Still the same under the rules dictated by the pandemic.
Family gathering should not exceed six adults around the Christmas table (children can be joigning ), and for Christmas Eve there is Midnight leave! But not on Dec 31st... after Christmas we will have to be back at 8pm and stay indoors until 6am each day... Vaccination will start soon in January first for the oldest population in Homes (I would have thought because of the lower immune capacities of the elderly population it would have been more efficient to vaccinate the younger population from18years old to 59 who will not have immune deficiency like senior citizens....).
My day life is spent a lot indoors and in the courtyard (I can hardly call it"garden" though I grow roses chrysanthemum, hydrengeas laurel and all sorts of perennials I love ; I once had blue tradescantia from Britain, and of course there are two climbing wines which are as old as the house plus our beloved pomegranate tree... which I planted twenty years ago). All pots and plants keep me busy as they say 'pottering' around!Maomao Mao had to leave end of Summer for Cat's paradise so there are only the two of us now.
But these days of strange atmosphere with no live performance whatsoever, shorter days, no easy transport, curfew at 8pm, I keep myself happy to communicate with my blog! (keeping always in touch with reading my Canadian blogfriend Willym, also, Thadieu
Thadieu has become by now a true baroque expert and her blog is a vivid source of music on line! we once met because of the 'love'of the Bulgarian mezzo whom I discovered in Paris singing along Anja Harteros : Vesselina Kasarova! for the love of her voice and mastering the art of singing I travelled to Cologne, Paris several times, Zurich and Munich where I had the pleasure of meeting Thadieu ! Smorg always keeps Vesselina's schedule on time and knows her career well. The love of mezzo voce is really a "meeting platform". Being on Karine Deshayes fans' group keeps me happy too: Karine Deshayes has never stopped doing concerts on line, new records issues Radio and also participating to the defense of the careers of younger artists singers in this dreadful period for 'la culture lyrique'. She is also very present on her facebook page, as we all have memories to share when we all were in her audience either in Paris, Toulon, Marseille, Montpellier, Orange, Salon de Provence, and even the memorable on line Werther we shared from Moscow Tchaikovsky Concert hall where she made me cry when she sang 'Les lettres ... ' . We had it on line again on her fanpage and this is how time flies on line... music always here and there...
And of course the links I receive from the Halls I booked to, in the past years: Naples, Zurich, Paris, Dresde, Marseille, Montpellier, Zurich, Munich, Berlin, they all keep in touch to send their online performances with no audience... unless they have briliant ideas like "l'orchestre de Montpellier"
Just to say that music is alive and keeps alive, even when depressed feelings arouse there is always music, orchestral, operas, pop, music is living and caring either for the artists or for yourself, and for the audience around even if it is your pet... they love music too !I "toured" youtube to find traces of that amazing Alcina from the TCE where both Anja Harteros and Vesselina Kasarova were sharing top roles : there used to be the entire Haendel's opera... now I only found Vesselina'sRuggiero:(TCE 2011)
Happy memories of a splendid cast and orchestra !
And of course I still keep in touch with my youngest discovery: Composer, singer actor complete musician NO Min Woo now calling himself Minue: He offered his fans an intimate concert on line from his bedroom and gave a very heartfelt rendition of 'Smile' (the eternal moving CH. Chaplin 's tune ending Modern Times 1936....) then yesterday the same young artist did an official 'première' on line dedicating his interpretation of
'Smile' to all the hospital staff. They need to receive warm feelings from us all around the world because they are fighting for us and are at the first most exposed infectious positions in this 'war'.
Here's Minue -Santa-Claus smiling after a moving first interpretation of "smile" ! (screenshot from the whole intimate concert where he also sang and played 'Imagine' with so many of his 'love ballads' some very sweet ones like 'first snow ' and 'Can I love you' I like so much, he is such a good piano player too ).
Dear Santa-Claus tonight don't miss a chimney-stack ! let's hope for some warmth to all the children of this upset world, they all should smile as we did years ago when our parents were struggling with end of wold war II hardship, but we smiled I can remember those days full of Hope for the future! Let's find that kind of "Hope" now for all the children of the world!
He was like James Joyce: creating new words on old ones and letting us wonder imagine dream...
With his sketchings this book is amazing, and it is on line. (perhaps not for long? at the moment it is, it can be shared, it is an amzing treasure! )
On this precise day, forty years ago he was shot by a lunatic because he imagined 'no heaven' above us...
Today I do do not want to read the news! I feel like shouting :
'Father you left me..' like John did .
How many people round the world could join me in that cry? "99/100 of parents in the world alive or half dead...
" says John Lennon in 1972 at the opening of "Mother" (live concert)
It is fine now with me because I said 'good-bye ' to him on his last phone call in 1995.
