This article is part of my Cirque du Soleil Information Primer Articles Series. Make sure that you also check out the primer article and the other related articles of the series about the most famous Circus in the World.
Cirque du Soleil Music Releases
This article covers primarily the music releases by Cirque du Soleil on Compact Disc and not so much the earlier releases on Vinyl (with exception of the newer "Collectors Edition" vinyl releases) and also not the Audio Tape versions. At least for the albums were Tape Cassette versions always released in parallel with the old school plastic vinyl records as well as with the modern day digital audio CDs.
Covered are not just the soundtrack releases for their resident and touring shows, but also other music releases, such as the soundtracks of the motion pictures/IMAX movies that Cirque du Soleil produced, as well as special remix albums and "Best Of" collections and samplers. Some of the releases are already out of print, but I tried to link to places where you can buy the release where ever possible, even if it meant to refer to secondary market places, like the Amazon.com Market Place, where you still can buy it either used and sometimes even new, from old inventories of specialty music stores etc.
Song Lyrics and Translations
The lyrics of many Cirque du Soleil song are not a real language and entirely made up. The reason for this is that Cirque wants its shows to appeal to a world wide audience and avoid language barriers. However, there are a number of songs that do have lyrics, some in English, Spanish, Italian or some other language. You can fond the lyrics including an English translation for a number of songs at the CirqueTribune.com Wiki.
In the case of the show "Love", where the music is based on original Beatles songs, check out the track list for the show sound track CD below and then see this article of mine with a list of all Beatles songs and links to the lyrics and online video (for some of them).Sound Tracks / Full Albums
 | Fanfafonie 45
This is actually a vinyl record release and not a CD. Only about 1,000 records were pressed. | ||||
 | Cirque Réinventé (Vol 1) / Cirque du Soleil  Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 11/1/1987 Publisher: Naga Productions Track Listing
Semi-official soundtrack CD for the old & discontinued touring show "Cirque Reinventé" (We reinvent the Circus) between 1987 and 1990. This album and also volume 2 could be seen as the OST for the mentioned "Cirque Reinventé" show, but also for the two shows before that, "La Magie Continue" and "Le Grand Tour". In the early days of the Cirque there were no multiple shows touring and performing at the same time like they do today. Back then the shows came one after another, borrowing acts and music from each other, or a sequel or progression so to speak. The concept of creating a show, sending it on the road and running and running and then simply create another show and send that one on the road as well, and so on and so forth, did not establish itself until the creation of their touring show "Saltimbanco", which still tours the world today and was created while the previous Cirque show "Nouvelle Expérience" was still running. | ||||
| Les Penguins 45 (Pengoins) Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 11/1988 Publisher: Naga Productions Same story for this CD as for the very first one in this list. If you happen to own a copy of it, please contact me. Thank you. | ||||
 | Cirque Réinventé (Vol 2) / Cirque du Soleil  Composer: Rene Dupéré & Benoit Jutras Release Date: 7/1990 / 11/8/1994 Publisher: Naga Productions / RCA/Victor Track Listing
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 | Saltimbanco (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 10/9/1992 Publisher: RCA/Victor Track Listing
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 | Nouvelle Experience (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 3/23/1993 Publisher: RCA Victor Track List
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 | Alegría (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 9/27/1994 CA, 10/11/1994 US Publisher: RCA Victor Re-Release Date: 7/20/2004 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
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 | Mystère (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 3/29/1994 CA, 11/8/1994 US Publisher: RCA/Victor Track List
The tracks of this soundtrack CD were all produced in the studio and are slightly different from the original songs used in the show. They sound nice, but if authenticity is important to you, this CD is not for you. | ||||
 | Alegría Live at Fairfax Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 12/1995 in Canada only Publisher: Cirque in-House (Special Limited Employee Edition) Track List
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 | Mystère Live  Composer: Rene Dupéré & Benoit Jutras Release Date: 8/14/1996 CA, 11/12/1996 US Publisher: RCA/Victor Re-Release Date: 8/16/2005 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
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 | Quidam (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 1996 Publisher: RCA Victor Re-Release Date: 6/14/2005 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track Listing
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 |  Saltimbanco Live in Amsterdam Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 12/1996 in Canada only Publisher: Cirque in-House (Special Limited Employee Edition) Track Listing
