Demoscene Marvels – Know Your History

I started a while ago a special play list at my YouTube channel SACReleases, which showcases over 400 videos (as of now and growing) related to the demo and art scenes already, to highlight the best demos across all computer platforms over the past 18 years. 

I called it the “Demoscene Marvels”, because I think that those productions are indeed marvels that should not be forgotten. The first production in my marvels list is from 1991 and the latest on from 2009.

 

If you thought that the old 8bit and 16bit classics are dead, think again! The last demo from the Commodore 64 in my marvels list is from 2007 and the last Commodore Amiga production in this list is from this year. Surprised?

Demo Marvels Play List at YouTube.com

The list includes 69 videos as of today, representing 61 different demos and intros from the Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, MS DOS PC and Windows 32bit.

The list is useful for oldskool demosceners who might have missed a few productions over the years and also for newbie’s to the subject, who would like to get a picture of the productions that were created by scenes around the world for the simple reason that they can.

I listed the productions in chronological order that you are able to see the progression and advancements made by the demo scene over the years.

List of Demos (Chronologically)

1. Hardwired by The Silents (TSL) & Crionics for Commodore Amiga (1991)
2. Unreal by Future Crew - PC (1992)
3. State Of The Art by Spaceballs - Amiga (1992)
4. Crystal Dream 2 by Triton for MS DOS PC (1993)
5. Desert Dream by Kefrens for Amiga (1993)
6. Second Reality by Future Crew - MS DOS PC (1993)
7. Coma Light XII (12) by Oxyron - C64 Demo (1994)
8. Tower Power by Camelot - C64 Demo (TP 1994)
9. Valhalla - Solstice PC (1995)
10. Dope by Complex - PC Demo (1995)
11. Stars - Wonders of the World by Noon (MS DOS PC) (1995)
12. CAERO by Plant & Electromotive Force (EMF) - PC (1995)
13. Inside by Carillon & Cyberiad (CNCD) - PC (1996) 1st TG
14. Paper Intro by Psychic Link & Acme - PC 64K (1996)
15. Machines of Madness by Dubius PC (1996)
16. Explicit by Hornet - PC Demo (1996)
17. Project Pitchfork by Smash Designs - C64 Demo (1997)
18. Second Reality Remake by Smash Design - C64 (1997)
19. Tribes by Melon Dezign & Pulse - PC Demo (1997)
20. Triage 3 (Triage III) by Smash Designs - C64 Demo (1998)
21. Wonder by Sunflower - PC Demo (1999)
22. Deus Ex Machine by Crest & Oxyron - C64 Demo (2000)
23. Elements by Haujobb - PC Demo (TP 2001)
24. Liquid Wen by Haujobb - PC Demo (ASM 2002)
25. Squish by AND - PC 64K Intro (2002)
26. Super Killer - Text Mode Demo - PC (2002)
27. Candytron 64KB Intro (Final Version) by Farbrausch for Win32 (2003)
28. FR-025 The Popular Demo by Farbrausch - Win32 (2003)
29. Legomania by Doomsday for Windows PC (2003)
30. Zoom 3 by AND - PC 64K Intro (2003)
31. Beyond by Conspiracy - PC 64K Intro (2004)
32. Paradise by RGBA - PC 64K Intro (2004)
33. We Cell by Kewlers - PC Demo (2004)
34. The Prophecy - Project Nemesis by Conspiracy - PC 64K Intro (2004)
35. Obsoleet by Unreal Voodoo - PC Demo (2004) 
36. Planet Risk by Andromeda Software Development (ASD) - PC (2004)
37. Silkcut by The Black Lotus (TBL) - Amiga Demo (2004)
38. sts-04 - Instant Zen by Synesthetics - PC (2005)
39. Iconoclast by Andromeda Software Development (ASD) - PC (2005)
40. Parsec by Frenetic, r0K & Sonic - PC 4KB Intro (2005)
41. Final Audition by Plastic - PC Demo (2005)
42. Antidote for the Masses by ASD - PC Demo (2005)
43. Amethyst by Traction & Demarche - PC Demo (2006)
44. Deities by MFX - PC Demo (BP 2006)
45. Moonstone by Anadune & Nah Kolor - PC Demo (BP 2006)
46. The Evolution of Vision by Andromeda Software Development (ASD) - PC Demo (2006)
47. Onwards by Traction - PC Demo (2006)
48. Starstruck by The Black Lotus (TBL) - Amiga AGA (2006)
49. Track One by Fairlight (FLT) Win32 Demo (2006)
50. Desert Dream Remake by Resource and Chorus – C64 Demo (2007)
51. Fairy Tale by Traction and Brainstorm - PC Demo (BP 2007)
52. sts-01 - Lucy in the Sky with Deities by Synesthetics - PC (2007)
53. FR-041 - Debris by Farbrausch for Win32 (2007)
54. Angelic Forum by ALLien Senses (PC Demo) (2007)
55. Lifeforce by Andromeda Software Development - PC Demo (ASM 2007)
56. Stargazer by Andromeda & Orb - PC (2008)
57. Shad 3 by Cocoon for Win32 PC (2008)
58. Panic Room by Fairlight (FLT) - PC 64K (2008)
59. Rupture by Andromeda Software Development (ASD) - PC Demo (2009)
60. Lightshaft by Elude for Commodore Amiga AGA (2009)
61. Crush by Anadune & Floppy - PC (2009) 1st BP

