You made the world smile with your heavenly vibratto
You made the world cry with your angelic voice
No one will ever reach the level you once were
You were, are and will always be undisputedly the best tenor the world has ever known
Thank you for sharing God's gift with us
A dieu, Maestro
Rest in peace!
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Julien Doré et Moi... Lolita
Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Mr. Julien Dore, the genius winner of Nouvelle Star 2007 a.k.a French Idol!
From his first appearance at the top 15, he has become my favorite, not only my favorite French idol, but one of my favorite musicians. That night, he did a magic and brilliant work with his original rendition of Like a Virgin. What do you think? Have you ever heard or seen anyone like that before? His voice has a wide range, from a low bass note to a high tenor, more importantly he has a good control of his voice. Always pitch! His musicality is just great. He has demonstrated that his genre is also broad, from pop, jazz standard to rock, the one which I think he enjoys most. He did it all with a style. His own style!
His stage performance is unique and brilliant. His body language is incredibly hilarious. He moves like a rubber ball. His originality is the reason why people like him.
Just recently, he released his first single, Moi... Lolita. A remake (I have never heard the original version myself) which is critically acclaimed. A lot of French people put their two thumbs up for his brilliant work. He sang this song twice during the competition and people loved it.
His rival on the final of Nouvelle Star is another good singer, Tigan. He represents the black community in France. To me, there is still a lof of things he needs to learn before he can become a professional singer. I often heard him open a song off key. His stage performance is, in my opinion, monotonous. So is his genre. The one he did best is the slow R&B. Out of his performances, I liked it most when he did a brilliant unplugged rendition of Billy Jean from Michael Jackson.
Yet, on the overall musicality, Julien is better than Tigan! Now, I am looking forward to Julien's first album and, of course, seeing him live in a concert. Go Julien!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Justin... Who? What??? I Can't Hear You!!!
Last night was Justin Timberlake's night. It was the second night of his concert in Paris. 
Needless to say, the house was full and filled up with teenagers (I felt really old!). The good news is I still saw a good portion of more 'mature' people amongst the audience. It proves Justin has a pretty good range of audience.
Dita and I decided to go to his concert just for fun. We knew little of his music, particularly on his recent album, FutureSex/LoveSounds (which is, in my personal opinion, less attractive than his first album, Justified). All we knew is that he is a good entertaineur and, in my opinion, is very talented. I started to notice this after he released his big hit, Cry Me A River. The song blew me away! To say the least, I had not heard such a sophisticated yet melodious song for a long time. And he deserves the grammy for that.
He proves he can write good songs, produce, sing and of course dance. Arguably, he is the most successful young pop star these days.
The concert itself was a show-off of his multitalents. The stage split Bercy indoor stadium into two, so everyone can see the performers from 360-degree angle. The dance was fine (I was not too much interested in it though). But there was one big problem... I could not hear his voice throughout the concert!!! Are we supposed to see a music concert or a dance performance? Frankly, I was disappointed with the bad quality of the sound system, at least from where we were sitting. The drum overpowered the vocals and the other instruments. What the heck was wrong with the mixing engineer? Did he not realize that? Was he deaf? Or was it done in purpose in order to 'hide' Justin's vocal behind the music?
Well, Justin is not Lionel. I realize that. I am not here to compare them in terms of their vocalities. What I heard yesterday was an acrobat of drumbeats and songs full of backing vocals (there were four of them), instead of Justin's vocal. I could hear a little bit of his voice during some slow tunes. Even so, the drum was still annoying in there! Why would he need the percussions when he was playing a slow tune on a piano? I bet no one could even hear the piano! At the end, my ears hurt!
What I noticed from Justin's music is it's black! Or he is trying to be black. His collaborations have always been with black musicians. His musicians on stage are mostly black. All his four fine backing vocalists are black! Don't get me wrong! I like R&B and I like black musicians. But Justin, you are not black! You can't deny that your voice lacks of 'blackness' when you are trying to interpret an R&B song. I agree you have written some good R&B songs, but your interpretations are still pop. All in all, I am not saying his vocal is bad. No, he's got a good one, if not mediocre. His consistent falsetto is amazing.
