Vivo Per Lei

I chanced upon an awesome song & video today on YouTube when I was reviewing the song I Dreamed a Dream (made famous now by Susan Boyle). It so happened that Hayley Westenra sang it when she was 14! Borned in 1987, that made it 5 years ago. I was then given a treat when one thing led to another and I found the song Vivo Per Lei which she does a duet with Andrea Bocelli.

Here it is, listen to the song first & then read what I thought about it.

Do you like it? I love it! It is such a beautiful song. A song which helps me feel what is inside myself. That journey to a place which you can't see or be seen by others, the journey to the heart. You know it exists, you can certainly feel it. It is when one is touched by a smile, a breeze, a child, a moment, anything beautiful to you... It is that moment when you feel you are alive and happy to be alive!

I do not aim to share my 'special' knowledge of anything, but I try to write about how I feel about everything. I think that's the only way I could have witnesses to my mere existence. My knowledge, my intelligence (or my stupidity), my action, my job... they all do not define me. My feeling does so and that is something I'd like to share, be it to just one person, a hundred, a thousand or the entire world. 

Today's Video: Beat of Your Heart by Hayley Westenra, Amazing Grace by Hayley Westenra, Vivo Por Ella by Andrea Bocelli & Marta Sanchez

I Dreamed a Dream

Les Misérables is one of the musicals which I've long forgotten. If not for Susan Boyle.
I landed in London early morning 4 years ago or possibly even longer, very early, about 6 am after 12 hours in the air. Had the hotel concierge got me a ticket and that was the only night he managed to find a ticket to the show. Spent the day around London & by the time I got to the musical, I was not tip top. Ok, I'm owning it up here... I even dozed off half way through the show (it was a long one btw). I was out of control, simply couldn't help it!

But, I do remember this song. I knew I liked it, but there are many other songs which I liked too. Les Miserables didn't leave a deep imprint in my mind, much less my heart! Although it did my colleague who had actually seen it 5x, I was recently told. Les Miserables, 5x? OMG!

What I'm trying to say is this... at times, something in a show, movie, or event, makes it bigger than it otherwise is. This is one instance. Susan Boyle's rendition of the song makes it a stunning revelation; a calling which deep down we all have at some point in time, especially the world is now in its deepest recession (or depression for many). It is a case of "There's nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come (Victor Hugo)". It speaks to the world audience, of desperation, of hope, of the past, the present & the uncertain future.

When Fantine was unemployed & destitute, it is the same circumstance as many of us are in right now. When Susan Boyle sang the first verse, I was touched deep inside. Deeply touched. It's something in her voice that did it. I couldn't help myself from shedding tears. Not because I think she's destitute or because she's pathetic. It's not her, and possibly not even her voice. It is not the song either. I think it is HER rendition of the song. In this case, she has made something which have existed in public eyes for decades and turned it into something of a miracle. That to me is God is speaking.

Trivia: The song I dreamed a dream has also been sung on the night of President Clinton's inauguration.

Hayley Westenra sang the very same song when she was 14 in 2002. I love her voice!


Another rendition of the very same song by Elaine Page.


After going through the many artiste who had sung the song, I think the X-factor truly lies in the song I Dreamed A Dream!!!

Today's Video: Spente Le Stelle by Emma Shapplin