Record label finds singing monks

by Amy Judd | March 22, 2008 at 06:08 pm

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Universal Music has been searching for a group of monks to record a Gregorian chant album, and their search has ended with Austria's Monastery of the Holy Cross. The monks submitted a video on YouTube, which I think is very progressive of them!

Universal Music, home to Eminem and Amy Winehouse, advertised in religious publications for "monks, men of the cloth and sacred singers".

Bosses were sent hundreds of demos but were impressed most by the clip from Austria's Monastery of the Holy Cross.

An album, set for global release, will be recorded next month.

The Cistercian monastery, in Austria's Vienna forest, is home to 80 monks and dates back to 1133.

Gregorian chant, which gained a new audience through Enigma's run of chart success in the 1990s, dates back to the early Middle Ages.

'Blown away'

The search for singing monks began in February.

Universal A&R executive Tom Lewis told the BBC News website he had been "blown away" by the quality of the monks' singing.