Conquest of Paradise (song)

"Conquest of Paradise"
Single by Vangelis
from the album 1492: Conquest of Paradise
B-side	"Moxica and the Horse"
Released	1992
Format	CD single, CD maxi
Recorded	1992
Genre	Electronic, Modern classical, Ambient
Length	4:47
Label	EastWest
Writer(s)	Vangelis
Producer	Vangelis

"Conquest of Paradise" is a 1992 song recorded by Vangelis. It was the soundtrack from Ridley Scott's 1992 film 1492: Conquest of Paradise^[1] and the lead single from the album of the same name. The song achieved huge success in many countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland where it topped the singles chart, but was a relative failure in UK where it only peaked at #33. The song is currently the 50th best-selling single of all time in Germany,^[2] where the song's popularity had been boosted by boxer Henry Maske using it as his theme song.^[3]

"Conquest of Paradise" is played at home games for the New Zealand Super 15 rugby team Crusaders and Super League team Wigan Warriors. These days it is the unofficial theme tune for the city of Christchurch where the Crusaders rugby team is based.

"Conquest of Paradise" was also played at the 2011 ICC World Cup, the most prestigious cricket tournament, just before the national anthems of the two contesting national teams were played at the start of every match. It was also played during the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 held in West Indies.

At the 2011 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, "Conquest of Paradise" was played when competitors finished the 150 km long race.^[4]

The song has been covered by many artists, including Blake, Klaus Schulze, Free the Spirit, the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Project, John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra (1996), Daylight (1997), Dana Winner (2002), The Ten Tenors (2004) and Rhydian (2009).

The single "Conquest of Paradise" has also been inserted in the 2007 Chinese TV drama series Soldiers Sortie, and is used as the theme song in the Bollywood movie, Koyla (1997).

Its chord progression is based on the old European theme La Follia.

Track listings

CD single

1. "Conquest Of Paradise" – 4:47
2. "Moxica And The Horse" – 7:12

CD maxi-single

1. "Conquest Of Paradise" – 4:47
2. "Moxica And The Horse" – 7:12
3. "Line Open" – 4:43
4. "Landscape" – 1:37

• Includes two songs ("Line Open" and "Landscape") which were not included in the album.

Lyrics

Throughout the whole song, following lyrics, written in pseudo-Latin, are repeated several times:

In noreni per ipe
In noreni cora
Tira mine per ito
Ne nomina

One time this refrain is:

In romine tirmeno
Ne romine to fa
Imaginas per meno
Per imentira

Credits

• Choir: The English Chamber Choir
• Composed and arranged by Vangelis
• Choir conductor: Guy Protheroe
• Produced by Frederick Rousseau
• Recorded and mixed by Philippe Colonna, at Epsilon Laboratory, Paris

Charts and sales

Peak positions Chart (1992/93) Peak position French SNEP Singles Chart[5] 12 UK Singles Chart[6] 33 Chart (1994) Peak position German Singles Chart[7] 1 Chart (1995) Peak position Austrian Singles Chart[5] 2 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[5] 1 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[5] 5 Dutch Top 40[8] 1 Swiss Singles Chart[5] 1

End of year charts End of year chart (1995) Position Austrian Singles Chart[9] 4 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[10] 2 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[11] 24 Dutch Top 40[8] 2 Swiss Singles Chart[12] 2 Certifications Country Certification Date Sales certified Austria[13] Gold March 3, 1995 15,000 Germany[14] 3x Platinum 1995 1,500,000 Netherlands[15] Platinum 1995 60,000

Chart successions

Preceded by "Zombie" by The Cranberries	German number-one single 10 February 1995 – 21 April 1995 (11 weeks)	Succeeded by "Back for Good" by Take That
Preceded by "Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex	Swiss number-one single 5 March 1995 – 23 April 1995 (8 weeks)	Succeeded by "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" by Scatman John
Preceded by "Think Twice" by Céline Dion	Dutch Top 40 number-one single 6 May 1995 – 8 July 1995 (10 weeks)	Succeeded by "I Wanna Be a Hippy" by Technohead
	Belgian (Wallonia) number-one single 24 June 1995 – 12 August 1995 (8 weeks)	Succeeded by "Scatman's World" by Scatman John

See also

• Con te partirò, another song that became a hit single through Henry Maske's popularity in Germany

References

1. ^ King, Alex P. (2004) (in French). Hit-parade — 20 ans de tubes. Paris: Pascal. p. 341. ISBN 2-35019-009-9. 
2. ^ Best-selling singles of all time in Germany Musicline.de (Retrieved 17 May 2009)
3. ^ swisscharts.com (German) (Retrieved 21 September 2010)
4. ^ http://alanlucker.blogspot.com/2011/08/26th-28th-august-utmb-2011.html
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Conquest of Paradise", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
6. ^ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
7. ^ "Vangelis singles, German Singles Chart" (in German). musicline. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Vangelis/single. Retrieved 17 April 2010. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "Single top 100 over 1995" (in Dutch) (pdf). Top40. http://www.top40.nl/pdf/Top%20100/top%20100%20-%201995.pdf. Retrieved 17 April 2010. 
9. ^ 1995 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
10. ^ 1995 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
11. ^ 1995 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
12. ^ 1995 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
13. ^ Austrian certifications ifpi.at (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
14. ^ "German single certifications – Conquest of Paradise" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank/?action=suche&strTitel=Conquest+of+Paradise&strInterpret=&strTtArt=single&strAwards=checked. Retrieved 4 August 2010. 
15. ^ Dutch certifications nvpi.nl (Retrieved 26 December 2008)