After having ignored my existence for nearly fifty years I could tell him on the phone that he did not bring me up, therefore I had no feelings to share with him, while my Mother he left in the fifties, was now at her last battle: she could no longer fight the horrible pancreatic cancer that was eating her away. My stepfather whom I cared for until he passed away was more to me than' a father' and then what is a 'real father'? I never had one but had this marvellous person who made my Mother smile again and was so close to me and my husband too as he spent the end of his life with us. When I was a child this person who came in my Mother's life gave me confidence, always quiet and caring, never scolding me, leaving my Mother deal with me, but always encouraging me to be peaceful and understanding with my mother( and myself too).
This rendition was an amazing 'tour de force' on the sound effects as orchestra chorus and conductor were in the rehearsal hall a kilometer away from Zurich opera house. Sound ingeneers, ( mixing tables and all the heavy sound techniques) worked since last September to keep the artists and stage going .
Tonight there was a marvellous sound effect in my room around the television screen almost as good as what I like (and I miss so often when I watch a live opera on television), the 'depth' effect. I always say that the sound is 'flat' in front of TV, compared to the sound in the opera house or any concert hall.
What I hear in a concert hall or in an opera house has always an effect of echoing through my body, invading me to the extreme level of vibrating in me when it is very good!
So, I really enjoyed watching this live rendition from Zurich Opera house.
I remembered tonight the unforgettable Simon Boccanegra from the Royal Opera House in July 2010. My passion made me abandon grandchildren and husband in our London hotel to catch the underground direct to Covent Graden in haste ... It was two days before flying back to France so I still have the feeling it was selfish on my side to do so, but I really wanted to catch both Placodo Domingo in this baryton role and Joseph Calleja - Adorno, I had never seen live....
Tonight it was like being there with a close approach to the singers in a sober staging. There was an assumed time swicth in modern times (1900) but with no extravagant staging or costumes.
The sea was there too : materialised when needed in the lyrics by a small whitish light boat like a shipwrecked on the shore when Simon was having a flashback, his young daughter was also there , and later even Maria, her mother he loved so much. His personal drama is always illustrated : it is a process I often resent but because of the bare staging it was fine.
The last image when dead Simon walks out with angel Amelia and angel Maria by his sides in plain white long dresses, it is rather tear-jerking, with the last notes. I am looking forward to watching it again on line tomorrow night if it is on.
I want to listen to the beautiful singing at the end of act one and to the entire act three. Both Christian Gehaher and Christof Fischesser were singing Simon and Fiesco for the first time and they were both moving, impressive, and so good musically together.
from ARTE: Available from 06/12/2020 to 05/01/2021
Intrigue, family tragedy, power struggles.Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra
has recently had a renaissance and turns out to be surprisingly
topical.For this new production staged by Zurich's general director
Andreas Homoki – in full compliance with corona safety regulations –
internationally acclaimed baritone Christian Gerhaher makes another
debut in the title role, while Fabio Luisi conducts his last Verdi
production as General Music Director at Opernhaus Zurich.
Intrigue, family tragedy, power struggles – that’s Verdi’s opera Simon Boccanegra in
a nutshell. Verdi himself once said: “The piece is gloomy, because it
has to be gloomy, but it’s gripping!” The opera has recently had a
renaissance at all the world’s major opera houses and turns out to be
surprisingly topical: a thriller in which men make history and women
often fall victim to their machinations. The premiere was a flop, though
when the work was revived at La Scala Milan nearly twenty-five years
later it met with thunderous applause. This revised version is the one
that Andreas Homoki has staged at Opernhaus Zurich. Internationally
acclaimed baritone Christian Gerhaher as Boccanegra makes another
thrilling debut at Opernhaus Zurich, having previously shone as Alban
Berg’s Wozzeck and Heinz Holliger's Lenau. For conductor Fabio Luisi,
however, this will be his last new production of a Verdi opera as
General Music Director. The inspiration for Verdi’s stirring drama set
against a political backdrop was a play by Antonio García Gutiérrez
based on an episode from medieval history. The composer was struck by
the peace overtures of Boccanegra, a fourteenth-century Doge of Genoa,
and saw parallels between them and the nineteenth-century struggle for
Italian unity. Where Verdi most excels, however, is in his musical
characterization of powerful and power-hungry men. The melodrama Simon Boccanegra was composed for Venice in 1857and was thoroughly reworked by the composer himself in collaboration with Arrigo Boito in 1881.
Due to my brilliant intellectual husband who has had to put up with the prole I am, I have benefited some amazing journeys in China whenever he stayed at a prestigious Chinese university to give either conferences or follow the research of advanced students .
My last rather 'long' stay was in Spring 19.
I really thought I could spend the rest of my life in Changsha not far from the Confucius oldest Academy on the University grounds at the foot of the Yuelu mountain.
