In the past Cirque du Soleil has been criticized by fans for not
paying proper respect to the musicians involved in the creation of
their shows, primarily by not utilizing them on the show soundtracks.
This has been addressed of late, with the show bands being the bedrock
of the last few soundtracks released (and especially emphasized on the
latest release, Amaluna). And now they’ve taken another step to
recognize those hard-working artists
Another year has gone, and another Cirque calendar has arrived! And
this one is a twist, focusing on the musicians of the shows! The
calendar is available right now in the Cirque e-Boutique for $15.00,
but nowhere else online that I could find. (Unfortunately, the
calendar itself has no product number or UPC code printed on it; it
must have been on the shrink wrap I discarded.)
Unlike last years’ calendar – a too-tall monstrosity that focused on
circus acts with just a small space dedicated to the actual month (the
calendar dates and write-in area were very small) – this calendar
returns to the 11″ X 17″ format of years past. The 16-month lineup
includes:
Sep – Corteo – Accordian, guitar, sax
Oct – Mystere – Percussion
Nov – Dralion – guitar, bass, keyboard
Dec – Alegria – entire band – a nice group shot
Jan – Le Best of 2 CD – double bass, singer, guitar – what
shows are these people from?
Feb – Kooza – entire band
Mar – Totem – most of the band
Apr – Amaluna – percussion, guitar, voila, drums
May – IRIS – entire band
Jun – KA – guitar
Jul – Varekai – an interesting backstage photo of the band
members preparing.
Aug – La Nouba – entire band
Sep – OVO – most of the band
Oct – Zumanity – entire band
Nov – O – singer, voila, accordion
Dec – Quidam – sax
2014 year – collage of musician images
The calendar is, of course, in English and French. Each page includes
calendars of the month before and after the current month, with plenty
of space clearly devoted to the current month’s individual days. The
short descriptions on each page focus on the music of the particular
show, a nice touch. The write-ups also make a point to distinguish
the “inspired by” soundtracks in the canon, specifically singling out
Varekai and Zumanity – a bit of “truth in advertising” we appreciate.
Some shows are missing – anything involving a partnership with an
outside entity (Michael Jackson, The Beatles and Criss Angel). As is
Saltimbanco, but that will be closing at the end of the year.
Each page has “Cirque-ey” design elements adding visual excitement.
Many of the photos are collages or assemblages of separate musician
pictures placed in a nice balance on the page. Occasionally they
focus on one performer from the show. While it’s good to have smaller
group shots mixing up the calendar along with full band shots, it
would have been nice to have a shot of, for example, 19-year veteran
guitarist Bruce Rickerd from Mystere.
By going back to a more standard design and focusing on musicians
Cirque has some up with a winning calendar this year – one that gives
those fabulous musicians their due. Every Cirque music fan should
have one.
