The most blatantly exploitative offerings of the genre is amongst the best, and confounds some of the rules. The Medieval Babes, founded by Katherine Blake, are twelve rock-solid punkily-theatrical young women who have more than enough attitude to take on a London pub audience and add PA power to their renditions of ancient liturgical and lay material. Foreigners might boo the Spice Girls, but the Babes would bite back. Their Salve Nos does not invite their Saviour to look after them: it is commandingly urgent. These are harpies, not angel on harps. In that sense they are true to a strand of modern authenticity. Philip Pickett, for instance, has a usefully earthy account of Carmina Burana, the piece that first brought the Middle Ages to the middlebrow, though its stays well this side of raunchy. The coy amongst the Babes' audience will be glad that Ms Blake does not appear semi-naked, as she does when fronting (breasts painted) her Miranda Sex Garden gothic-rock singalongs.

Declan Coglan, the independent A and R man who wheeled the Babes onto Virgin records (truly, an immacculate concept, you might say), is unabashed. "Musically, the Babes, are absolutely straight. In the classical industry there' a perception that early music could find a much larger market, if it had a vehicle. My guess that the Babes is that vehicle". The fun of it is that after ten minutes of gawping, the audience might as well shut its eyes and decided whether the music's interesting. It is. And the stunt seems to be working: within a couple of weeks of release it went to Number 2 in the classical with Lesley Garrett (no slouch in sex appeal herself) in front, and it strode into the pop charts too.

Declan Coglan is also responsible for Karl Jenkins, a stalwart of the 70's band, Soft Machine, and now amongst the most successful "classical" composers in the business. His song Adiemus (the title song of a CD subtitled Songs of Sanctuary) is the gorgeous background to the Delta Airlines ad. Shamelessly gorgeous, this stuff is an example of one of the strands of this sort of music. It is happy-clappy, upbeat, pretty chanting for therapy. It's got everything going for it except content. As well as history as inspiration, it has geography: the Celts, Africans and asians are all in there, and there is rock-style drumming. By the time you read this, Jenkins will have taken his music to the Battersea Power Station for a public outing and sales will surely be rocketting for Adiemus II: Cantata Mundi, which has an invented language the better to convey the universality of its lingua franca.

For a better sort of instant-Medievalism, one could turn to the saxophonist John Harle and his work with Elvis Costello on Argo's Terror and Magnificence: drawing on the twelfth century choral composer, Pe[[watch accent]]rotin and on medieval texts. The music and performances are original and workmanlike: usefully uneasy and edgy. New this year is Harle Silencium: Songs of the Spirit. The words are Harle's own, and a fine a concoction of twaddle some of them are. Never mind, this is superior pop from the vaults.

The path through the cloister is well worn. It demonstrates that the advent of the CD has also been the advent of niche operations in which word of mouth, the In 1981, Ted Perry, the boss of a feldging record company, Hyperion, turned as usual to an early music show on Radio 3 and his life was changed forever. "I suddely heard this serene and beautiful music and waited for the announcement. It was called "A feather on the breath of god", and was music written by an 11th century Abbess, Hildegard of Bingen. By chance the Cambridge medieval literature and music don, Christopher Page, whose Gothic Voices group had been formed to perform the music of Hildegard, was on the phone about another Hyperion record soon after and Perry decided that he must recreate the broadcast on disc. A couple of plugs on radio later, and an enduring hit was born. Three hundred thousand units later, and still rising, Perry says: "Hildegard pays for my mistakes. Of course it has Emma Kirkby on it, and she's a cult performer. There's a strong feminist slant: a lesbian bookship in Texas sells a thousand a year."

Hildegard remains a star: her chants for the feast of St Ursula, issued - naturally - under the title, "Eleven Thousand Virgins" (repeating a medieval exageration of the real number who were martyred with Ursula sooner than marry). This is set to be big for the American women of the Anonymous Four and their label, Harmonia Mundi. They are the Fab Four of medieval music", according to the New York Times, and scored well with their stark but sweet account of medieval Hungarian Music, "A Star in the East".

Mr Perry rather feels it's a formula which has been leapt on by others.

He is not alone in deprecating the vast successofficiaum gives me the creeps, all that lovely austere serene early polypohone, awful smeery saxophone all over it

I have a soft spot it, Im not sure that it'll survive frankly

heard

gramophone award winner 1993, over a qaurter mill sold 0181 294 1166, a feather on the breath of god

perry
in 1980 we set up, inde brit label always pursued a sort of inde[endent path we tend to go for this more rarified out of the ways tuff, we havn't got beethoven, among class record buyers we have th best, best classical record company award in the world

hild, always had a strong in tweon areas, british and early music - this fellinto early and awes inspird by a boradcast of music of hild in 1981 and R3 and I ws taken by it, early music forum around midday on staurady, and I happend to in and the radipo was oin eand I suddely heard this serenbe and bmbeautiful music and i waited for the announecemtn, "a fetahger on the breath of god", that ws how she described herself and 2 -3 weeks later I got a phone call from aguy in oxford and he said Ive just got a record of yours to reveiew, delightful don, Dr Christopher Page (sydney sussex cambridge, 01223 338843), it dowaned on me that he put out the h'd programme,
it was his group Gothic Voices, ge's assembled them for the broadcast
music written by her for a little commnity of nuns - born 1098 and died 1179, of noble birth
rhine valley
I was very moved, so I set it up, opne of the easiet Ive eve made, one day, finished about 9pm, the producer said, its very beuaiotful but I don't know if anyone
certainly
Lionel Salpter who presented one day announced that therewas a a competition amongst radiuo stations for early music, first prize wasn;'t bbs h'd but a stationin colone, I ran it from my backroom, every order aa6039 - i knew I had a hit 300g and sales are increasing, by far the best selling record, consistent, she poays for my mistakes
I can't think nof another which has been quite so dramatic
emma kirkby who's a coult sinhgetr and a strong feminist slant a lesbian bookship ib txas which sells a a thousnad year its a formula which has been wsort leapt on by other lablesm theiry manufacturing these holy minimlaist, adiemus (oh its terrible), credo )granapone, sacred choral, -agnus dei, -
officiaum gives me the creeps, all that lovely austere serene early polypohone, awful smeery saxophone all over it

I have a soft spot it, Im not sure that it'll survive frankly