Conquest of Paradise (song)

"Conquest of Paradise" is a 1994 song recorded by Greek composer 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 #60. The song's popularity had been boosted in Germany by boxer Henry Maske using it as his theme song.[2]

"Conquest of Paradise"
Single by Vangelis
from the album 1492: Conquest of Paradise
B-side"Moxica and the Horse"
Released1994
FormatCD single and CD maxi
Length4:47
LabelEast West
Songwriter(s)Vangelis
Producer(s)Vangelis

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, the following lyrics in Pseudo-Latin were repeated several times:[3]

In nòreni per ìpe,
in noreni coràh;
tirà mine per ìto,
ne dominà.

One time this refrain is:

In ròmine tirmèno,
ne ròmine to fa,
imàgine pro mèno,
per imentirà.

Credits

Charts and sales

Covers

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), Rhydian (2009) and Gregorian (2012).

Other uses

At sport events

"Conquest of Paradise" is played at home games for the New Zealand Super Rugby team Crusaders and Super League teams Widnes Vikings and Wigan Warriors. These days it is the unofficial theme tune for the city of Christchurch where the Crusaders rugby team is based. English football club Sheffield Wednesday also play Conquest of Paradise prior to their theme tune before kick off. "Conquest of Paradise" was also played at the Cricket World Cup (2011) and (2015) 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 and 2014 cricket World Twenty20 championships to uphold International Cricket Council's "spirit-of-cricket" concept just before the national anthems of the two playing teams. The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc series uses "Conquest of Paradise" at the start, finish and prize ceremonies of its various ultramarathon races.[17] It is also used by the Engadin Skimarathon to introduce the start of the competitors waves. At least in the years 2010-2013. Usually every minute it is interrupted to announce the time until "go!". German boxer Henry Maske used it as his theme song.[2] At the longdistance sled-dograce Finnmarkslopet in Norway the song is played everytime a dogteam is crossing the finnish-line.

In TV shows and cinema

It was used for many years in the Jeux Sans Frontières, using it during the credits. The single "Conquest of Paradise" has also been inserted in the 2007 Chinese television drama series Soldiers Sortie, and is used as the theme song in the Hindi film, Koyla (1997), Kaalapani (1996) and a Tamil film, Sundara Purushan (1996). Part of the soundtrack to The man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), Guy Richie.

See also

References
  1. King, Alex P. (2004). Hit-parade — 20 ans de tubes (in French). Paris: Pascal. p. 341. ISBN 2-35019-009-9.
  2. swisscharts.com (in German) (Retrieved 21 September 2010)
  3. Vangelis lyrics: 1492, Conquest of Paradise
  4. "Conquest of Paradise", in various singles charts Lescharts.com Archived 1 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  5. UK Singles Chart OfficialCharts.com (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  6. "Vangelis singles, German Singles Chart" (in German). musicline. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  7. "Single top 100 over 1995" (pdf) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  8. "Dutchcharts.nl – Vangelis – Conquest Of Paradise" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  9. 1995 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at Archived 24 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  10. 1995 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart Ultratop.be Archived 30 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  11. 1995 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be Archived 14 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  12. "Top 100 Singles–Jahrescharts 1995" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  13. 1995 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch Archived 23 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  14. "Austrian single certifications – Vangelis – Conquest of Paradise" (in German). IFPI Austria.
  15. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Vangelis; 'Conquest of Paradise')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  16. "Dutch single certifications – Vangelis – Conquest of Paradise" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Enter Conquest of Paradise in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  17. http://alanlucker.blogspot.com/2011/08/26th-28th-august-utmb-2011.html
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