Saint Cecilia's Day: Belén Sánchez

Music has been an important part of my life since I was very young. Nobody in my family is a musician, so I just ended up in this "world" by chance. Even so, I'm very grateful that one day my parents decided to take me to music lessons.

Learning to play an instrument is not an effortless task. Sometimes it can be very tough, especially when you are a teenager and all your friends are doing fun things such as watching TV or going out, whilst you have to stay at home practising for endless hours. That is one of the reasons why sometimes I was tempted to give up and do something else. I’m happy I didn’t, because now I honestly cannot imagine myself doing any other thing not related to music. I know I am very lucky, in the sense that it is great to make a living by doing something that you really love.

One of the best things about being a musician is having the opportunity to perform in front of the public. I can hardly put in words what you feel when you are playing for an audience. At the beginning, it is exciting albeit sometimes a little bit terrifying, but once you take a deep breath, relax and the concert starts, it is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever experienced, above all when you feel you are getting an emotional response from the public. 

You asked us to post one of our favorite songs. I want to share with you one of the most beautiful opera arias I’ve ever heard: Nessun dorma, from Puccini's Turandot. In this performance, Pavarotti was singing in front of thousands of people. Can you imagine how he felt?

Thank you so much once again, dear Belen, for your personal story and indeed for such a wonderful aria. I get goose bumps whenever I listen to it, simply mind-blowing!

Saint Cecilia's Day

As I told you in class yesterday, November 22, 2012 is Thanksgiving Day in the US but, more importantly, all across the world musicians yearly celebrate Saint Cecilia, the patroness of music. I know I'm not one by trade but indeed every inch of a music buff/lover, I mean, I JUST CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT! Then of course I'm proud to say that my son, David, is a keen guitarist, actually a full-fledged musician, who some of you know.

So anyway, I was wondering how I could modestly do my bit on our blog to celebrate such a merry date, and I decided the simplest way was by sharing a song - in English of course - with you guys. You know, I was listening to BBC Radio 2 early this morning and a familiar tune came up, one that I really like and is doubtlessly one of the most important songs in the late 90s, at least as regards British pop/rock. I remember it was heavily aired on MTV and radio stations in those days and topped the hit charts in many countries. 

Moreover, it was nominated in several categories for the Grammies at the time. But regardless of all the awards and critical recognition, I instantly loved the song the first time I listened to its lyrics: "'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life / Try to make ends meet, you're a slave to money, then you die ..." Wow, doesn't it seem as if life is sadly just that for so many people? Anyway, I love the witty simplicity of the couplet.

Then there's this fantastic, pretty mesmerizing string arrangement that is repeated throughout the song, which kind of sticks in your mind. And the icing on the cake was its ever so popular music video, in which the band's lead singer, Richard Ashcroft, lip-synchs the tune while casually walking down this busy London street, seemingly unaware of what is going on around him and refusing to change direction, thus sweeping away every single passer-by he encounters. Thump!

Still don't know what song I'm talking about? No worries, let me tell you it's The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony", to my mind a true urban hymn of the 90s (as it happened, the excellent album where it was featured had that name, Urban hymns)

So this is the YouTube clip where you can listen to this lovely famous song while reading its lyrics with some nice 3D captions:

But you probably wish to watch the rather provocative music video I mentioned above, don't you? Here we go!

Hey folks, how about posting your own fave songs? LET'S CELEBRATE MUSIC!