One
of the most successful, iconic and talented artists of the late 20th century is
back - and back like you've never heard her before!
Annie Lennox
releases her sixth solo album, A Christmas Cornucopia. A collection of new, inspired
interpretations of 11 traditional festive songs, rounded out by a new Lennox composition,
Universal Child.
The music on the album was mostly played
by Lennox, in collaboration with co producer Mike Stevens, and recorded in his
southwest London studio - at the bottom of his garden. But to achieve the resonance
and vibrancy that were integral to Lennox's ideas for these re-energized reboots,
the pair also worked with a 30-piece orchestra at Pinewood Studios. And they travelled
further afield too: to South Africa, to record with the African Children's Choir,
a remarkable organization with which impassioned campaigner and activist Lennox
has long had a relationship.
A Christmas Cornucopia is no
sweetly packaged selection box. As befits its title, it offers an abundance of
songs - drawn from British, French and German traditions - and a host of ideas.
On Lullay Lullay, "a lullaby I've known for years and the darkest carol I
think," Lennox draws direct links between the Nativity and the plight of
Africa's child soldiers. "Lullay Lullay alludes to the killing of first-born
boy children by King Herod… and going back more deeply into the story of
the song, I kept getting images of child soldiers in my head…The violation
of children is endemic in many so places. Even though this carol is ancient, the
brutality of the subject matter is just as relevant today.
With
her voice, with such sentiments, and with that passion and vision, Lennox has
achieved her goal. It's an album and idea she was, you might say, born to do -
Annie Lennox's birthday is 25th December.
TRACK LISTING:
1.
Angels From The Realms Of Glory
2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman
3. See Amid
The Winter's Snow
4. I'l est ne le Divin Enfant
5. First Noel
6. Lullay
Lullay (Coventry Carol)
7. The Holly and the Ivy
8. In The Bleak Midwinter
9.
As Joseph Was A Walking
10. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
11. Silent Night
12.
Universal Child
www.annielennox.com
A Christmas Cornucopia is available now.