With musicians, backing vocalists and nine dancers, the stage was awfully crowded. There were times when you thought it was a noisy marching band parade with some pom-pom girls rather than a music concert. But still, the stage technology was incredible. The transparent screens, lightings and hydraulic stages were enjoyable. That is the difference between the current pop stars and the oldies. At least, I give them one credit :-)
The night was long for us. Frankly, we did not quite enjoy it as much as we did for Lionel. We left earlier, probably, one or two songs before the end. One of the reasons was of course to avoid the rush.
For all Justin's fans, don't feel offended with my review. I still admire his talents. I can assure you I would still like to listen to Justin's future music or simply see his videos on MTV, but not his noisy and drumbeat concert like last night.
Needless to say, the house was full and filled up with teenagers (I felt really old!). The good news is I still saw a good portion of more 'mature' people amongst the audience. It proves Justin has a pretty good range of audience.Dita and I decided to go to his concert just for fun. We knew little of his music, particularly on his recent album, FutureSex/LoveSounds (which is, in my personal opinion, less attractive than his first album, Justified). All we knew is that he is a good entertaineur and, in my opinion, is very talented. I started to notice this after he released his big hit, Cry Me A River. The song blew me away! To say the least, I had not heard such a sophisticated yet melodious song for a long time. And he deserves the grammy for that.
He proves he can write good songs, produce, sing and of course dance. Arguably, he is the most successful young pop star these days.
The concert itself was a show-off of his multitalents. The stage split Bercy indoor stadium into two, so everyone can see the performers from 360-degree angle. The dance was fine (I was not too much interested in it though). But there was one big problem... I could not hear his voice throughout the concert!!! Are we supposed to see a music concert or a dance performance? Frankly, I was disappointed with the bad quality of the sound system, at least from where we were sitting. The drum overpowered the vocals and the other instruments. What the heck was wrong with the mixing engineer? Did he not realize that? Was he deaf? Or was it done in purpose in order to 'hide' Justin's vocal behind the music?
Well, Justin is not Lionel. I realize that. I am not here to compare them in terms of their vocalities. What I heard yesterday was an acrobat of drumbeats and songs full of backing vocals (there were four of them), instead of Justin's vocal. I could hear a little bit of his voice during some slow tunes. Even so, the drum was still annoying in there! Why would he need the percussions when he was playing a slow tune on a piano? I bet no one could even hear the piano! At the end, my ears hurt!
What I noticed from Justin's music is it's black! Or he is trying to be black. His collaborations have always been with black musicians. His musicians on stage are mostly black. All his four fine backing vocalists are black! Don't get me wrong! I like R&B and I like black musicians. But Justin, you are not black! You can't deny that your voice lacks of 'blackness' when you are trying to interpret an R&B song. I agree you have written some good R&B songs, but your interpretations are still pop. All in all, I am not saying his vocal is bad. No, he's got a good one, if not mediocre. His consistent falsetto is amazing.
With musicians, backing vocalists and nine dancers, the stage was awfully crowded. There were times when you thought it was a noisy marching band parade with some pom-pom girls rather than a music concert. But still, the stage technology was incredible. The transparent screens, lightings and hydraulic stages were enjoyable. That is the difference between the current pop stars and the oldies. At least, I give them one credit :-)
The night was long for us. Frankly, we did not quite enjoy it as much as we did for Lionel. We left earlier, probably, one or two songs before the end. One of the reasons was of course to avoid the rush.
For all Justin's fans, don't feel offended with my review. I still admire his talents. I can assure you I would still like to listen to Justin's future music or simply see his videos on MTV, but not his noisy and drumbeat concert like last night.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Lionel The Legend
Event occured at Bercy, Paris, 15.05.07
Words cannot express how Dita and I felt after seeing Lionel Richie's concert a few nights ago. The man still can saaaang!!! That night, he simply brought the house down. I mean the whole full house down! He sang and sang. He teased you with some balads on piano, commanded the crowd....
I realize this is what differentiates the old schools with the contemporary musicians. The old schools sing live! Real singing. Out of 20ish tunes he sang, no one was played back. Real live throughout two hours of concert duration! I mean... how old is he now? (according to Wikipedia, he's almost 58!) Yet, what we saw that night was someone much younger in his energy and passion to the music.