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 | Cirque du Soleil: Collection  Composer: Rene Dupéré & Benoit Jutras Release Date: 10/28/1997 Publisher: RCA/Victor Track Listing
The Cirque du Soleil Collection is the first "Best of" type CD release by Cirque. It includes popular tracks from the very early shows that don't run anymore, such as Nouvelle Experience, which finished it's touring life at the Mirage in Las Vegas (next to the Treasure Island, the venue of Mystère), but also tracks from older Cirque shows that are still performed and touring the world, like Saltimbanco & Alegría or Cirques first resident show in Las Vegas, Mystère. | ||||
 | Alegria: Le Film (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 3/23/1999 Publisher: BMG Quebec/RCA Track Listing
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 | La Nouba (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 6/22/1999 CA, 6/29/1999 US Re-Release Date: 8/16/2005 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
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 | Dralion (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Violaine Corradi Release Date: 10/26/1999 CA, 11/9/1999 US Re-Release Date: 7/12/2005 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
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 | Journey of Man (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 5/2/2000 Publisher: Sony Music Soundtrax Track Listing
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 | Quidam Extended (dubbed EXTENDED)  Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 2/19/2002 Publisher: BMG/CDS Musique Canada Track Listing
The tracks 13 "Misère (Banquine)" and 14 "Enfants d'Acier (Diabolos)" were not included in the 1996 release of the Quidam soundtrack. The two additional tracks were recorded live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1999, when the show was filmed for the DVD release. The addition of the two tracks is the reason why this release is dubbed “EXTENDED”. | ||||
 | Saltimbanco Extended (dubbed EXTENDED)  Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 3/19/2002 Publisher: BMG/CDS Musique Canada Track List
Tracks 12 and 13 were not included in the 1992 release of the Saltimbanco soundtrack. The two additional tracks are live recordings that were recorded for the Cirque internal CD release of the show soundtrack in 1996 (Live in Amsterdam). The addition of the two tracks is the reason why this release is dubbed “EXTENDED”. | ||||
 | Varekai (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Violaine Corradi Release Date: 11/5/2002 CA, 1/7/2003 US Publisher: BMG/CDS Musique Track List
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 | Alegría Extended (dubbed EXTENDED)  Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 6/11/2002 Publisher: BMG/CDS Musique Canada Track List
Tracks 13 and 14 were not included in the 1994 release of the Alegría soundtrack. The two additional tracks are supposedly live recordings from a 2001 performance in Sydney, Australia, when the show was filmed for the DVD release. I always assumed that tracks came from the Cirque internal CD release of the show soundtrack in 1998 (Live in Fairfax), as in the case of the Saltimbanco “Extended" version, but I don’t own the Cirque internal 1998 soundtrack to start arguing. The addition of the two tracks is the reason why this release is dubbed “EXTENDED”. | ||||
 | Tapis Rouge Solarium  Composer: various Release Date: 9/1/2003 / 10/19/2004 Publisher: BMG/CDS Musique Track Listing
Not a soundtrack CD, but a collection of Remixes of known and not so known songs from previous popular Cirque du Soleil show productions. All tracks are slow and relaxing, ideal for a break and chilling out. | ||||
 | Varekai Special Edition (2 CD, 1 DVD)    Composer: Violaine Corradi Release Date: 10/1/2003 Publisher: BMG/CDS Musique Track List
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 | Varekai (2)  Composer: Violaine Corradi Release Date: 7/20/2004 CA, 7/27/2004 US Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
Like the previous version of the soundtrack of Varekai from 2002/2003 are non of the tracks actual live recordings from the show. They were studio produced and sound often different from the same songs used in the show. The special edition soundtrack CD set contains a few tracks with actual audio footage recorded from a Varekai live show. | ||||
 | Cirque du Soleil: Le Best Of  Composer: Rene Dupéré & Benoit Jutras & Violaine Corradi Release Date: 9/21/2004 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
This second "Best Of" album by Cirque du Soleil has the "Best of" already in the title to be more clear and straight forward. "Cirque du Soleil Collection", the previous "Best of" release was a bit more ambiguous with the choice of it's title. This album features only tracks from Cirque shows that are still performed and/or touring, including Alegría, Saltimbanco, Mystère, Quidam, Dralion, Varekai, La Nouba and "O". | ||||
 | Saltimbanco (2005)  Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 2/17/2005 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