Additional content to the subject that I can highly recommend can be found at the following previous blog post of mine that I posted over the past few years.

Additional Resources

• The History of the Demoscene
• Introduction to the World of Demos
• The Demoscene Came a Long Way
• Rupture by Andromeda Software Development and other cool Demos

I also recommend checking out the links section on my main web site. There you can find tons of resources, repositories, archives, forums and other good stuff related to the demoscene and everything else that surrounds it, such as the artscene or tracker music etc.

Take a step back and enjoy the trip back in time. There is nothing you have to do but sit back, watch and listen.

I hope that you will enjoy my little collection that I put together over a long period of time. Did I miss some great productions that MUST be included in my marvels collection? Let me know! Use the comments section below to leave a note. I’d appreciate it.

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Razor 1911 and Dynamic Technologies – Dytec Cracktro Remakes 2009

Since it was so nice with the TRSI Intro and the new RoORS intro that I created, two more intros are coming up your way…. also created with the Oldskool Demo Maker by Peace/Testaware.

This time I created actually remakes of existing intros and did not create something entirely new.

Let’s start with the first one, which is for a group that is dear to my heart. You might also want to check out my posts related to it here at my blog: Dynamic Technologies – Dytec -  The Cracktros and Dynamic Technologies – Dytec – Introduction Continued. Okay, the name is now out in the open, lets have a look at the intro that I re-created with OSDM for them.

Dynamic Technologies Cracktro Remake by Roy/SAC in 2009

Backup Link to Video on Vimeo.com

A remake of the PC Intro for the release group Dytec - Dynamic Technologies. It was actually also used for Dynasty and for TRSI.  Well, it was not the first time that Hetero repurposed the code, design and music of an intro for another group, if the group where it was previously made more ceased to exist and wasn’t making good use of the intro before they were finished.

Credits for this intro:
----------------------------
Code: Peace/Testaware
Design: Roy/SAC
Music: "Cognition" by Jozz/TRSI

Hetero was notorious for replicating original Commodore Amiga intro designs on the PC. He did not make many friends on the Amiga with that, but a bunch of new ones on the PC instead. In the case of this intro comes the original Intro design from the release group Quartex Amiga.

You can download the RAR file, which includes this video in AVI format (XVID/MP3 640x480 pixels resolution) and the Win 32 Executable (13 MB total) at http://www.mediafire.com/?zqzjnn2iozj

You can also just download the Win32 executable separately (179 KB) at
http://www.mediafire.com/?znzzyzzznmj

The second intro that I did was for a much more famous group. Well, they released ENGLISH games and had sections on virtually any computer platform, including the Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga and PC and they started out early, in 1985 and were longer around than most other release groups.

Okay, they had their ups and downs, including a major bust wave that hit the group, but you could beat the group as much and as hard as you want to and it would simply not die and always come back. Well, it’s Razor 1911 – Sharper than a blade or your money back! Hehe.

