
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994                   TAG: 9402240088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MADRID, SPAIN                                LENGTH: Short

GREGORIAN CHANTS NO. 1 ON CHARTS

Still spinning from the unexpected popularity in Spain of their double compact disc of Gregorian chants, the singing monks of Santo Domingo de Silos are going global.

EMI-Odeon records announced Wednesday that "The Best of Gregorian Chants" soon will be available in 18 countries. It has sold 300,000 copies and rocketed to the top of the pop charts since it hit Spanish stores just before Christmas.

The CD will be on Japanese shelves March 1 and the U.S. market March 15, with staggered release dates in Latin America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere in Asia. In Europe, it will be sold in Great Britain, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Greece.

Fame has surprised the 36 monks who live a cloistered existence in Santo Domingo de Silos, a small town in north-central Spain.

Now the monks appear with the likes of Gloria Estefan and Frank Sinatra at the top of the Spanish charts - a stunning achievement for a recording of monophonic, liturgical music used to accompany the text of the Catholic Mass.

by CNB