To make the confusion complete, Cirque released a third (forth actually) version of the soundtrack in 2005. This version has 12 tracks. It misses the tracks “Arlequin (Juggling)” from the EXTENDED version in 2002 and “Urgence” from the 1992 & Extended version of the soundtrack, but includes a newly recorded track titled “Cantus Mélopée”, which is neither on the 1992 version nor the 2002 version of the soundtrack. Got it? :) | ||||
 | Zumanity (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Simon Carpenter Release Date: 3/22/2005 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Tracks
If you expect to find much songs from the show on this “soundtrack”, then you will be in for a not so pleasant surprise. The soundtrack was produced and recorded in a studio, many songs from the show are modified beyond recognition, I have seen the show live TWICE and do not recall some of the tracks on the album, however, I do miss A LOT of tracks that I DO remember from the show on this CD. The music isn’t bad, but if you specifically liked the music from the show and want to get the CD for that reason, beware! | ||||
 | Solarium/Delirium   Composer: various Release Date: 5/17/2005 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track Listing
The second release of Cirque du Soleil Remixes on compact disc. This time even a double Whopper of two packed and juicy silver discs of almost two hours in length. Okay, they cheated, because the first disc, dubbed "Solarium" is the same as the previously released "Tapis Rouge Solarium" CD. The second (and longer) disc, dubbed "Delirium" (not to confuse with the Cirque show of the same title) is all new material though. The 2nd disc "Delirium" is much faster than the 1st disc Solarium, which falls more like under the category "Easy Listening". I believe that this was done on purpose, to symbolize the duality of life, or Ying and Yang or whatever you want to call it. | ||||
 | "O" (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 8/16/2005 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track Listing
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 | KA (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Rene Dupéré Release Date: 10/18/2005 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
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 | Delirium (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Francis Collard (Producer) Release Date: 7/25/2006 Publisher: BMG/CDS Musique Track List
Several of the tracks are remixes of famous Cirque du Soleil songs from other shows. This is not an accident. The acts where those remixes were used were depicting the original acts as well, at least to the extend that you would recognize them, if you are familiar with those original shows. Basically not only the music is a remix, but the act performed was as well. | ||||
 | Corteo (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Philippe Leduc & Maria Bonzanigo Release Date: 10/3/2006 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
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 | Corteo Limited Edition (1 CD, 1 DVD)   Composer: Philippe Leduc & Maria Bonzanigo Release Date: 10/3/2006 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
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 | The Beatles - LOVE (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: The Beatles, remixed by George Martin & Giles Martin Release Date: 11/20/2006 Publisher: Capitol/Apple Track List
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| The Beatles - LOVE Special Edition (CD & DVD)  Composer: The Beatles, remixed by George Martin & Giles Martin Release Date: 11/20/2006 Publisher: Capitol/Apple Track List(s) Same as regular album. The 5.1 Dolby Surround DVD version also features some nice animations and other music video like visions (instead of showing a black screen while you are listening to the music via your 5.1 (or better) entertainment system. | ||||
 | Wintuk (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Simon Carpentier Release Date: 11/1/2007 Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List'
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 | Kooza (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Jean-Francois Cote Release Date: 5/8/2008 CA, 6/24/2008 US Publisher: Cirque du Soleil Musique Track List
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 | Alegría-Remastered (25th Anniversary Edition) The FORTH-time release of the Alegria soundtrack on compact disc. I suggest reading my Review for this CD. Short summary: Not recommended, buy any of the previous releases instead. Sound quality is not better than the 2001 or 1994 Re-Release versions. Track List
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 | Cirque du Soleil 25th Anniversary Collection (2 CDs) track list
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 | Zed (Official Sound Track/OST) Unlike most show sound tracks, this one includes the recording of the real singers of the show, making it an authentic sound track for the show. track list
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Zaia (Official Sound Track/OST)
Singles (exclusively released in Europe)
It is hard for me now to keep track of those. I am originally from Germany, but moved almost a decade ago to the United States. So if you see that I missed any "Single" release by Cirque, please let me know about it, that I can update my list here. Thanks. Why they only released Single CDs in Europe and not in the United States or Canada is not known to me. Your guess is as good as mine.
