There are at least two bands named Secret Garden or Secret Gardens.

… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least two bands named Secret Garden or Secret Gardens.

(1) Secret Garden is an Irish-Norwegian duo playing New Instrumental Music, also understood by some as Neo-classical music.

It features the Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry and the Norwegian composer/pianist Rolf Løvland. Secret Garden has sold over 3 million albums and won the Eurovision Song Contest for Norway in 1995, with the composition Nocturne. It was the first and only time to date that a predominantly instrumental piece has won the Eurovision Song Contest, although a few Norwegian language lyrics were included to ensure that the entry adhered to the contest's rules. In addition Rolf Løvland also co-wrote the song La det swinge (Let it swing) that secured Norway its first Eurovision Song Contest victory in 1985.

Their success at Eurovision spearheaded the success of their first album Songs from a Secret Garden. It sold a million copies around the world going platinum in Norway and Korea, gold in Ireland, Hong Kong and New Zealand and spending two years in the Billboard New Age charts in 1996 and 1997. Barbara Streisand adapted Heartstrings from this album as the song I've Dreamed Of You on her A Love Like Ours album. She also used Heartstrings in her wedding to James Brolin.

The album White Stones followed in 1997 also making the top ten on Billboard New Age charts. Dawn of a New Century in 1999, Dreamcatcher in 2001 and Once In a Red Moon also enjoyed success around the world including reaching top ten on the Billboard.

Their most famous song You Raise Me Up, performed by Brian Kennedy has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists including Josh Groban and Westlife.

Secret Garden has released a Dreamcatcher: Best Of for its tour through Australia and New Zealand in 2004. It reached the top of the Australian New Age charts and the ARIA top 50 album charts.

Rolf Løvland won the price of years line-price in Spellemann 2007. In that same year, the album Inside I'm Singing was released.

Their official site can be found at www.secretgarden.no

Secret Garden's albums (in chronological order):

Songs from a Secret Garden (1996)
White stones (1997)
Dawn of a New Century (1999)
Dreamcatcher (2001)
Once in a Red Moon (2002)
Dreamcatcher: Best Of (2004, Australia)
Earthsongs (2005)
Inside I'm Singing (2007)

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(2) Secret Gardens is a post-rock band based out of New York and led by Greg Almeida. They have released two full-length albums, Tundra (2021) and their most recent release, everbloom (2022). Their debut EP, Verão, was released in 2019.

Verão (2019)
Tundra (2021)
everbloom (2022)

Greg Almeida has described these albums as part of an ongoing series of four planned records sonically representing the seasons. The latest, everbloom, is the spring installment in this series and features guest vocals from Andrew Wells (Eidola).

Dawn of a New Century
Secret Garden Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Imagine
Our planet floating silently in space
Around it, a white dove flies--
Forever circling
Every one hundred years, the dove's wing
Gently touches the surface of the earth
The time it would take for the feathered wing
To wear this planet down to nothing

Is eternity

Within eternity, time passes
Within time, there is change
Soon, the wing of the white dove
Will touch our world again
The dawn of a new Century
Time for a new beginning

Now is eternity
At the break of
Dawn of a century
A thousand years
Of joy and tears
We leave behind

Love is our destiny
Celebrate the
Dawn of a century
Let voices ring
Rejoice and sing
Now is the time

Now is eternity

Love is our destiny
Dawn of a century

Overall Meaning

In "Dawn of a New Century," Secret Garden paints an evocative picture of the earth as a timeless, timeless planet, where change is eternal and time is infinite. They use the metaphor of a white dove that circles the earth every 100 years, its wings slowly wearing down the planet. The lyrics suggest that the earth has existed for an eternity, and will continue to do so, while time and change occur within it. The song suggests that within this eternal cycle of time, there is the potential for a new beginning or a new dawn, and it is now.

The lyrics also hint at the idea of love and destiny, suggesting that now is the time to celebrate this dawn of a new century, leaving behind the joy and tears of the past millennium. The dawn of a new dawn brings with it the potential for change and renewal, and the song suggests that we should embrace this change, celebrate it, and revel in the joy of life.

Line by Line Meaning

Imagine
Visualize

Our planet floating silently in space
Picture the Earth moving through the universe without a sound

Around it, a white dove flies--
Beside it, a pure bird soars--

Forever circling
Endlessly rotating

Every one hundred years, the dove's wing
Each century, the bird's feathers

Gently touches the surface of the earth
Tenderly brushes the ground

The time it would take for the feathered wing
The moment it would require the plume

To wear this planet down to nothing
To erode the planet fully

Is eternity
Is infinity

Within eternity, time passes
Inside infinity, time flows

Within time, there is change
In time, there is transformation