Starmania

If you’ve read my old posts on this blog, you already know that I’m a huge fan of musicals, especially the French ones. Today I’m going to introduce you to one of them, as I promised not so long ago.

Starmania is a cyberpunk rock opera and its official theatrical premiere was in 1979. Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon are responsible for the phenomenal music and lyrics, that are remembered to this day. The proof of that is not only the fact that it is still played in various places, but as far as I know, there are also plans to make it a full, 3D movie.

So what’s the plot, you may ask?

Imagine that Occident is no longer divided into separate countries, but is united into one entity. Its capital, called Monopolis, is a city of everyone’s dreams, dreams of becoming a star. In the run-up to the presidental election, Monopolis is terrorized by the Black Stars, a gang leaded by Johnny Rockfort along with Sadia, a cross-dressed woman, who was originally born in the upper-class. They plan their attacks in the Underground Cafe right before the eyes of a waitress, Marie-Jeanne, who is wishing for a better life. Above this Underground Cafe rises the golden tower of billionaire and former military Zero Janvier. The latter announces his candidacy for the presidential election and defends the  model of a police state. His campaign is based on racism, liberal economy and anti-ecological conception: the "new atomic world". In the meantime, Sadia decides to contact Crystal, who is the host of a show called Starmania, with an offer one cannot just refuse: an exclusive interview with Johnny Rockfort.  And that’s just the beginning of a disaster.

It may sound a little complicated, because a lot of things is happening at once, and the plot gets more and more intense with time as the new characters appear, but it really pulls you in, and the music compliments the story so well, it makes the experience more wholesome, satisyfing and more powerful in transmitting the message, which by the way is very up-to-date : the world is threatened by terrorism and dictatorship, two forces that have the power to destroy the peace once and for all. It was portrayed perfectly by the main characters, who are lost, who are longing to love and be loved, who don’t know what to do with their lives, so they question the meaning of life in despair; the existential turmoil is clear and enhanced by media manipulation.

Interesting fact : There’s also an English version of this musical, it’s called Tycoon, and had its debut on stage in 1996. The lyrics were rewritten  by Tom Rice, who I reckon did a great job at adapting Starmania. What really surprised me though was that it starred Celine Dion, Cyndi Lauper and Tom Jones in the studio version. I also found a live performance where Celine Dion sung one of the songs from this musical, in French, in a duet with Bruno Pelletier, it’s so unbelievably epic I need to share it with you.

S.O.S d’un terrien en detresse – a song which all of you must know by now, and I hope are not bored of – properly depicts these feelings of loneliness, loss and uncertitude, and think it’s a good summarize of this whole musical. Thus one more time, I encourage you to listen to the original version, sung by Daniel Belavoine and also the English version Only the very best, performed by Peter Kingsbery, the lyrics of which are changed drastically, but I think the main idea stays there intact. It’s good to have many performances to choose from, don’t you think?

Tom Odell

I’ve been meaning to write about him for so long, so I thought no more delay, today is The Day.

Tom Odell is a British singer, songwriter and composer, officialy releasing music since around 2012, when he got signed to Columbia Records.

I’ve discovered him about three years ago on youtube and instantly fell in love with his authenticity, sensibility and his commendable modesty. More often that not he’s just sitting behind the piano, playing and singing to his heart content. Normally, there are also back up vocalists, or other instrumentalists as well, but it’s not obnoxious, if you know what I mean?

Not that I don’t appreciate and like special effects and all that commotion with dancers, props and so on; but that’s simply not what you expect when you go to Tom’s concert, and it’s completely fine. Simplicity wins me over.

Tom composes and writes his own music since he was a teenager. Although he wasn’t very confident at stage at first (he was especially self-conscious about his singing),but through trials and mistakes he gained experience in this area, and what I can say? He just has this certain energy flow when he performs and charisma that draws you in, like a moth to light.

Two years ago, when he was touring in Europe after realising his second album « Wrong Crowd » I had the absolute pleasure to hear him live in Poznań. It was a very magical and emotional night for me, and I think for him as well, since it was his 25th birthday. Of course we sang him Happy Birthday and prepared a special present for him to celebrate it : it consisted mainly of letters, fanarts, poem books and food. What’s more, throughout the whole concert we agreed on using special banners or light our phones up at the right moment.

Needless to say, Tom was very thankful and grateful, he’s just very attentive to his audience and vice versa and I think that’s how it’s supposed to be like between fans and their favourite artist – this sort of mutual respect and understanding.