During the hard lockdown episode I was gazing every now and then at my pictures which are still on my phone with some videos.
There was the flute player who stopped at the small pavilion by the side of the main paved track.
There are three temples as you walk up the mountain, Tao, Confucius and Bouddha have their temple in the mountain.
The flute player was here for the sake of playing as no audience gathered around him that late May evening. People were walking alone with good walking shoes on and backpacks, for the sake of walking and thinking, in this shady very green environment, at the foot of the Academy there is the clump of huge bamboos, then as one goes up, the wonderful old trees having their names and age on and all the waterfalls and springs keeping the air refreshed, nurturing the soil so rich with orchids and beautiful plants like very green small ferns shining with dripping water.
I could walk this moutain half way to the top almost any time in my memory! I was told by the student who was my 'guide' that he always takes the cable car to the top and stays there to read, study and gaze at the view. I did not do that as my better half has vertigo and time was over for the cable car. So that is to be done in another life!( The student had the task not to lose me if I went to town but on the University grounds I was free to wander around as I liked ! We went shopping in town together and I thought he would not be interested when I told him I was going to buy culinary things : he followed me none of the less because he also loved cooking little gadgets like peeling knives. I then thought he had the duty to prevent me from getting lost... so we became good friends as usual with the English speaking students 'in charge' of us ! Now we have so many young friends who became university teachers, who got married and some have babies!)
When this awful virus started not far from Changsha we wrote to them to have news. They all shared news with us and all were safe so far. They work on line quite a lot and are well organised.
The discovery of China came too late in my life : I took Chinese lessons thinking I could learn the basic key roots of the signs to be able to read what was written around me. I tried hard but did not suceed to recap all I learnt when I was back in China. Whenever I listen to some News on TV and what with this pandemic atmosphere which started in China I can feel all the resentment almost like racists points of view on China and I feel irritated because it is obvious that all these political journalists have hidden agendas and have never spent some time in a Chinese town on their own. In 2006 we rented a flat in Shangaï, registered at the keeper 's desk at the entrance of our tower( we had the flat on the 17th floor) and also at the police that is all we had to do as my better half had a three years contract at the nearby Tongi University!
Back to the most ancient Confucius Academy at the foot of the Yuelu mountain where so many students came to learn in these peaceful surroundings.
Somehow in this too busy and noisy XXIst century this particular place has remained special, with splendid nature and lots of quiet visitors which is rather unusual because in areas of natural beauty Chinese crowds do not often keep silent and they enjoy loud music drinks and food outdoors as well!
I could not go past the flutist (Chinese wood flute ) without trying to catch sight of the musician. He had settled in a small pavilion by the side of the main track but I did not want to get nearer for fear of disturbing his secluded spot and quiet playing.
Today listening to the short recorded excerpt I discovered there were also beautiful birds singing around and some children shouts in the background. (It sounds terribly noisy and yet it was so quiet to my ears only focused on the flute... )
Guffaw-Wail-Cliff.
Going through the photos, I also rediscovered stories engraved in old marble slabs ! If I had a writer abilities and skills it could well be the beginning of a long tale with passion, war, and tears.
Reading the tale of the Crane and the Boa then the story of the Korean patriot, I am feeling ever so moved again.
Along the walk I also found interesting inscribed slabs about orchids growing there and of course I did salute all the ancient trees adorned with their decorations like old veterans of Narure wars, won through centuries.
That evening Daniel was having his last meeting with his students. So I lingered until night and sat opposite the main old building to watch the women' dances and listened to the music ... thinking I could have joined in with the gestures learnt in childhood in another life. The music was coming out of a box on the ground by the side of the entrance. Two dancers were giving the tempo and gestures according to the rhythm. Some were arriving a bit late, running and hastily joining in. These young and older women were used to meeting after day's work and were enjoying themselves, I could feel it!
I also taped the music and I keep listening to it with vivid images of that night coming to me there in no time!
I will never be able to live without muisc of any sort... because music is life, music is love, music is having wings to fly away... Changsha so far so near through these precious recorded tunes.
Music is our life.... and whenever music is played in the street, in parks , underground, squares, anywhere live, it is a gift from heaven!
Perhaps the most visited spot, Aiwan Pavilion, because of Mao's front inscription in red calligraphy ( the famous poem about the beauty of the trees in Autumn ) Young Mao Zedong who was brought up in a big farm near by, used to come here with his student friends for quiet poetic evenings. Another great quality of my evening walk is meeting also the mountain fruit-sellers, with their scale-
baskets and gorgeous( somehow unknown) fruit... she was so pretty...
We were expected last october in both Changsha and Shangaï... that is another story.
5.30 pm in a city of 20.000 souls at the foot of the Luberon, 18 kms from Aix-en-Provence: Saturday end of afternoon Nov 14th.