Razor 1911 Intro Remake by Roy/SAC in 2009

 

Backup Link to Video on Vimeo.com

A Razor 1911 cracktro remake done with OSDM by Roy of Superior Art Creations.

Well, not exactly a 100% authentic remake though, but then also the "original" was not authentic to begin with... It's more like a ... mhh... remix I guess hehe. Confused? Don't be! Just trust me on this one hehe.

Credits for this Intro:
----------------------------
Intro Engine Code: Peace/Testaware
Logo Graphics: Zebig/Razor 1911
Tracker Music: TDK
Compilation and Design: Roy/SAC

You can download the ZIP file, which includes this video in .AVI format XVID/MP3 and 640x480 pixels resolution as well as the Windows 32 bit Executable version of this intro (in all 76 MB in size) at
http://www.mediafire.com/?gidjjiczmhq

I hope you enjoyed the two new intros of mine. Let me know what you think via the comments section below.

Thanks and Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

How to Turn Paying Customers into Pirates

I want to use my registered copy of Babylon 7 Pro, including the additional professional dictionaries “Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus”, “Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary and Thesaurus” and “Britannica Encyclopedia” on my new Dell laptop with MS Vista (and soon on Windows 7). This is not much to ask for you would think. Hey, I bought this stuff directly from the author of the software and paid good money for it.

I entered all license keys yesterday and everything was fine. Today all keys are gone and except for one that unlocks one of the three additional dictionaries, none is working anymore. When I entered the codes again, I received the message that I must have made a typo or something. I didn’t make a typo, thanks but no thanks.

I went to their web site at Babylon.com I used the online form to retrieve license keys that they have created for this purpose I guess, enter the captcha code and my email address and submit the form. The form neither returned an error nor acknowledged the input telling me that new and valid license keys will be send to me again. Since I also did not get an email yet, I assume that it did not work as it was intended (hint: this implies another suggestion for the folks at Babylon).

This is not the first time that I had to contact them about this. I lost count of how many different license keys I got from them for the same stuff over the past 7 plus years since I am a paying PRO user of the software*

Their paranoia about software piracy disgusts me. I should get a pirated version of your software instead, because that one is at least working.

*I am a user of the Babylon software since the mid 1990s. It used to be free for several years, when it was still in beta and I was using a cracked version when they first started to charge money for their software, without giving long time beta users a break to make the legitimate switch to the pro version. Up until version 4 they also had an Ad Ware supported version as an option, which was also free. I still have the setup files for their old version 3.2, 4.0, 5.0, 6, 7 and 7.5.2.10. The latter one is the version that I installed yesterday. I always supported them and recommended the software sincerely to friends and other people. I renewed my support once more, when I paid the full price for their PRO version in 2002 and bought upgrades and additional professional dictionaries over the years since. Now I won't buy another upgrade to version 8 anymore, because I had have it with with their crap.

I demanded (No, I did not ask nicely this time) that they are going to send me working license keys or better ONE license key for Babylon 7 Pro and the 3 pro dictionaries, which I paid them money for.

This issue with their license keys and the way that they let legitimate customers jump through hoops before they will be able to use the software does not help to win customer loyalty nor sympathy. Users don't have to put up with this, if they get the pirated version of the software. That means legitimate users get penalized for actually paying them money for a license over the ones who download the free pirated and cracked (fixed) one.

Think about it. Which version would you prefer?

The crack is an improvement of the software, a bug fix. This isn’t the first time where this is the case. As a matter of fact, many crackers get started by removing faulty copy protections from software they legitimate purchased licenses for, but were unable to use it as they intended for one reason or another, be it a compatibility issue or a use of the software in a different way than the developer originally intended.

Their paranoia does not help them to get more users to pay for their software. I would bet that the opposite is the case. At least they are not going to win any points with their paying customer base and decrease the likelihood that those existing users will recommend the software to friends and colleagues, not to mention becoming evangelists of it, as I used to be for them once. 

