The Twelve Dreams Of The Sun - 1999 / 2000

Jean Michel Jarre had no particular plans for Millennium New Year's Eve. But then came the tragic terrorist attacks at Luxor, where several Western tourists were killed. UNESCO, in a bid to support the State of Egypt, home to precious world cultural heritage, and most dependent on the tourist trade, asked Jarre to travel to Egypt as its Ambassador to draw media support for the Egyptian tourism industry. During his visit and discussions with the Egyptian government around the subject that something should be done to recreate a positive and modern image of the country Jarre was invited to conceive and perform a Millennium concert at the Pyramids of Gizeh.

The theme of the concert was an ancient Egyptian legend, that of the twelve dreams of the sun god Ra. Much controversy surrounded the project right from the beginning, especially since sevaral terrorist organisations, including the Al Quaida, had threatened the organisers. Not one to back out on a challenge, Jarre carried on with the project, and though everybody seemed tense at the stroke of midnight, the thing that seemed to bother the Frenchman the most were not terrorists but the heavy fog that threatened to hide the pyramids. The pyramids, transformed by projectors into illuminated triangles in the desert, remained visible, though, even in the fog which only added to the mystic atmosphere of the show.

Egyptian gods walked the stage and then white light turned the desert dunes into snow, complete with soldiers in penguin costumes. Several Jarre-classics such as Oxygene IV, Magnetic Fields II, and Rendez-Vous II had been rearranged with Egyptian musicians for the show, and Natacha Atlas appeared on stage with Jarre to perform C’est La Vie.

At sunrise on the first day of the new millennium Jarre returned to the stage and played six tracks. One of them –The Sun – had been composed for the event.

Musicians:

Jean Michel Jarre

Laurie Anderson

Natacha Atlas

Yvan Cassar

Joachim Garraud

Amal Maher

Christopher Papendieck

Francis Rimbert

Fraderic Sanches (Sound Illustrator)

Gary Wallis

Aswan Folkloric Music Troupe

Cairo Opera Symphonic Orchestra (conducted by Dr. Moustafa Nagui)

Cairo Opera House Choir (conducted by Aldo Magnato)

El Nil Folkloric Music Troupe

National Arabic Ensemble (conducted by Nasredine Dalil)

National Folkloric Music Troupe

Tracklist

The Legend

Bells

Je Me Souviens

Dream 1 : The Rock

3. Miss Moon

4. Oxygene II

Dream 2 : The House

5. Chronologie 6

Dream 3 : The Tree

6. Equinoxe VII

7. Magnetic Fields 2

Dream 4 : The Boat

8. Millions of Stars

Dream 5 : The Flesh

9. Souvenir of China

10. Oxygene 10

Dream 6 : The Voice

11. Umm Kulthum

Dream 7 : The Sky

12. Hey Gargarin

Dream 8 : The Child

13. Gloria Lonely Boy - Millennium

14. Millennium Countdown

15. C’est La Vie

16. Salma Ya Salama

Dream 9 : The Bell

17. Equinoxe IV

Dream 10 : The Snow

18. Oxygene IV

19. Tout est Bleu

Dream 11 : The Blood

20. Evolutions

21. Oxygene 12

Dream 12 : The Gate

22. Give me a sign

23. Oxygene 8

24. Band in the Rain

25. Rendez-vous II

Sunrise Concert

26. Ethnicolor

27. Oxygene 7

28. C’est la Vie

29. The Sun

30. Hey Gagarin

31. Eldorado

Date and Place:

December 31st 1999, January 1st 2000 - Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt

Estimated Audience:

120,000