Silent city with hardly any people walking around although it's rather warm for nearly mid November
Sunset must have set the sea ablaze. I watched the last rays of the sun in the distance gazing at what it must have been by the Sea in Marseille.
(Frioul from Malmousque Nov 19-The photo was taken last year same period : I was there for "Les Rencntres d'Averroès and Opera, I also met my friends from Paris and Karine Deshayes my favourite Mezzosoprano !)
The main central alley which was a garden in the heart of the small city center not long ago, is now paved and young children can cycle or ride scooters. (But hardly any flowers grow in huge 'jardinières' which ,look like graves).
But there was no one around at 5.30pm. Not even a dog-walker.
I feel sorry for children, youngsters, and the young generation in general.
Not only they have to stay isolated but the perspectives or either studying or finding jobs are getting worse every week as the pandemic is spreading.
The silence around this alley we call 'le Cours de la République' not far from our house, seems ghastly to me. The angel seems to hide as the water drips gently, sweet noise, the only noise if you go near around it.
It is not even night time.
Saturday night somewhere on the earth where living conditons seem somehow okay?
In our hospitals nearby it is chaos again, like hell, trying to keep people having the necessary care in order to breathe under reanimation. They are struggling in worse conditions than during the 1st Covid wave.
I admire all the people who have been working in such appalling conditions for so long, and I feel so sad about the poorer conditions of our Health protection and yet I have the feeling that poeple like us with good jobs and decent wages have always contributed through taxes to the benefit of all, which is the basic solidarity cement of our Health protection. We have discovered the collapse of our hospitals in this pandemic period. I have tonight a deep feeling of being useless.
And yet there is solidary around, Food collecting for students and every one who needs help, is this sufficient in these days of increasing poverty?
I did my second outing of less than an hour just to feel some freedom in moving around even breathing in my mask which is a compulsory item these days until December. Then, the Governement will appreciate the situation again.
I will not go to Marseille on the 19th.
Les Rencontres d'Averroès are cancelled.
No conferences and music on the theme of the "drifting" cities around the Mediterranean coasts. "Decaying cities" is probably also a concept which goes along with the drifting process in the long term. These ancient cities like Marseille are under a double effect of decay because of the poverty sticken areas with poorer conditons for migrants, and the gentrification of districts around the port plus the huge enrichment of neighbourhoods by the sea. I would have liked at this time of my life to follow these conferences about Marseille and all the cities around our Mare Nostrum.
Back to my tune which I had on my mind in that silent small town so near bigger places, being so empty these days... 'Night and Day 'Cole Porter wonderful fox trot with Fred and Ginger for ever dancing under the moon, who can compete with as much talent and grace?
Real life is limited outdoors in space and time, until December or more. The second pandemic wave is bitter here down South than the first. So we are under another type of lockdown. Still, children and teen-agers go to school and the younger generation who cannot work on line, goes to work.
Universities are closed. Only on line work is done.
Public Transport and banks are working normally. Restaurants, cafés, theaters, concert halls, cinemas and private retail shops are closed. Food supermakets are opened. Very strange situation indeed, which is questioned in various places in France. What is the wisdom in this type of semi- lockdown? For the sake of health or Economy?
As it is, we both stay home as much as possible and have very few visitors.
I spend a lot of time on line because it is the easiest thing to do... perhaps a kind of ' I can't be bothered ' sort of feeling is invading .... being strangely 'outcast' from the rest of the population it seems that life through living pictures on line is the only vivid answer to the deserted empty street in front of the house...
I came across a picture I took in Paris on Jan the 5th 2010.
Amaryllis on the blue table, by the side of the passage way from Place des Vosges... it was a cold morning and only the red opulent flowers seemed full of life.
The first notes of Caccini's love song came to me and I felt alive again... "Amarilli mia bella'
Cecilia my be-loved mezzo sopano of course and Youtube: my life on line...
(Amarilli mia bellanon credio del mio cordolce desiodesser tu lamor mio?Credilo pure se timor tassaledubitar non ti vale.Aprimil peto e vedrai scrittoin core:Amarilli, Amarilli, Amarrillieil mioa more.Credilo pure se timor tassaledubitar non ti vale.Aprimil peto e vedrai scrittoin core:Amarilli, Amarilli, Amarrillieil mioa more.Amarilli eil mio amore.) I do not know much about Guilio Caccini but he must have been really in love with a woman as he put into music Guarini's poem . Passion so intense that the beloved Amarilli could throw an arow to his chest and see 'amarilli' written on his heart... a bit crual though as it could only be in blood letters... amaryllis ... velvety red... Passion was something in the XVIIth c.
