{"id":66289,"date":"2020-12-08T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T09:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=66289"},"modified":"2020-12-05T12:05:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T12:05:52","slug":"essential-advent-calendar-december-8-annie-lennox-releases-single-didos-lament-taken-from-the-10th-anniversary-re-issue-of-her-a-christmas-cornucopia-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2020\/12\/essential-advent-calendar-december-8-annie-lennox-releases-single-didos-lament-taken-from-the-10th-anniversary-re-issue-of-her-a-christmas-cornucopia-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Essential Advent Calendar: December 8 – Annie Lennox releases single “Dido’s Lament” taken from the 10th Anniversary re-issue of her “A Christmas Cornucopia” album"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re up to the 8th day of our Essential Advent Calendar, and one of the most successful, iconic and revered artists in pop music history, Annie Lennox \u2013 with over 83 million albums sold – is in the spotlight once again.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Annie Lennox has released ‘Dido\u2019s Lament’ with accompanying music video. The brand new, previously unreleased recording is taken from the re-issue of Annie\u2019s, ‘A Christmas Cornucopia’, and was released via Island Records on 20th November to mark its\u00a010 year anniversary.<\/p>\n

Says Lennox:<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor the 10th<\/sup> Anniversary of A Christmas Cornucopia we wanted to offer something a little bit different than the original album. Dido\u2019s Lament was an almost forgotten recording I made a decade ago which was randomly unearthed from (co-producer) Mike Stevens’ studio during lockdown earlier this year\u2026<\/p>\n

It is the most profoundly haunting and melancholic aria from the opera written by English composer Henry Purcell approximately 300 years ago, where heartbroken Dido prepares to commit suicide. It occurred to me there was a comparison to the destruction human beings have brought upon the Planet. When it comes to climate catastrophe, we are on the edge of abyss. I really believe we don\u2019t have much time left to make an effective change. We are looking at a civilization on the downwards side. This is the truth of this matter. It\u2019s staring us in the face and we are not paying any significant attention \u2013 continuing on as if it doesn\u2019t exist. I see Dido\u2019s Lament as a lament for our dying planet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

‘Dido\u2019s Lament’ references the tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas as documented in Virgil\u2019s legendary epic poem, The Aeneid, from the 1st\u00a0century BC. \u00a0It is played annually at the Cenotaph remembrance parade on Remembrance Sunday and featured in the BBC\u2019s recent broadcast of Remembrance Sunday 2020.<\/p>\n

Premiered by Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2, ‘Dido\u2019s Lament’ is released with an accompanying music video depicting a Victorian magic lantern show. The show starts with the wonders of the natural world, but soon becomes a stark warning of the future and an elegiac lament to the death of the Earth.<\/p>\n

Watch the video below:<\/p>\n

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\"Annie