It’s a great translation tool that can be extended with additional custom made dictionaries that are free and were created by other Babylon users over the years. You can enable dictionaries to pull results from online or download them and install locally on your machine that you are able to use them, even if you are not connected to the Internet. The main problem that this software has is its copy protection. There is only one other thing, which does not really have to do with the main Babylon software itself, but with something else that they shovel down the throats of their customers without asking them, if they want to get it shoveled or not …

Part 2: The Babylon Toolbar Issue

After I installed Babylon Pro V7.X my Internet Explorer start pages suddenly looked like this.

Who do think they think they are that they can install their stupid browser toolbar for Internet Explorer and change my home page to their own web site at “http://search.babylon.com/home”? All that without asking for my permission of course.

They did not ask for my permission during the install of Babylon (Version 7.x, sorry, but I didn't buy a license for V8 so I don't know, if they still do it or not). I also looked at the configuration screens for the software and did not see the option to disable your toolbar and/or change my default home page back to what it was. I have not checked yet, but I am sure that they also changed my default search provider to Babylon.

This is not only arrogant and intrusive, but also unethical. They should at least have the decency to provide an easy way to remove it. Include the uninstall option in a “Babylon” folder in the start menu  for example. There they only added a shortcut to  the Babylon executable, without adding a separate folder. I’d rather have them add a folder that includes the shortcut to start Babylon, Uninstall Babylon, Uninstall the Toolbar and maybe some other useful shortcuts as well, for example shortcuts to important sections of their web site; a link to the registration/purchase form, to the license recovery form, to their support page or to their directory of dictionaries etc.

I thought at first that I have to go into the system registry manually to remove their Conduit Toolbar myself and by hand, because I didn't see it in the control panel when I was looking for it there. When I found the registry entry for it (I used the very useful and FREE tool Autoruns by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell from SysInternals). There I noticed that they installed the toolbar into a separate folder below “Program Files” (or “Program Files (x86)” in MS Vista 64bit) titled "myBabylon_English" and not to a sub folder below their main program folder “Babylon". They also labeled it "MyBabylon Toolbar" in the add/remove programs section of the control panel (“Programs and Features” in Vista). Far away from the entry for the Babylon software at least on my computer which has hundreds of entries in that list.

They should have called it "Babylon Toolbar" that it appears below "Babylon" in the control panel and put the files in a sub folder below "Babylon" in the Program Files folder where it belongs! This is not unreasonable to ask, isn’t it?  Because of their blatant behavior, I am not even considering to use their toolbar and won't even add “http://search.babylon.com/home” to my “Custom Search Providers”.

In addition to the proper labeling and location for the program files, they should extend their installation routine. During the Install of Babylon, they should include in a SEPARATE step the follow options:

[x] Install Babylon Browser Toolbar for MS Internet Explorer? [x] Change default MS Internet Explorer Homepage to Babylon Web Search (powered by Google) [x] Add Babylon Search to Custom Search Providers for Internet Explorer & Mozilla Firefox (o) Yes, I accept the terms of condition of Babylon ( ) No, I don't accept the terms of condition of Babylon. Don't install any of the items above.

Then also add a screen to the Babylon configuration settings to change those settings again.

To set the defaults options to ON during the setup wouldn't be too nice either, but they would give users at least a chance to say explicitly NO, if they want to. If they really want to do it the nice and clean (in other words, the right way), then they would set the default options to OFF and provide some convincing arguments to the user why he should turn them ON.

p.s. Now I removed the freaking toolbar via the control panel and guess what, it requires me to reboot my computer; great! That was not necessary to install it without my knowledge in the first place.

Unbelievable!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Updates. September 28, 2009

I have not heard back from Babylon regarding my Customer Support request. I sent another message via their web form today. There I noticed something. I looked at my spam folder and got 3 messages there that coincide with the date and time when I used the contact form at the Babylon.com web site.

