Ethnicity

Performer: Yanni
Artist: Karen Briggs
Engineer: Yanni
Producer: Yanni
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Yanni (arranger, piano, keyobards); Alfreda Gerald, Michelle Amato (vocals); Karen Briggs (violin); Pedro Eustache (flute, duduk, argul, Uillean pipes, saxophone); Noelani Brock, Regina Acuna-Williams, Peter Lehman, Randy Nichols, Suzy Park, Kurt Von Schmittou (background vocals). Though Yanni is widely known as one of the most popular purveyors of New Age music, there's actually quite a bit going on here. In addition to the Greek keyboard whiz's usual arching, romantic melodies there are a host of other musical elements present. ETHNICITY is an eclectic mix of the operatic (check out Michelle Amato's pipes on "For All Seasons" and "Almost a Whisper"), the electronic (the pulsing, almost Moroder-esque sequencers on "Play Time" and "Written on the Wind"), and the ancient (the chanting on "Tribal Dream," the timeless-sounding flute work that permeates the album). Keying in on the album's title, the closing tune "Jivaeri" is a traditional Greek ballad that touches on Yanni's personal roots while still remaining very much of a piece with the rest of this sonically diverse offering.

One of modern instrumental music's most distinctive and popular composers, Yanni popularized the combination of synthesizers and full-scale symphony orchestra. The Greek performer combined his musical abilities with a flair for flamboyant visuals, coming across like a more dignified, New Age version of Liberace. His mix of music and spectacle made him a star in the 1990s.

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