A Culturess Christmas Playlist

Celine Dion, “Ave Maria”

The list can’t be complete with a little Celine, and there are plenty of amazing Christmas songs to choose from. The issue for me here was choosing a song that wasn’t overly done by other artists, and choosing just one song so that the playlist didn’t become bogged down with big, classical-sounding voices.

There is a time and a place for those big voices, but this playlist was about balance, remember. So I chose my second favorite Celine Christmas song, just behind her epic version of “O Holy Night”.

“Ave Maria” has been done before, but it’s not one you see done very often. It’s usually left to those “big voices” I’ve been speaking of, and there are only a few that have really left an impression. Celine is one of them. Her version is sweeping and thoughtful, and will be a good reprieve from the rest of the playlist when it finally comes on.

"Ave Maria! Maiden mild! Oh, listen to a maiden’s prayer For thou canst hear amid the wild ‘Tis thou, ’tis thou canst save amid, despair. We slumber safely ’til the morrow Though we’ve by man outcast reviled Oh, maiden, see a maiden’s sorrow Oh, Mother, hear a suppliant child! Ave Maria"