I wanted to hear a man's voice in this song, and as I was wandering on Youtube, came my eternal favourite bass-baritone who just blew me up to heaven with so much passion ...
My heart got the arrow of lovef in his voice.
Dearest Dmitri, in these days of November which are somehow so sad, let's rejoice at your eternal voice and youth!
During these strange months partly spent at home because of our age (over 70 ), which makes us illness-prone when facing the too famous virus, we have stopped going around.
My horizon is my small garden. When I need a farther view I 'climb' to the attic room where I can enjoy a larger landscape with Sainte -Victoire nose sticking through chimney-stacks plus the back of the hills around Aix -en -Provence.
I miss sunsets on the sea like I had the opportunity to watch either in Marseille Nice La ciotat or like last trip we did last autumn to Istanbul and Izmir :
I keep memories of sunsets as I had the chance to live in Marseille all my childhood and teen -age and part of adult life so I have a selection of sunsets to dream about.
I am nostalgic of the sea of course. It is the longest period in my life without having been able to make a trip to Marrseille.
I miss the sea. I miss live music of all sorts. I miss being part of an audience. I miss our trips to Paris to visit grandchildren. I miss breathing freely unmasked !!! but still I understand the necessity of protection for others and me.
' it takes place almost every day, in the evening ! ( no more TV and Radio because they have no good vibes at all, we prefer to read on line and to get informed at sources we can choose. At least it is still a way to be free).
The nearer to live performances: mainly a revival of English and American pop songs and sometimes French tunes and their amazing story lines with my beloved Leo Férré and Georges Brassens, Edith Piaf , Barbara , Jean Ferrat (there are some songs on my blog ).
The Beatles are our favourite: we know the tunes by heart and almost know when the songs appeared in our youth. I laugh and jump with 'Good day Sun shine'! and some lines of 'Help' are always on my mind
especially these days! In1965 on a TV show they were bouncing and full of talent !
In Autumn 65 I left Provence and settled in my new job in Swansea, discovered the tide on the seashore down Sketty road. I had a room near Cwundonkin Park where Dylan Thomas wrote 'the hunchback in the park'. the view of Swansea Bay fromt there was dazzling days and nights! ( but I had no decent camera to keep souvenirs at that time !)'
Help' is a pep song with lots of second thoughts!
Then there are the story lines ones like: "she's leaving home' and 'the explosive Lucy in the sky ' contrasting with 'hey Jude' .With the Beatles there is a tune for every mood, feeling and thoughts. The melodies are matching the lyrics with timing and rhythm in a perfect way. When they crossed their Indian phase I loved them then. Same thing happened when they tackled topsy turvy songs like 'I'm the walrus' and its famous 'goo goo g ..'
Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun
If the sun don't come
You get a tan from standing in the English rain
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, goo goo g' joob goo goo goo g' joob
"As for Semolina pilchard climbing the Eiffel Tower and Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna"
I am still trying hard to visualise and I love it!!
John had a sarcastic mind when all these images came, but the result after all these years is still mesmerising. It was included in the album for Christmas 1967 'The magical Mystery Tour'' which was my present from my better half that year !
Then there are jewels, songs for ever, with meaning and not only Pop, the ones we always have in mind and heart when needed like 'Imagine'. John Lennon was the real central brain in a way.
In 1980 when he was shot we cried.
His piano playing is always on my mind for Imagine as Paul's voice is in my ears for 'yesterday which I loved when I heard it on the radio first and dashed to write the lyrics... so good all these hits which grow upon your feelings as time goes past!
second blessing : Netflix and Korean series take my worries away !
Last Christmas (non pandemic period still) my grandchildren shared their Netflix acount with me and I was swallowed quite rapidly in the world of romantic sagas with Turkish series and I was hooked historical one with a beautiful orchestral background and a very dramatic love story at a time of war during the collapse of the Russian Empire and the effects on the Ottoman Empire when aristocrat soldiers from Crimea were serving in the Russian army. Based mainly in Istanbul, St pertersburg and Crimea. (Seyit and Shura)
From there I easily switched to Asia with another type of less violent and non historical series mainly Korean where the actors were younger and often had normal jobs in Seoul ( sometimes Busan but very often in the capital). I became addicted to the atmosphere of these series where we can see wonderful cooking display with all the names of dishes and of course the jars of Kimchi which can be seen on terrases everywhere in Seoul ( I stayed in Seoul for two weeks in April 2011k, and noticed these beautiful jars with tops and I thought they were preserving olives like we do here in Provence ; I did not ask our university friends about those jars and did not see olive trees in the surrounding landscape; then after two or three meals I was introduced to 'kimchi' which is an art in itself as each family has its own kimchi recipe and preserves shredded cabbage for all year round and all members of the family ! When taking photos, instead of "cheese' every body " it is 'Kimchy' .... So these rather joyful series like 'Pasta' and 'Coffee Prince ' took my mind away from the dreary atmosphere of our TV news and I stopped reading novels as often as I used to like to also (must be a side effect on my mind I read less than usual because I cannot be bothered by the story. ) I am becoming lazy lately watching my Ipad sometimes non-stop...