Although it is not fair to compare him vocally with his 20's vocal cords (the time when he hit the high notes on Easy, for example, with little effort), overall his 'soul' voice was still there and lasted until he closed his concert with the well-known All Night Long, which reminded me of his oustanding performance at the closing ceremony of the 1984's Summer Olympics in LA. The song was just one of his anthems. I repeat... just one of them! Because throughout the night, the crowd sang along with most of his melodious songs, starting for The Commodores era until his recent album, Coming Home. To name the few (they are also my favorites): Three Times a Lady, Stuck on You, Ballerina Girl, Just for You, Penny Lover, and many more. To me, the guy deserves the title of the King of Soul! Those songs he wrote stick to your mind until you die!
I remember how I was introduced to his music. It was through my eldest brother, Manto, who was once a big fan of his. I was only 11 or 12 then. He used to have a complete collection of Lionel's albums which I used to 'steal' from him and listen to them without his permission! (ahahaha...) It's a pity, Manto was not in the concert with us. I wondered if he still likes Lionel like I always do. Although I have literally never been a big fan, I always enjoy listening to him, like how I love listening to Luther Vandross and all the other old-school alikes.
Lionel is a true legend. He has survived the test of time. Although at some point, he was missing from the industry for whatever reason, he proved that the traditional R&B music still has place in the world music map these days amid strong waves from what I call non-melodious music like what we can hear today. Now that he is back and everyone in the house loved him. The true legend obviously knows how to deliver a good concert and makes people feel good about spending their money for such an entertainment. He also knows how to communicate with and command the crowd. It seemed an easy task for him to command all the ladies in the house to sing Diana Ross's part on Endless Love. Such a joyful ambience! In brief, the concert was superb. The only disappointing part (at least for Dita) is that he did not sing her favorite song, Tender Heart (don't worry baby, I'll sing it for you 'live' when we get home! Ahahaha....)
So far, there is no sign whatsoever from him to put his microphone down in the near future. So, I can still look forward to her new album and possibly seeing him live again. A bientot, Lionel! Thanks for such a brilliant concert!
Words cannot express how Dita and I felt after seeing Lionel Richie's concert a few nights ago. The man still can saaaang!!! That night, he simply brought the house down. I mean the whole full house down! He sang and sang. He teased you with some balads on piano, commanded the crowd....
I realize this is what differentiates the old schools with the contemporary musicians. The old schools sing live! Real singing. Out of 20ish tunes he sang, no one was played back. Real live throughout two hours of concert duration! I mean... how old is he now? (according to Wikipedia, he's almost 58!) Yet, what we saw that night was someone much younger in his energy and passion to the music.
Although it is not fair to compare him vocally with his 20's vocal cords (the time when he hit the high notes on Easy, for example, with little effort), overall his 'soul' voice was still there and lasted until he closed his concert with the well-known All Night Long, which reminded me of his oustanding performance at the closing ceremony of the 1984's Summer Olympics in LA. The song was just one of his anthems. I repeat... just one of them! Because throughout the night, the crowd sang along with most of his melodious songs, starting for The Commodores era until his recent album, Coming Home. To name the few (they are also my favorites): Three Times a Lady, Stuck on You, Ballerina Girl, Just for You, Penny Lover, and many more. To me, the guy deserves the title of the King of Soul! Those songs he wrote stick to your mind until you die!
I remember how I was introduced to his music. It was through my eldest brother, Manto, who was once a big fan of his. I was only 11 or 12 then. He used to have a complete collection of Lionel's albums which I used to 'steal' from him and listen to them without his permission! (ahahaha...) It's a pity, Manto was not in the concert with us. I wondered if he still likes Lionel like I always do. Although I have literally never been a big fan, I always enjoy listening to him, like how I love listening to Luther Vandross and all the other old-school alikes.
Lionel is a true legend. He has survived the test of time. Although at some point, he was missing from the industry for whatever reason, he proved that the traditional R&B music still has place in the world music map these days amid strong waves from what I call non-melodious music like what we can hear today. Now that he is back and everyone in the house loved him. The true legend obviously knows how to deliver a good concert and makes people feel good about spending their money for such an entertainment. He also knows how to communicate with and command the crowd. It seemed an easy task for him to command all the ladies in the house to sing Diana Ross's part on Endless Love. Such a joyful ambience! In brief, the concert was superb. The only disappointing part (at least for Dita) is that he did not sing her favorite song, Tender Heart (don't worry baby, I'll sing it for you 'live' when we get home! Ahahaha....)
So far, there is no sign whatsoever from him to put his microphone down in the near future. So, I can still look forward to her new album and possibly seeing him live again. A bientot, Lionel! Thanks for such a brilliant concert!
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