The messages looked like this. I “x’ed out” my email address (because of spammers):

The original message was received at Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:22:22 GMT
from localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]
   ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<help@babylon.com>
    (reason: 554 Service unavailable; Client host [213.198.65.7] blocked 
 using zen.spamhaus.org; http://www.spamhaus.org/query/bl?ip=213.198.65.7)
   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to ren.babylon.com.:
>>> DATA
<<< 554 Service unavailable; Client host [213.198.65.7] blocked using 
zen.spamhaus.org; http://www.spamhaus.org/query/bl?ip=213.198.65.7
554 5.0.0 Service unavailable
<<< 554 Error: no valid recipients
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Return-Path: <cxxxxxx@cxxxxxxxxx.com>
Received: from www.babylon.com (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1])
by ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached 
(8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id n8S7MMbr004826
for <help@babylon.com>; Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:22:22 GMT
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:22:22 +0000
To: help@babylon.com
From: cxxxxxx@cxxxxxxxxx.com
Reply-to: "Babylon Ltd." <info@babylon.com>, cxxxxxxx@Cxxxxxxxx.com
Subject: Other
Message-ID: <f10f88d2f31ad510c062196a9d750882@www.babylon.com>
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: PHPMailer 5.0.2 (phpmailer.codeworxtech.com)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="b1_f10f88d2f31ad510c062196a9d750882

So from what it seems, my contact emails never reached them. Also not my feedback email.

I also tried the License Retrieval form on their site again, without success. This time I notice a message appear, which I did not see last time. But that message also points to a bug with that form as well, or am I too stupid to enter a captcha code?! See for yourself and tell me, if I entered the wrong code or not.

I found an old support email from where they responded to my emails a few years ago and which also worked to contact them. I sent a copy of my form message to that email address as well. It did not bounce or generated some other error so far, so keep your fingers crossed. Man, this is just unbelievable.

I also sent an email to the addresses: press@babylon.com, bizdev@babylon.com and marketing@babylon.com, which I found on their web site. Basically a request to forward the message to somebody who is responsible for all this stuff and a link to this blog post. Lets see if that does something. Maybe the company is out of business and they forgot to shut down the web site yet. Who knows. Anything could be possible.

I will update this post again, once I got some news to report on this.

Updates October 5, 2009

• I received an Email from the PR and Content Manager at Babylon on September 29, 2009 telling me that my email was forwarded to support and that I should hear from them within 48 hours. She also asked me for my phone number, which I provided in my reply.
  
• I received an Email from Babylon Support on September 30, 2009. Responded to it with all the details that I submit via support contact form the week before on October 1, 2009. The message read like this:
  
  
  

  Thank you for taking the time to write us.
  
  I tried to reach you today but there was no answer.
  
  As I said on the message that I left you will be happy to assist you with any technical problems you have encountered, but I will need more specific details.
  
  Assuming you have Babylon installed and running on your computer, please be more specific and explain exactly what happens when you try to use or install Babylon. Do you get any error messages? If so - what are they?
  
  Thank you for your cooperation.

  
  Support was obviously not taking the time to read this post where I linked to from my email, nor did they find my contact attempts via their web contact form on September 23 and 28, 2009 (obviously).
  I provided my phone number. The contact attempt he refers to must be have been the call from a “private caller” with blocked caller ID that I received that day, but not responded to.
  Bad enough, but worse is this: No response to my direct email that I replied with to this day.
  
  
• I received another email from a different support email account and person at Babylon.com on October 3, 2009, asking virtually the same as the other support person in the email from September 30, 2009.
  
• I responded on October 4, 2009 with another copy of my email to the first support rep and also CC’ed that other rep in my response.
  
• Sent a second email to both support email accounts with my phone number to encourage them to call me again. Based on the times when they sent the emails to me, there is a good chance that they received my email today, before they left the office in Israel (where Babylon is located).
  
• The trial license to what the software switched to by itself on September 23, 2009, one day after I installed the software and applied my licenses to successfully expired by now also = The software does not run at all at this time anymore.

Update October 6, 2009

There was actually an email from Babylon support that Microsoft flagged a possible Phishing scam and that I thus just saw today, when I checked that folder. The email was sent to me on October 4, 2009 and contained instructions to reinstall the software and new license keys that worked. Again a set of multiple user name and key pairs to unlock all dictionaries and Babylon itself. They obviously check license codes by having the application connect their servers when users are connected to the Internet (hello Privacy.. Microsoft would have been tarred and feathered for this), but okay they do that, fine, why isn’t it possible then to just consolidate all my licenses into a single key and name that unlocks all of what I have licenses for at once?

Why so complicated, if it could be done easy?