These series which are easy to follow have common sense and lively young actors with also older ones in real urban environement. We can see Seoul and the way people live in this city. I can compare the memories from our stay in Korea and being involved in this Korean atmosphere now I would like to take another trip because I know more on their way of life and I woud like to travel to Busan -coast to see the women fishers and see also all the seafood. In 'Pasta' The Chef' is a young man coming from a post in a restaurant in Florence he is a tyrant in his kitchen firing half of the brigade on his first day! I loved it ! the young team and their 'Chef' trained threee years in Florence to learn how to cook pasta. I was not expecting Korean people to be fond of Italian pasta ! they seem to be these days ! (I did not see the trendy things to do as we stayed in university circles and were taken to very good traditional korean cuisine of course!). I discovered No Min Woo there playing one of the three cooks trained in Florence. He has a support role and is handsome under his toque blanche. He does not show his character much he has no intrigue with the restaurant owner's rich sister. She would have liked to, but only shares drinks with him, He rides a huge motorbike in splendid attire but apart from that nice looking image and lovely smiles his character is not that fascinating.
Some dramas are dealing with class clashes ( I am not very fond of these because they follow the same pattern of money minded super wealthy ones having to marry their son or daughter in the same league )
I do not see the point in those as I cannot identify with any of the characters.
Then there are endless ones based on Hospital life. These remind me ours TV ones and I am not very keen either. They seem to like endless scenes in the operation wards with close-up which I do not really appreciate. Often the story line is better than the money-minded ones and I watched some good ones like 'Hospital ship' and 'Doctors'.
Then there are the ones for teen-agers and younger audience which is not my case but I must say I took real pleasure in the stories about singers and bands in the entertainingd and TV world.
What I like is to see the young people dancing and singing as it is always a very good rendition and the young actors are relly performing at top level. I felt much younger and shared some dicussions about the characters with my younger granddaughter!
It is in a series about TV world that I came across my third blessing :
This time he had a main role not at all a role based on the seductive power of his good looks.
His tall slim figure rather haughty for the purpose of the story as he is the only son of a Chaebol could have put me off. In fact from the start he made me laugh as he is selfish childish and rather off putting compared to the woman he fell in love at first sight, the TV news anchor woman who is challenged by her men colleagues. What he does as a culinary specialised journalist is fascinating there are really fantastic pictures of food display and some funny outdoors scenes. It is impossible not to be seduced by his off putting character and his kind of utterly selfish love for this young woman to a point we could hate him. The other man is more stereotyped and predictable. For once it is not a soapy love story, there is much more in it. I wished he took an interest in the baby boy who is his, only nearly at the very end he is saving both mother and son but we cannot say it is a complete 'happy end' still they are reunited for the last picture each parent holding the hand of their little boy... It is not possible to forget the way he played this selfish character which changes during the drama to a better person.
I moved to a lighter drama based on the life of a boys' band and their disgusting manager plus a fantastic young girl who is a stylist for one of the two lead-vocalists. She is also the main feminine role and a Martial Art teacher in her Grandfather Donjo.
here's the summary from Rakuten
" full House 2,” a remake of a widely popular South Korean drama from 2004,
revisits the concept of an adult longing to regain a childhood home
that holds special memories. Lee Tae Ik (No Min Woo) lost his parents at
an early age and was driven out of the home that he shared with them.
He grows up to achieve success as half of a K-pop duo called TAKE ONE
with his singing partner Won Kang Hwi (Park Ki Woong). As he grows in
popularity as an idol star, Tae Ik’s main goal is to reclaim his
childhood home, known as Full House. But things get complicated when he
meets Jang Man Ok (Hwang Jung Eum), a former martial arts instructor who
is forced to take a job as the duo’s stylist to repay a debt. A love
triangle ensues between Man Ok, the perfectionists Tae Ik and the
free-spirited Kang Hwi.
“Full House Take 2” is a sequel to the popular 2004 drama series “Full
House,” starring Jung Ji Hoon and Song Hye Kyo, which was based on a
manhwa by writer Won Soo Yeon."
What they do not say here is that the songs and music during these series were composed by No Min Woo this in the other side of his personality : musician, pianist, composer who ean deal with music and lyrics as well. This drama in 32 episodes of 30 minutes was issued in 2012 in Japan. MinWoo was educated in Japan because his mother was in Japan to learn Enka form of singing when he was born . He stayed with his grandmother and started learning music very early. . What is known is that he started in the intertainment world as a drummer named Rose. He went back to Korea with his mother. His career started first as a boysband player then guitar player and vocalist : whenever he plays the piano with his lovely tomi -dog asleep next to him It is hard not to fall under his spell.
