MP3: Pope John Paul II "Abba Pater"

Though often criticized for being out of step with modernity, John Paul II did make efforts to modernize the delivery, if not the content of his message. Perhaps the most cartoonish example is his 1999 recording Abba Pater which paired selected recordings of his holiness chanting, praying and singing(!) in in five languages with a blend of new-age, world, and electronic music. Here's the title track. (MP3 6.6 mb)

The funniest thing about this recording is that I'm sure that it wouldn't exist if not for the massive success of new age-danceclub-ethnofusion band Enigma, who were based in the hedonistic city of Ibiza and layered dance beats (of the sort popularized in gay clubs) over gregorian chants and synthesized "ethnic" instruments. Their 1990 hit, "Sadeness" was a tribute to the Marquis de Sade and featured a sexy-voiced woman inquiring in French: "Sade, tell me/what is it that you seek? /The rightness of wrong/The virtue of vice?" before segueing into a treatise on the "Principles of Lust". Enigma followed up their multiplatinum hit with Cross of Changes, which featured songs criticizing Catholic conquistadors and that same sexy-voiced woman reciting such un-Christian lyrical gems as "Remember the Shaman, when he used to say: 'Man is the dream of the dolphin'."

Make the beats a touch less sexy and more meditative, and replace the lusty french lady with the Pope, and you have the formula for "Abba Pater", a fascinating artifact of the tangled relationship between institutional religion and pop culture. The official site features more sound samples and a video of the pope accepting a gold record!