Cirque du Soleil Album: “Nouba”

La Nouba being Cirque latest permanent production is French for "to party" and thus leaves you with a certain expectation level of the music, especially when you know that Benoît Jutras, the man who gave us the magical, wonderful music of "Quidam" and "O" wrote all the titles.

Having said that La Nouba is a good album, very good at times, although neither of the songs have the wonderful, dramatic sound of which makes "O" so great. La Nouba makes this up with One thing: Rhythm. All but a few songs are very danceable, yet not think party music put more of a house/techno style: "music with balls".

As with almost all Cirque albums so far, you really need to get used to the music, this One evens tops Mystere Live in that department. Although the rhythm is good, a bit more melody would not have hurt the songs at all; a bit less of guitars wouldn't be so much of a problem either. Lead vocalist Dessy has a good voice, however it would be nice to hear some phonetic words instead of the "lalalas" and "ohohos" such is the case on all the other albums except for the very first three.

The opening song, [Once Upon a time] has a great beat to it and the melody in the background is heavily borrowed from two of Jutras's earlier pieces from Quidam: [Atmadja] and [Steel Dream]. [A Tale] is a wonderful combination of rap, rhythm and blues and choir singing. One of the most melodic songs is Porte, which is a bit dreary, in the style of [Desert] from "O". [La Nouba] and [ À la lune] are sort of modern waltzes. Liama is great melodic song in the style of Amazonia building up to a climax middle and then going back to wonderful singing again.

One more thing: for the ones of you who are desperate to find the "diabolo song" which is not on the Quidam CD but is in the show: It is on La Nouba! O.K. in a slightly different mix, but I am quite sure that [Jardin Chinois] has the same basic tones as the diabolo song from Quidam... This counts also for the second part of Queens, which borrows heavily from the song that is played during the handbalancing act in Quidam.

In short La Nouba is Cirque on steroids: rougher, less lyrical and has more beat to it that all Cirque albums combined. If this is your first Cirque album or if you did not see the show, you are most likely to need quite a few times before enjoying this album. If you are a Cirque "freak" like I am you need to buy La Nouba, if only just for hearing [Jardin Chinois] and new mixes of old themes... I can't wait to hear Dralion!

my marching band is playing the songs Distorted, Reve Rouge, Ala Lune, and Urban for our show. THese songs are cool

Well... I've been reading these reviews and I don't think many people have that great a taste in music(no offense^_^')Alot of negetive stuff... Well... I bought the CD "La Nouba" and I loved it! It made me a fan in an instant! Now, I'm a teen-ager and I usually listen to other styles of music like rock and stuff and don't normally listen to things like opera. But this... this changed the way I listen to music forever! I love the circusie kind of tune to it! And some of the songs are really marvolis(don't mind the spelling please...)Also the singers in there did a great job! Benoit Jutras is a marvoulas music writer/composer, but If you love new age and opera put together as one, I'm deffinetly sure and suggest that you buy "La Nouba".You'll love it. I even saw the show in Downtown Disney! Loved it also!

wow i didnt know so many schools would be doing la mouba for their marching band show this year because my high school is doing it too. i think the music is great especially urban, distorted, reve rouge, and a la lune.

I have four other Cirque soundtracks and LN is by far the most dynamic. There are whimsical numbers, jazz influences, serious guitar work and soaring vocals. After many listens, it is still enjoyable and fresh.