Singing nuns are nothing new to us Catholics. One even got pretty famous back in the sixties with her sweetly warbled folk tune, "Dominique." And remember when the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo released an album of Gregorian chant (appropriately named, Chant) with that weird cover art that made the monks look like ancient space invaders?
Decca Records, an imprint of major label Universal Records (which every other outlet running this story points out is Lady Gaga's label), is taking a chance at chants again, this time with a cloistered group of Benedictine nuns in Avignon, France. The Nuns of the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de L'Annonciation won a contest run by the label, beating out more than 70 entries from women religious in Europe, South Africa and America. Kind of like American Idol, without the obnoxious televised judging round.
"We never sought this, it came looking for us," the monastery's abbess told the Guardian. A likely story. That's what all the cool bands say when they don't want to admit that they've not only sold out to the man, they were seeking it. Sigh. Well I guess I can expect a decent return on my vintage Nuns of the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de L'Annonciation bootlegs when I sell them on eBay after the girls go platinum.
For your listening and viewing pleasure, a clip from the 1966 movie The Singing Nun:
