpose. In many cases these tracks eventually found their way into the standard kits, which over the years have been refined and generalized. Occasionally they have had specialized kits available for only as long as it takes them to fill a position, or until they move in a different creative direction. These “special” kits are only found in job listings on their main Jobs Listing page, found at < https://cirquedusoleil.taleo.net/careersection/10120/moresearch.ftl? lang=en >
Past “special kits” (which are no longer available on the site) have included:
- Early demo versions of high wire and hand-to-hand music (newer “performance” versions of each are now available) when they were looking for a male singer for ZED.
- Five excerpts of Zoe’s singing in Quidam when they were seeking another young girl to perform the role.
- Two demo tracks for a singer for the delayed second Macao show.
- Two demo tracks for a female singer for the show that would become OVO.
- An accompaniment track for “If I Could Dream” from Viva Elvis, when the show was looking for a Young Elvis character.
This is a source of Cirque music every Cirque musical fan should seriously consider downloading. It’s also a good idea to check occasionally for new tracks that are sometimes placed in the kits.
So do it now, while it’s free. Before it’s put behind a firewall.
