Ethnicity (album)

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Ethnicity is the eleventh studio album by Yanni, released on February 11, 2003, by Virgin Records. The album, recorded at Yanni’s home studio in Florida, runs 57 minutes and 51 seconds and blends world music with contemporary instrumental sounds. It features more vocals, percussion, and exotic rhythms inspired by Yanni’s travels during his 1998–2000 hiatus. Because Yanni cannot read music, he wrote demo versions at home and hired transcribers to prepare parts for the session musicians.

Ethnicity reached number 27 on Billboard’s Top Internet Albums and number 27 on the Billboard 200 in 2003, and it topped the Top New Age Albums chart in 2004. Backroads Music described the album as musically diverse, noting there’s more going on than people might expect from Yanni’s work. In Yanni’s discography, Ethnicity comes after Ultimate Yanni (2003) and before The Collection (2006).