Rock Bands & Pop Stars
Yanni Pictures
Artist:
Yanni
Origin:
Greece, KalamataGreece
Born date:
November 14, 1954
Yanni Album: «Ethnicity»
Yanni Album: «Ethnicity» (Front side)
    Album information
  • Customers rating: (3.9 of 5)
  • Title:Ethnicity
  • Release date:
  • Type:Audio CD
  • Label:
  • UPC:
Customers rating
Track listing
Review - Amazon.com
Ethnicity finds Yanni exploring familiar thematic territory (diversity + harmony = international brotherhood) in search of fresh musical ideas. The result is career recording No. 13 (minus all those redundant compilations), which is likable though maybe a star shy of exceptional. While ethnicity is the theme, the prevailing sound is contemporary and attractively rhythmic with modest world music and classical accents. Notable are Yanni's extensive use of female voices (heard on 10 of the 12 tracks; two selections, in fact, feature straightforward lyrics) and the disc's vivid, sparkling production. Yanni offers an assortment of moods, from the celebratory, planetary-choir sound (think Adiemus) on "Rites of Passage" to pulsing, Deep Forest-like tribal chants, which sometimes click ("Tribal Dream") and sometimes seem forced, a little Yanni-come-lately ("Never Too Late"). High points are the didgeridoo-driven "Rainmaker" and the ethereal "At First Sight." Overall, the disc's sound tilts more toward the heroic than the romantic (a good trend), though some pieces (particularly his mini-operettas) seem overly polite and a little starched. Even so, Ethnicity is a compelling effort that indicates Yanni is, happily, keeping in touch with his more adventurous musical instincts. --Terry Wood
Customer review
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
- I still prefer his older style .

I really enjoyed this cd. Yanni has kept to a similar grasp on composing, but with a different sound. Yanni, is a blessed musician in the fact that he has been very successful at keeping to his extremely vast span of creativity. I gave it 4 stars because I really do prefer his old sound, which brings me to another topic...

Others have recommended an artist named Mehdi as being similiar to Yanni. I found very little similarity but fell in love with the music. I picked up his new CD and it's awesome...Samples are at SoothingMusic.Com. Recommended !

Customer review
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
- Yanni : Ethnicity

Absolutely a truely WONDERFUL CD.

I am very, very *pleased* with this YANNI CD. I have MANY, MANY of YANNI's CDs. But this one is near the top of all of the ones that I do have.

YANNI is a wonderful musician and performer.

I just had the wonderful opportunity to see him in a live concert in Atlanta, GA March 11, 2003.

If you are a true YANNI fan and lover, as I am, this is one CD that is a MUST for your YANNI's musical CD collection.

I do not believe you will be disappointed in any way :-)

Thank you for letting me share my views on this with you.

Customer review
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
- Wow!

This new release by Yanni is a masterpiece.....the vocals used are perfect and take you into another world....almost every song has vocals which is different from a lot of his earlier work....this album is very cohesive and each track molds and flows easily into the next.....it uses a lot of world sounds....celtic....new age and is a tour de force of an album! This cd is for anyone and everyone who loves easy listening!

Customer review
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
- dissapointed

This album was slightly better than "If I could tell You" but still, I find myself craving for something similar to Yanni's Live at the Acropolis. I first became a Yanni diehard fan with LATA because of the orchestration, his originality, and the contemporary feel to his songs. I had purchased many of his CDs and went to his Tribute tour so I can listen to him perform his oginial, and mesmerizing, songs. Yet, in this CD (and the last one), Yanni produced the same kind of unexceptional music throughout, where song A can easily be interchanged with song C. Then, his orchestration is plaqued with too much vocals. I don't mind a song with lyrics, but the past three albums have demonstrated that vocals and orchestration don't mix well. Given the dissapointment of these past three albums, I was not sure if I wanted to go to the ethnicity tour. I bought the tickets anyway, just to figure out what he is up to, and to decide if I want to buy more of his CDs in the future. I went there thinking I was going to be dissapointed. However, the ethnicity concert was a lot better than I thought, where orchestration, original compositions, and unique performers saved the day. The question is then, what is Yanni's next album gong to be like. I might not purchase more of his CDs if the next one turns out to be a carbon copy of "If I could tell you" or "ethnicity".

Customer review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
- My very first New Age CD!!

I was never really into Yanni before but my mother is a huge fan of his music. One night while this CD was playing in the kitchen, I just happened to walk into the room when "Almost A Whisper" was on and I just totally fell in love with the song!! I love everything about the song, musically, lyrically, vocally!! The woman who did the singing sounds kind of like operatic and she has such a beautiful voice!!

After I fell in love with the song, and until I was able to buy my own copy, I borrowed this CD and listened to it in my room from beginning to end but my all time favorite track will always be Almost A Whisper!! I love it so much that many times since that first listen, I have put that one song on repeat because it's one of those songs that just totally flows flawlessly and you can hear it over and over again without getting bored!! I love that part that goes "Please Don't Give Up, Please Don't You Give Up, I Still Believe, I Still Believe, I Still Believe In Us." It's really romantic which is a definite plus since I am a total hopeless romantic!! That song alone just makes this CD a must have!! I have heard the original version of Almost A Whisper also and it's nice and I will be getting that CD with that version too but I just love this vocal version so much more!! The only problem I have is the song is not long enough because when you love a song so much, it's just over way too soon!!!

If you like Yanni or New Age at all, get this CD!!!