I responded back to all support emails/reps that contacted me, to let them know that things are fine again (until next time) that they are not continue to try to fix something that isn’t broken anymore. The left hand does obviously not know what the right hand is doing, so I thought that I will help a little bit with that communication and coordination ;).

Until next year (I hope not, but I won’t be too optimistic)!

Imagine The Beatles in Love and 20 Years Under the Sun

Since it went so nice with my publication of the Inside La Nouba documentary, I thought that I continue and also publish some other non-available/out of print Cirque du Soleil documentaries.

Imagine – The Beatles in Love

This is the 50+ minutes long BBC documentary "Imagine, the Beatles in LOVE" about the creation of the Cirque du Soleil show "The Beatles - LOVE", which is performed at the Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It features commentary by the creators of the show, as well as the remaining Beatles members and the music producers Sir George Martin and his son Giles Martin. It also shows a lot of footage from the Cirque du Soleil show itself, acrobatics, rehearsals and more.

The documentary was broadcast on British television on December 27, 2006 and not officially released on DVD for purchase.

Check out the "Documentaries" or "Cirque on DVD" parts of my Cirque du Soleil primer article at http://www.roysac.com/cirque, which refers to a shop where you can purchase a bootleg copy of the documentary on DVD.

There you can also find the references to the great documentary about the show LOVE, which is actually available on DVD. It is called "All Together Now" and features over 2 hours of great and informative material about the show and the process of it's creation.

You can also download the entire documentary in .AVI video format (XVID/MP3, 624x368 pixels resolution) at http://www.mediafire.com/?w2dzbnznxgx (Beware! It's a 642 MB! file)

Watch the Individual Segments at YouTube.com

Note: There were some issues with the audio and video being out of sync. I re-uploaded all 6 parts of the documentary once more and it should be fine now. Please use the new links below (second bullet list). 

• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 1
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 2
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 3
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 4
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 5
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 6

• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 1 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 2 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 3 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 4 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 5 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 6 fixed

Cirque du Soleil 20 Years Under the Sun

This is the 58 minutes long BBC documentary "Cirque du Soleil - 20 Years Under the Sun" from 2005 that was created because of the 20th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil in the year before (2004). The documentary does not focus on any particular production of the Cirque, it's covering the whole spectrum that existed back then in 2004/2005.

If you are looking for a DVD version of this documentary, you won't have any luck, because it is not available for purchase. It never was. It was broadcast on BBC television and that was it.

There is a DVD related to the 20th anniversary celebration of Cirque du Soleil in 2004. The special show that they did in the city where their international headquarters is located, Montreal, Canada.

It is called "Soleil de Minuit" or in English "Midnight Sun". It is not a documentary. It's a special one-time only live performance in the streets of the city. Check out the "Special Performances" and "Cirque on DVD" parts of my Cirque du Soleil primer article series at http://www.roysac.com/cirque for more information and to find out where to buy the DVD online.

You can download the entire documentary video in .AVI format, 482 MB in size, 704x400 pixels resolution, codecs: XVID/MP3, at my MediaFire.com file share at: http://www.mediafire.com/?a0wykmtizc2

Watch the Individual Segments at YouTube.com

• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 1
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 2
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 3
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 4
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 5
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 6

Enjoy!

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC and CirqueDuSoleilGuru

Cirque du Soleil Show Names and their Meanings

If you ever wondered what the often strange names of Cirque du Soleil shows mean and where they are coming from then you are not alone. Like the shows itself the name of it also has most of the time a very fascinating background story and meaning to it. Names are not chosen by Cirque quickly. Like all other elements of the show creation process, a lot of thoughts and considerations go into it.

Contents

• Alegría
• Banana Shpeel
• Believe
• Corteo
• Delirium
• Dralion
• KÀ
• Koozá
• La Magie Continue
• La Nouba
• Le Cirque Réinventé
• Love
• Mystère
• Nouvelle Expérience
• “O”
• Ovo
• Quidam
• Saltimbanco
• Soleil du Minuit
• Varekai
• Wintuk
• Zaia
• Zed
• Zumanity

Alegría is about a Kingdom without a King where everybody wants the power. The Red Man, who was the fool of the king, he thinks that he has the power. All the nostalgic beautiful birds who want the power; then you have the young and energetic and vigilant fast trackers. The flyers high up in the lights, the beautiful nymphs and contortionists all struggle for the power in this leaderless kingdom.

