The Twelve Dreams of the Sun
The Twelve Dreams Of The Sun was a concert held by musician Jean Michel Jarre on the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt starting on December 31, 1999 and carrying overnight to January 1, 2000. It was attended by 120,000 people. The concert consisted of two parts, the Main Concert and a Sunrise Concert. The concert cost approximately $9,500,000 and it originated when Jean-Michel Jarre was contacted by the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak with a special project to celebrate the dawn of the new Millennium at the foot of the only remaining monument of the original 7 Wonders of the World - the Great Pyramids.
Jarre's team had developed giant projections to be displayed on the faces of the Great Pyramids, however a heavy cloud of fog made the pyramids almost invisible, so most of the projections were discarded. Photographs of the projections exist from the rehearsal.
The main concert was broadcast live on TV stations around the world. A 60 minute edit was then produced for broadcast. The sunrise concert was not broadcast live, however the tracks ‘The Sun’ and ‘Eldorado’ were included in the 60 minute edit. High quality camcorder audience footage exists of the full sunrise concert. The version of Oxygene 7 from the sunrise concert is notable for the laser harp being tuned to a different key, creating a much deeper sound to normal.
All of these versions of the concert are available on YouTube. No official video release of the concert took place due to Jarre’s displeasure with the quality of the recording.
An unofficial, broadcast quality, double CD of the concert exists and has been widely shared by fans since the event.
Track listing
The Main Concert'
- The Legend
- Bells
- Je Me Souviens
- Dream 1: The Rock
- Miss Moon
- Oxygene 2
- Dream 2: The House
- Chronologie 6
- Dream 3: The Tree
- Equinoxe 7
- Magnetic Fields 2
- Dream 4: The Boat
- Millions of Stars
- Dream 5: The Flesh
- Souvenir of China
- Oxygene 10
- Dream 6: The Voice
- Oum Kalsoum tribute (recorded track played on a Gramophone)
- Dream 7: The Sky
- Hey Gagarin (shortened due to time restrictions)
- Dream 8: The Child (not played due to time restrictions)
- Gloria Lonely Boy (Orchestral Version)
- Millennium Countdown
- C'est La Vie
- Salma Ya Salama
- Dream 9: The Bell
- Equinoxe 4
- Dream 10: The Snow
- Oxygene 4
- Tout est Bleu
- Dream 11: The Blood
- Evolutions - The original track, Revolutions, had to be censored due to 'Revolution' being prohibited from being spoken of or written in Egypt. Also, the word 'Sex' is banned so the lyrics had to be altered.
- Oxygene 12
- Dream 12: The Gate
- Give Me A Sign
- Oxygene 8
- Band in the Rain
- Rendez-vous 2
The Sunrise Concert
- Ethnicolor
- Oxygene 7
- C'est La Vie
- The Sun
- Hey Gagarin
- Eldorado
The Musicians
- Jean Michel Jarre - Keyboards, Laser Harp, Vocals
- Gary Wallis - Drums & Percussions
- Francis Rimbert - Keyboards
- Joachim Garraud - Sound design, Keyboards
- Christopher Papendieck - Bass
- Natacha Atlas - Vocals on 'C'est La Vie'
- Laurie Anderson - Vocals on 'Je Me Souviens' and Dream introductions
- Amal Maher - Vocals
- Yvan Cassar - Symphonic Orchestra Musical Arrangements
- Sacha Séméria - Sound Designer
- Frédéric Sanchez - Sound Illustrator
- Cairo Opera Symphonic Orchestra - Conducted by Dr. Moustafa Nagui
- Cairo Opera House Choir - conducted by Aldo Magnato
- National Arabic Ensemble - conducted by Nasredine Dalil
- National Folkloric Music Troupe
- El Nil Folkloric Music Troupe
- Aswan Folkloric Music Troupe