 | Irna & Alegria (Alegria) Composer: Rene Duperé Release Date: ??? Publisher: Bertelsman Music Group |
 | Gamelan (O) Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: ??? Publisher: Bertelsman Music Group |
 | Love Leaves Someone Behind (Alegria Le Film) Composer: Rene Dupere Release Date: ??? Publisher: ??? |
 | Querer & Jeux dEnfants (Quidam) Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 1997 Publisher: Bertelsman Music Group |
 | Quidam Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 1996 Publisher: Bertelsman Music Group |
| Quidam (2) Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 1999 Publisher: Bertelsman Music Group |
 | Stella Errans (Dralion) Composer: Violaine Corradi Release Date: ??? Publisher: ??? |
| Let Me Fall (Quidam) Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: ??? Publisher: Bertelsman Music Group |
 | Child in His Eyes (Alegria Le Film) Composer: Rene Dupere Release Date: ??? Publisher: Bertelsman Music Group |
| Kumbalawe (Saltimbanco) Composer: Rene Dupere Release Date: ??? Publisher: Bertelsman Music Group |
| Tzelma (O) Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: ??? Publisher: ??? |
Tapis Rouge Vinyl Mixes
Special collectors editions of remixes in old school vinyl format (Vinyl 12", White Label, 33 1/2 RPM), which were all previously released on either the Tapis Rouge Solarium CD or later the Solarium/Delirium double CD already. All of them were released on 10 Nov 2003, 2004 and May 16, 2006 by Cirque du Soleil Musique and sold to fans (and DJ's I guess) in Canada and the United States.
 | Africa (Tapis Rouge Vol 1) Track List |
| Ombra (Tapis Rouge Vol 2) Track List |
 | Aborigenes Jam (Tapis Rouge Vol 3) Track List |
 | Emballa (Tapis Rouge Vol 4) (Louie Vega Remixes) Track List |
 | Kumbalawe (Tapis Rogue Vol 5) (Roger Sanchez Remixes) Track List |
 | Mer Noir/Africa (Tapis Rogue Vol 6) Track List |
| Tapis Rouge Remixed (Limited to 100 copies) Track List |
Return to the Cirque du Soleil Primer Article.
Bonus Album (Almost Cirque du Soleil)
 | Le Rêve (Official Sound Track/OST)  Composer: Benoit Jutras Release Date: 2005 Publisher: Productions du Dragon Track List
Yes, Le Rêve is not an official Cirque du Soleil show, but the show that is currently performed at the Wynn Las Vegas was created by probably the greatest directors of Cirque du Soleil, Franco Dragonè, the creative mind behind Cirque shows like Alegria, Saltimbanco, Mystère, La Nouba and "O". He started his own production company and created this fantastic show. The music for the show is fantastic as well and was composed by no other than Benoit Jutras, who composed many of the scores for other Cirque du Soleil productions. In my opinion is the soundtrack to Le Rêve his best composition to date. The soundtrack is not easy to come buy and another reason why I posted it here. You can get the CD at the gift show at the Wynn Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and that's about it. I saw some folks selling the CD on auction sites, but completely overpriced. You cannot buy the album on the Internet, at least not officially. The Wynn gift show does not have a web site to this day, but you can order it over the phone from them and they will ship it to you for a normal price. Their phone number is +1 (702) 770-3541. |
Cirque du Soleil Articles in this Series
- Main Cirque du Soleil Primer Article
- Cirque du Soleil - Historic Time-Line 1984 to Present
- The Cirque du Soleil Story - Odyssea - The dreamer's Odyssey
- Cirque du Soleil Touring Shows (Complete List)
- Cirque du Soleil Resident Shows (Complete List)
- Cirque du Soleil Arena Shows (Complete List)
- Cirque du Soleil Special Events & Performances
- Cirque du Soleil Releases for TV and IMAX
- Cirque du Soleil Documentaries (Complete List)
- Cirque du Soleil DVD Releases (Complete List)
- Cirque du Soleil Music Releases (Complete List)
- Cirque du Soleil File Archive (Videos, Audio and Images)
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