“Alegria” is the Spanish word for Joy, elation and jubilation.

Spelling the name:

Alegría (the “I” is a Latin lower case letter “I” with acute, Unicode: 0x00ED (237), in HTML í or í)

The show Banana Shpeel is a contemporary twist on Vaudeville in Chicago.

“Banana *peel”– from Banana Peel, a symbol of traditional slapstick comedy and the Yiddish word “Shtick”, meaning a comic theme or gimmick, derived from the German word “Stück” (Stueck), which translates to “piece” or “thing”.

Believe is the dark and gothic style magic show of Criss Angel in collaboration with Cirque du Soleil that is not like a traditional magic show that people are used to. It is also not like a traditional Cirque du Soleil show either. It is also not like Criss Angel’s TV show “Mindfreak”.

“Believe” is the secret word that the legendary magician and escape artist Harry Houdini was giving to his wife at his death-bed before he died in 1926 to enable her to expose charlatans claiming to be able to communicate with the people in the afterlife. Only he and she knew the code word and the self proclaimed mediums did not.

Corteo, which means "cortege" in Italian, is a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown. The show brings together the passion of the actor with the grace and power of the acrobat to plunge the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth.

Delirium is more like a music concert. Most of the music in the show are remixed versions of traditional and well known tracks of previous Cirque du Soleil shows. Also the acts that are performed to these remixed songs often are similar in look and feel as the act of the original show.

Delirium is a urban tale about an ordinary man (Bill) who experiences the issues of a words who is increasingly getting out of sync, believing to be just a dream. He sees reality from inside his own bubble and how it tries to find the balance between the virtualization of life that isolates people and the quest for love and harmony outside the virtual computer worlds.

Dralion is the fusion of ancient Chinese circus tradition and the avant-garde approach of Cirque du Soleil. The show's name is drawn from its two main symbols: the dragon, representing the East, and the lion, representing the West.

Dralion derives much of its inspiration from Eastern philosophy with its perpetual quest for harmony between humankind and nature.

KÀ is the story of two imperial twins who lost their parents, discover life and love on their journey to regain back their kingdom from the evil counselor and his son who invented a magic super weapon. They used this magic weapon to assume power of the people who helped them to take control over the kingdom of the twins. It is about the duality of KÀ, the power that has the ability to destroy and to create, war, love and the struggle in life itself.

KÀ stands for “Life Force” in Egyptian mythology and is one of the five parts that make up a human soul. The other four parts are LB = heart, Sheut = Shadow, REN = Name and BA = Personality.

KA is also the word for "Sun" or "King" in Sanskrit (Indian mythology), which is the title of Brahma (Hinduism).

Spelling the name:

KÀ (the “a” is a Latin capital letter “A” with grave, Unicode: 0x00C0 (192), in HTML À or À)

Koozá Is about getting back to the traditions of the Circus. It follows the centuries old structure of a circus performance, including the use of the massive door with curtains where performance appear from and disappear to between each act.

Spelling of the name:

Koozá (the “a” is a Latin lower case letter “a” with acute, Unicode: 0x00E1 (225), in HTML á or á) It can also be spelled in all upper-case letters like KOOZÅ (the “A” is a Latin capital letter “A” with a ring above, Unicode 0x00C5 (197), in HTML Å or Å)

La Magie Continue is French and translates to “The Magic Continues”

The show name La Nouba originates from the French phrase “faire la nouba,” which means to party, to live it up. It is a world where dreams and reality intertwine as the urban and circus worlds meet on stage. Blending acrobatics, dazzling choreography, whimsical characters and live music, La Nouba stimulates our imagination from beginning to end.

Le Cirque Réinventé is French and translates to English “Circus Reinvented“, which was modified to “We Reinvent the Circus”

Spelling of the name:

Le Cirque Réinventé (the first and last “e” in “Reinvente” are the Latin lower case letter “e” with acute, Unicode: 0x00E9 (233), in HTML é or é)

The Beatles “Love” starts with the last live performance of The Beatles on the roof at the Apple Studios in London on January 30, 1969. The Beatles songs itself inspired the acts of the Cirque performances, particularly their lyrics and their historic backgrounds or meanings to the individual members of the band.

