"Sanvean: I am your shadow" is a song co-written in September 1993 by
Lisa Gerrard and composer/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Claxton[1] during rehearsals in
Ireland for the 1993
Dead Can Dance international tour.[2] Lisa Gerrard stated she wrote this song missing her family who had remained in Australia. Its first public performance was in
Sligo, Ireland and first recorded on their 1994 live album Toward the Within, and later on Gerrard's 1995 solo album The Mirror Pool and The Best of Lisa Gerrard in 2007. Like most of her work it is sung in a
euphonic and emotional
pseudo-language.
Other versions
It has become an iconic song through its frequent appearance on soundtracks and other uses:
In 1995, it appeared in a
Hermès 24 Faubourg advertisement.
The Cadets, a top five
drum corps in
Allentown, Pennsylvania, performed their own arrangement brass, percussion and solo vocal throughout the 2006 drum corps season. The use of amplification and the un-traditional solo singer caused some controversy among drum corps fanatics.[citation needed] "Sanvean" is included in their 2006 recording Through the Looking Glass Part II.
In 2006, a free right-of-use of the song was given to the Dutch
NGO 'Natuur en Milieu' (Nature and environment), for their campaign 'Geef natuur de ruimte' ("make way for nature").