Posted under Entertainment, Music by Wendy on October 13th, 2008 12:34 pm
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Here’s a wonderful tribute clip to George Best that I found on YouTube and once again featuring the magnificent voice of Brian Kennedy.
George Best was at the height of his sporting greatness at a time when Northern Ireland was experiencing it’s most difficult and tumultuous period. At a time when the people of that proud nation were divided in many ways there was one thing that they were able to agree on; that their country - a land of only 1 million people back then - had produced the legendary genius that was George Best. He was a source of pride for his people when they needed it the most.
George and his Mum, Anne, are buried just across from where we buried our baby son back in 2003. They’ve cordoned the area off for now as sightseers were trampling the other graves. Such a shame, he died so relatively young.
Posted under Entertainment, Music by Wendy on October 13th, 2008 12:10 pm
You will never catch me using those social networking sites but I have to say that I am a relative late-comer to YouTube and have discovered just how addictive it can be. I have been hooked for the past few days and find it really interesting to see just how many clips are available on that site.
I have been using YouTube to catch news headlines and stories that I somehow missed out on seeing first time round when they actually happened. I have re-lived the shocking moment when that first newsflash came on the TV telling us that Princess Diana had been involved in a car accident in Paris; I have watched the assassination of JFK in more detail than ever before; and I have revisited that terrible day that was 9/11.
And there’s heaps of entertainment too. I’ve laughed at the wonderful Peter Sellers being interviewed by Micheal Parkinson; his famous interview with Orson Welles and shed a few tears whilst watching the deeply moving tributes to the worlds greatest footballer, George Best.
Those George Best tributes really are especially touching; Arnold grew up just around the corner from George’s childhood home in the Cregagh Estate of East Belfast. Anyone who saw George’s funeral broadcast from Stormont in 2005 will undoubtedly remember the soaring voice of Brian Kennedy singing that fantastic song, ‘You Raise Me Up’.
Brian’s another ‘Belfast Boy’ with a voice that simply defies description - there is no argument that he puts this song over better than anyone and having listened to the clip many times now it never fails to send shivers down my spine and put a huge lump in my throat.
Have a listen here and then go check out more of this fantastic singer’s works…
Congratulations to Australia’s SBS Youth Orchestraon their 20th anniversary; this milestone in the life of this unique orchestra was celebrated in true style with a European Tour of which their Munich leg has now been completed. An email from co-ordinator Martin Cooke tells me the orchestra have been a huge success with audiences, and the young musicians have all had a wonderful time combining the playing of a challenging repertoire with a stay of fun and relaxation in the beautiful Alps 50km from Munich.
Martin Cooke is an Aussie resident with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and assisted with the co-ordination of the tour which has taken well over 18 months to put together. Having travelled as part of an orchestra myself I can honestly say that the complexities of getting a body of musicians and instruments from A to B is daunting enough; musicians like to relax and forget their practice of course so leisure time has to be included and when your musicians are between the ages of 13 and 22 the fun has to be fun !
This orchestra is unique in that the musicians, all Australian, are a diverse range of cultural backgrounds reflecting multi-cultural Australia. It started as the SBS Radio and Television Orchestra back in 1988 and since then has achieved a reputation rarely equalled among youth orchestra’s around the globe. Most of the young people have progressed to the higher profile orchestra’s of the world - the Berlin Philharmonic, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Royal Philharmonic to name but a few.
The team who enabled this tour to become such a wonderful reality include: Chief Conductor Matthew Krell, Micheal Hissey (Head of Music Studies at Sydney’s St Aloysius College), Ian Hamilton (Tour Manager), Fatima de Assis (Orchestra Manager) and Adam Sebire (former member of the orchestra and cameraman).
The tour has been the project of an intense filming schedule and will make high quality viewing for anyone wishing to capture the spirit and exhuberance that excudes from this youthful and talented orchestra.
The tour has also taken in Karlsbad, Bayreuth and Dresden with these rich cultural settings providing the perfect backdrop to the performances. And all in just 12 days…!
Well done to all concerned - and for successfully taking a piece of Australia and making it at home in Europe.