The title “Love” is derived from The Beatles single “All you need is Love”, which is also the song for the shows final and closing.

Mystère is French and means "Mystery"

Spelling of the name:

Mystère (the first “e” is a Latin lower case letter “e” with grave, Unicode: 0x00E8 (232), in HTML è or è)

Nouvelle Expérience is French and translates to English “A New Experience”

Spelling of the name:

Nouvelle Expérience (the first “e” in “Experience” is the Latin lower case letter “e” with acute, Unicode: 0x00E9 (233), in HTML é or é)

“O” is inspired by the concept of infinity and the elegance of water's pure form. The name “O” also represents the expression “Oh” that humans use when they are struck with awe, excitement, surprise or pleasure.

OVO means "egg" in Portuguese. This timeless symbol of the life cycle and birth of numerous insects represents the underlying thread of the show. Graphically, OVO hides an insect in its name: The two letter "Os" represent the eyes while the letter "V" forms the nose.

Quidam is a nameless by-passer, a solitary person who lingers in the shadows ignored by normal people who rush past him without being noticed. Quidam represents nobody and everybody and the deep inner feelings and fears that are part of all of us. The young girl “Zoe” finds herself in a world of Quidam, full of anger and pain, trying to escape from it.

Quidam is Classical Latin and means "a certain; pl., some" or "anonymous passerby”.

Saltimbanco is about urban life in the city, about the high rise skyscrapers of downtown and the myriad kinds of people who are living, hustle and bustle in a modern day city.

Saltimbanco is derived from the Italian phrase “saltare in banco”, which translates to English “to jump on a bench”.

Soleil du Minuit is French and translates to English “Midnight Sun”. Although it was not exactly midnight when Cirque du Soleil performed their one-time special 20^th anniversary show in the streets of Montreal where Cirque has its head quarters; but it was already dark when the show reached its climax. The “Sun” represents the Cirque itself, the Cirque du Soleil or the Circus of the Sun.

Varekai is about the ancient Greek myth of Ikarus, who attempted to fly with wings he made out of wax and reach the sun, which melted the wings and caused Ikarus to fall from the sky as a result of it. The story of Varekai begins at the end of the ancient story with Ikarus falling from the sky into a group of forest people, which have established a stable society within the magic forest that is made of survivors, just like the circus artists themselves.

Varekai means “wherever” in the Romanian language spoken by the Gypsies, the people without a home who wander from place to place in order to survive, which is very much like circus life is.

Wintuk is a whirlwind winter adventure about a boy—Jamie—and his quest to find snow.

Jamie lives in an imaginary city where the arrival of winter has brought intense cold, but no snow! He interacts with a cast of high-energy urban street characters, including acrobats, dancers and talking lampposts. Jamie embarks on a journey to an imaginary North called Wintuk. He is joined by three companions—a female Shaman with magical powers, the girl he has fallen head over heels for and a timid young man called Wimpy, destined to discover his own courage. Jamie's goal: bring the snow back to where it belongs.

ZAIA is the dream of a young girl who journeys into space on a strange, yet familiar voyage of self-discovery. As she travels, she encounters the beauty of humanity and eventually brings it back with her to share with the inhabitants of earth.

The title of the show, “ZAIA”, comes from a Greek name meaning “life”. It also sounds close to “Gaia”, which is the name of the living and self-aware, spirit of the earth.

The name ZED is the name of the lead character of the show, the white fool called Zed. The inspiration for the show comes from the world of Tao, symbols, elements and also various characters, such as Zed.

Zumanity explores the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil and is the first and only Cirque du Soleil show that is designed for mature audiences only. It is provocative, sexual, esthetic, beautiful, lustful and emotional, touching every aspect of human sexuality that each of us wants to experience, but often does not, due to social codes that do not allow the free expression of your inner feelings and desires.

Zumanity deals with this conflict in a cabaristic way and lets people forget about the codes, at least for the duration of the show itself.

For more information about Cirque du Soleil check out my Cirque du Soleil Primer article.

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC and CirqueDuSoleilGuru on YouTube.com