Interesting fact : His third full album called « Jubilee Road » will be released on 26th october 2018. On his upcoming tour he’s also going to perform in Poland next year : on 25th January in Krakow and on 26th January in Warsaw. The tickets are still available, so if you’re interested, you can purchase them and see for yourself what kind of artist he is. :) Here’s a little snippet from his new album to encourage you to do so:

Bruno Pelletier

Do you remember my post about Damien Sargue? Well, I discovered Bruno Pelletier practically at the same time in high school, through a musical I think everyone at least heard about : Notre Dame de Paris. Bruno plays there as Gringoire, a poet, who falls under Esmeralda’s spell. I think one of the reasons I love musicals so much is that it is made and performed by actors, who make it believable, magical, emotional, who are truly passionate about what they do no matter how many times they have sung the same song already. And I believe Bruno depicts that perfectly. His vocal skills are truly exquisite, he shines in this musical with his rich and powerful voice, maybe that’s why he’s mostly linked to it, but I mean, there’s so much more to him, to his incredible talent, also in composing. I don’t think he’s getting enough credit for that, and that’s a shame.

He’s an experienced musical theatre artist and singer and a wonderful interpreter with a considerably huge discography (13 full albums!). The last of which ‘Soirée Intime au Théâtre Petit Champlain’ was released in 2018, and it’s a live album, from a concert where he sung a wide repertoire of songs from all his musical career, like « Le temps des Cathédrales », « Berce-moi » or « Règne ». It’s really amazing and I like the idea of an intimate concert, it’s cozy and warm like a blanket, but so so emotional nonetheless. It leaves you space to really appreciate the music.

Interesting fact : Before Bruno Pelletier played in Notre Dame de Paris, he became popular thanks to Starmania, a cyberpunk rock opera, which btw is one of the most famous operas in French history! (I might make a post about this opera in the future, just a small announcement :) One of the songs that’s been executed in there is S.O.S. d'un terrien en détresse. Sounds familiar? That’s the exact song, which Dimash interpreted in I am a Singer 2017 in China. You can compare it to Pelletier’s version if you want :

Dimash Kudaibergen

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! It’s been a while since I have written something in here, but I’m planning to change that and (hopefully) encourage you to listen to some amazing artists you may not have heard about before.

Without further ado, let me introduce you to Dinmukhamed Kanatuly Kudaibergen, also known as Dimash.

I found him by chance on youtube (serendipity, y’all). There was this video : „The best voice in the world” or something like that, and I thought it’s just  a clickbait, because how many times have you seen a title like that? A lot, right? So I just smiled to myself thinking that someone is being uncreative but decided to watch it anyway, since I like listening to new stuff. But then I listened and the more I listened the more shocked I was. No, it was more than that, I was speechless, completely and utterly flabbergasted. Just listen :

So to give you a context : it’s a prestigious Chinese music show for professional singers from all over the world. It’s called I am a Singer, and Dimash was invited to participate in the fifth season in 2017. He has never been to China before, he doesn’t speak Chinese, but it was a huge opportunity to him, so he decided to fly over there from Kazakhstan (that’s where he comes from). He stole the hearts of everyone (including mine) with his very first performance, when he sang a French song called « SOS, d’un terrien en détresse »:

Interesting fact: Dimash is known for singing in different languages. In one of the episodes of I am a Singer he performed a Chinese version of Autumn Song. It was his first time singing in Chinese, but according to Chinese audience his prononciation was nearly perfect. This song later on also earned him a 'Favorite male singer' award (an award that could be compared to the Grammy Award) at the Chinese Golden Melody Festival!

It’s almost ridiculous how wondrous his voice is. Apparently he has 6 octaves (though he doesn’t care about this aspect himself), but what makes his voice truly distinguable is his timbre, he can easily switch between registers and notes, it’s like there’s a few people singing with one voice only. Although opera singing is not a hardship for him, because he’s been trained classically since he was 5 years old, he doesn’t want to sing in one particular style, but incorporate different sounds to contemporary music  as well as various instruments. As far as I know Dimash can play the dombra (a traditional Kazakh instrument), the piano, the guitar and the drums and he’s only 24 years old!

In my books, that makes him a prodigy. But you know what I admire about him the most? The fact that he’s very down to earth, very thankful, humble and hardworking. He’s not singing for fame, money or narcisstic reasons. He’s singing because he loves music, he was born to sing, he’s THE VOICE. And he’s not taking it for granted, he works on it, always improving and searching ways to make his performances more enjoyable. But I mean, I like him as he is. He’s an emotional artist and that’s that. He has a huge worldwide fanbase already (Official Polish Fanclub included!)who supports him and loves him any way possible. I think I’ve never been more proud to be a fan of someone and I hope his talent will get more recognised in the future. 

Here you have his official channel on youtube.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on him, are you also Dimashified? J