I would not say that all his songs are perfection to my ears but most of them have a pleasanrt pop sound of the 80's, sustained beat and good melodic intros. The ones I like best are his love songs when he starts gently on the piano before getting into the Rock beats and explosive vocal parts. He has a nice soft voice clear tops rather high -pitched he is very handsome and gives a lot of genuine feelings. I think that the role of Tae Ik when he is on stage is what he is in real life. It is quite an achievement.
Photo taken from Instagram Minue
He is talking to some of his fans through Facetime or some other device and sharing this with the rest of the world. (I guessed so because he does videos on his composing process almost every week and explains his songs; Here is is sampling the song 'Drifter' on the opening which he created on the piano' when I close my eyes' He is composing a rather large album on line (no materialisation so far for what I gathered) the music of "When I close My eyes is catching " ! so his is voice ! The lyrics in English is ather catching and melancholic, "when I close my eyes I see you... when I open my eyes I miss you'" the melodic tone here is so good too. (it stays in your memory easily which is sign of a good song indeed) The Midnight Romance.
He created his band not long ago (he came back from miltary service at Summer time two years ago( I think) he had to start again and with the pandemic I do not think they perform live, although we all know Korea had fast testing of the population right at the beginning). It seems that he is composing a lot and creating which is great for him and his on line audience. (Asian fans from Korea Japan China Indonisia Thaïland... a lot of young people are taking part either on instagram or on his youtube channel MINUE )
Having
a close look at his picture his long curly hair his light mauve sweater
which looks too large for his thin body, his pale girlish face and
rather soft and almost sad look, like he was sharing his loneliness
with ours and giving heartedly away to all viewers all his talents
through music, I then thought 'what a strange world spinning round
where few minutes of what looks like intimate time is shared throughout
the world in a wink of an eye ... Is it reality ? And what am I doing
here myself still on line watching Minue? Then I felt grateful to
Minue, his voice and sincerity through music and style of living.
Wishing him to be happy in his dreams completely happy soon in his life
and to keep safe on the side of the road he has chosen to walk because
he has got such a generous and gifted nature !
This is the making of Minue's videos could well diisappear ... still it is most enjoyable it also made be go back to my old piano so out of tune and now I am looking for the scores of Dreamer .
🎃 👻 🎃 👻 Trick or treat 🎃 👻 🎃 👻
LOVE DREAM HOPE TOGETHER
#Themidnightromance#Nightmare#halloween#song
Instagram
@themidnightromance
@icon_stagram
@pia_yang_hyeseung
@jihwan_yenevara
@jeong_sae_chi_
Here is a song he created Just before the release of NIGHTMARE which is dead on time for Halloween. The young musician is for me a source of pleasure energy and fun ! it is amazing to see these young people sending him nice warm feelings and him almost answering every post with the new emeticon signs, the heart being by far the winner !!
It is a complaint about lost love on a quiet sad mood, with always hope to go back to the happy days ,when Love was shared through simple gestures like a hug, a tight hold, something real !
(I tried to understand reading two followers quite at ease with English who translated from Korean and from Japanese into English. So I matched the tenses and looked for phrasing which sounded English' ( I am not in the best position for that sort of job, still I can try ...) it can also be poetic somehow! The title could be :
Healing ...
Tonight the stars are sparkling bright
I'd like to light your way
Like the stars whirling in the sky.
If hard times hurt you
I'll be there to shelter you
I'll be there for you.
I feel like I am being left alone
And this feeling is drying up the way you go.
Even when Spring goes
And Winter comes
I 'll hug you tight.
Even if your efforts faded away
I 'll walk in your steps
And the day there will be no more regrets and regrets
Let's hug tightly and close our eyes
I'll hug you tight.
Another very sweet rendition of an oldish hit belonging to the Carpenters, Close to you' Minue sings it in a whisper... almost like a lullaby ... which will close the discovery of my third Blessing : a young singer composer and actor from Korean and Japan ... so gifted .Notice he's sipping his red wine , could it be French wine?
Will he tour Europe with his band one day ? Let's hope ! dream ... As Minue is a dreamer and he is not the only one... !
Recollection, memories and trends of thoughts during the long October month where both parents, ten years apart, left me, is never easy time to go through..
But that precise last Friday evening all of the sudden the rather monotonous quiet evening when time to watch the local news on tv arrived, we both sank in a sort of mute despair at the announcement of the atrocious death of the History teacher, beheaded by a young muslim who attacked him on purpose not far from the secondary modern school in outer Paris.
