Cosmos

There are 4 projects named Cosmos:
- An alias of Tom Middleton releasing a few house/club tracks: "Take Me With You" "Play to Win" "Summer in Space" & "Deep Inside the Groove" as well as countless remixes for the likes of Jamiroquai, Kylie Minogue, Mandalay, Goldfrapp, Lamb, Sarah McLachlan, Röyksopp, Gotan Project, & Bebel Gilberto among many others.

- the Japanese electro-acoustic improv duo of Sachiko M and Ami Yoshida (founded 1998); and

- the Latvian a cappella sextet (founded 2003).

-The hip hop artist from www.fwmj.com

* the later (but more popular) Cosmos is a Latvian a cappella vocal group of six singers: Jānis Šipkēvics (countertenor), Andris Sējāns (countertenor), Juris Lisenko (tenor), Jānis Ozols (baritone), Jānis Strazdiņš (bass) and Reinis Sējāns (rhythm).

The Vocal Group COSMOS is a union of six young and talented Latvian singers who have combined their voices to form a unique all male a cappella group – no instruments, just voices that will sound like any instrument you can imagine.

Their friendship stretches back to their school days when they all studied music and toured the World with the Riga Dom Boys’ Choir. Recognized as the best young Latvian group during the first year of its existence in 2003, Vocal Group Cosmos’ first album received an award as the best pop album of the year and achieved platinum status in sales. Since then, Cosmos have released three new albums and have earned increasing fame and popularity in numerous countries. Their distinctive style of a cappella (without instruments) singing and charismatic concert performances has propelled these six young musicians into the forefront of the popular and academic music scenes. Drawing on a professional musical education and with a very broad range of voices, Cosmos articulate their talents across a broad range of musical styles and genres from medieval chanting to modern jazz and pop music.

Cosmos’s professionalism has also been recognized beyond the borders of their own country. After seventeen years of denying his greatest hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” the legendary Bobby McFerrin agreed to sing it once again together with Cosmos when they shared the stage of the Latvian National Opera in 2005. Proud winner of the international competition for young singers of popular music “New Wave 2004” – gaining a television audience of 200 million people – Cosmos also won second prize at the challenging International Choral Music Competition in Gorizia (Italy) the same year. In 2006 Cosmos won the vote to represent Latvia at the Eurovision song contest in Athens and in 2007 they shared the stage with Italian singer Al Bano at the legendary San Remo song festival.

Every performance by Cosmos attracts a full house not only in Latvia but in also in Russia, Ukraine, Germany and anywhere they appear. A young, ambitious and gifted group of musicians, Cosmos’ fame is spreading contagiously overseas as they perform their important role of representing Latvia as a truly musical nation and at the same time satisfy their desire to introduce themselves to yet wider audiences. Drawing on profound European musical traditions, Cosmos enthusiastically put their academic music background to work as they explore the almost unlimited possibilities of the human voice – nature’s most incredible musical instrument.

To consolidate the ongoing evolution of their musical education, Cosmos devote much time to workshops with the world’s leading a cappella music professionals such as The Hilliard Ensemble, Take 6, The Real Group, The New York Voices, The Flying Pickets and M-Pact.

* the original Cosmos is the Japanese duo of Sachiko M (sinewaves, contact microphones on objects) and Ami Yoshida (voice). They released their debut "Tears" on Erstwhile Records in 2002. It is now considered an EAI classic. The same year, they also contributed a 25 minute piece to a double CD with Astro Twin, Ami Yoshida's duo with Utah Kawasaki (analog synthesizer), and appeared in October's Erstwhile Amplify festival in Tokyo. Their concert was recorded and released as part of the "Amplify 02: Balance" box set the next year.