I spent my active life as an ordinary teacher, state one with all the background required to be part of the institution which was glorious and generous when I started teaching at the end of the sixties. When I left for retirement in early 20ties the institution was nearly broken at heart for too many deep reasons.
What happened last Friday is the utmost level of horror after the massacre of the Charlie Hebdo journalists. The root of the assassination of this young teacher is also the caricatures of the prophet. We believe deeply in the concept of 'éclairer les consciences' and learn to keep our minds open during the long years at school, State school, which is 'laïque' in respect to all religious beliefs but religion stops at the school entrance. What is taught is moral enlightment inherited from 'le siècle des Lumières' the so called 'esprit critique'. That is the heart of the matter. Therefore for the Isis followers there is no pity towards us : violence is their only answer even when they have lived with us for many years.
For the sake of what I believe and share with the departed young History teacher called Samuel Paty I simply ask 'pieta' to the ones ready to kill, if only they could decide to think in terms of human value on earth, of all what is given to them when their children join School.
Departing from this world at this time of spreading infection, almost on his working site, and in such condition, is nightmarish. The young muslim also had a dreadful departing : shot by the police at the end of the road where he killed Samuel.(These days the Police forces do not train to aim at legs like in the old days : Justice never has a live 'killer'' to judge, only dead bodies ).
All I can do to find some comfort is always in baroque music either Purcel or Monteverdi or Haendel.
The music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKLqZMrKAno can shed the tears I cannot simply shed at this time of despair. Then there will be the time to try to count our Blessings .... perhaps .(many thanks for this marvellous upload hoping it will not disappear like so often now).
From Il Duomo Verdi's Requiem Sunday September the 7th .
Rene Pape, leaving at the end of the concert.
The audience
Libera me...
Elina Garanca
On Arte Concert Live last sunday : heartfelt Requiem dedicated to the too many lost souls from the Lombardy region during the first episode of the Covid 19.
La Scala Chorus and Orchestra, and the four soloists under Riccardo Chailly's conducting were all joining in for a total heartbreaking rendition. Probably because of the setting in Il Duomo and not at La Scala, that event was really felt through the screen as true to life, allowing us to meditate while the camera was embracing both architecture, paintings, soloists, conductor, the chorus and the audience. I had the feeling I was also in the picture as the intensity of that performance was so sorrowful and tear -jerking.
the Soloist singers
Riccardo Chailly.
( I did not chance short videos because these days I fairly well know they disappear : so many live documents from Youbue including some live ones of mine have disappeared. I understood the messages of the various protective laws which I do not feel like discussing here at any moment.)
It is possible to listen to this masterpiece again and again on Arte Live Concert.
I could not help remembering my discovery of La Scala with the same conductor and of course this masterpiece which I have tried to understand so many times in my musical 'life'. It was in 2014.
Those were the days of nearly 'youth' for me...And who could foresee what the twenties would bring to us all around the world ? Probably it is a masked future for all of us... isn't the future always masked ?
Libera Me.... libera Me.... last sustained notes from a poignant soprano accompanied by almost whispering chords....to be listened to again and again...before it all vanishes.....from the Online World.
From l'Orchestre de chambre de Paris "The show must go on"yes !
But when?
I try to join all these 'events' they keep me alive in these strange days which seem endlessly similar to the day before and will be exactly the same the day after.
On line I can keep in touch with all the musicians and singers I admire and love because there are so many collective and fraternal events like the Gala from the Met (excellent sound most of the time) and then a wonderful concert from Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with more problems on line but so much warmth from beloved artists like Ludovic Tezier and his lovely wife, they sang from their home in Marseille. Ludovic Tezier wrote an alarm cry in Le Monde which can be read by a click on his underlined name. He is very much concerned by the future of all opera singers young ones of course and knows very well how difficult it is to start a career .
I know fairly well there is worse than young opera singers out of work, who, somehow, have got education if they are in this cultural musical background. It is possible they can postpone their dream for another reality which will keep them going.
There is much, much, worse these days here with so many children and youngsters living in precarious conditions. So many working class people out of work because of the lockdown and not only they are out of work but they have lost their unskilled jobs.
I cannot forget the amazing number of old pensioners who are caught by this virus and die in Care homes which are so expensive to live in... and I cannot help each night I tell myself 'let's call it a day' to find the daily number of the deaths in hospitals and in care homes. (with hardly any rituals: the loss of human respect on top of the loss of life)
And yet we have to keep on going and trying to keep on smiling .".My smile still stays on..".
Libera me...
Elina Garanca
Here's Minue -Santa-Claus smiling after a moving first interpretation of "smile" ! (screenshot from the whole intimate concert where he also sang and played 'Imagine' with so many of his 'love ballads' some very sweet ones like 'first snow ' and 'Can I love you' I like so much, he is such a good piano player too ).