A marriage made in heaven -in my head, at least: marrying opera singer Malena Ernman's performance of "La Voix" to a Pairs Ice Dancing routine; @Malena_Ernman

Eurovision Song Contest YouTube Channel:

Malena Ernman - La Voix, Sweden 2009; new version. 

Uploaded April 24, 2009

Written by Fredrik Kempe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CchOtQMKTE

I wrote about the ridiculously-talented Malena and the song here on the blog last year: http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Malena%20Ernman

Honestly, why hasn't SAS figured out a savvy way to incorprate this catchy song and Malena into a new TV campaign for the airline, showing sophisticated places in Europe where talented and sophisticated Malena is both flying and performing in? 
I mean the video is practically an invitation AND how-to-guide served up on a silver platter? #frustrating.

Here's the version Malena performed at last year's Melodifestivalen. 
Still gives me #goosebumps! 

https://youtu.be/5WH2OwJeMBE

The craziest, brilliant idea I've had in quite some time came to its logical conclusion in next-door Aventura late Saturday afternoon, after I'd watched the latest in a long line of dreary, punchless Indiana University football losses to Big Ten teams since that seminal Bill Lynch victory over Purdue two years ago, losing to Ohio State 38-10 over in Columbus. 
(More on the ballgame later today.)

Yes, it involves another trip by yours truly to the "Venezuelan" Target, which was in rare form late Saturday, completely living up to its well-earned reputation as being the #1 casual hangout hereabouts for all the many beautiful Venezuelan women living in Aventura and SE Broward County, plus, their very good-looking Argentine friends. Claro!
Style-wise, it's the closest thing to being back in Washington, D.C. or Stockholm.

Over the past week, I'd been going thru some songs I'd favorite-ed on my YouTube Channel since I first signed-up and created it, which included some songs that I know that 99.9% of you have never heard of. Like REALLY, REALLY never heard of.
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

So as a result of that, I've had some songs in my head recently that I haven't thought of in quite some time, and been humming many of them as I wait in a long line in the many left-hand turning lanes on Hallandale Beach Blvd. that you MUST endure to get anywhere in this traffic-gridlocked city next to the ocean.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kghCqyMLPFA

Catchy songs, pop songs, songs with hooks...
No, not just the delightful Kristina Pelakova singing "Horehronie" in Oslo, above, which I mentioned here recently, but also some terrific catchy French songs as well, which I'll share here soon so you can "hear" what I've been thinking about lately.
You know how I love the EuroPop!

So, with the items I needed I inside the snazzy, new streamlined Target plastic shopping carts I was piloting -SO MUCH lighter and quieter than the old metal ones- I ambled over to the back of the store to where they keep 'seasonal' products, where I spied the hysterically funny and clever Halloween costumes for kids. Sorry the photos aren't clearer!

Below, October 9, 2010 photos by me, South Beach Hoosier at the Aventura Target.




Eventually, after wandering the three aisles they have for Halloween costumes, I came across a thirty-something year old father with his kid in tow, waiting patiently for the wife/mother member of the triangle to make up her mind about whatever it was she was choosing between as the head consumer of the family.

And then, out of the blue, inspiration hit me like a bolt of lightning. 
I heard this kid humming something that I couldn't quite make out.
And the next four words that came to mind were, strangely enough, "Malena Ernman" and "Ice Dancing."

Frankly, I'm writing this now knowing in advance that I won't be nearly able to adequately describe this enough to satisfy myself, much less you, despite how clear it is in my head.
But I have just got to get this out of my head before I go crazy.

It's frustrating, like trying to describe how intensely beautiful Bloomington and nearby Brown County are, esp. in the Fall when the leaves are changing colors, http://www.browncounty.com/ 
to someone who has not only NEVER been there, and can't conceive of how magical it is.
To say nothing of only vaguely sure where, precisely, Indiana is located in the Midwest, which, shockingly, is the case with lots and lots of people I've met in South Florida since returning from the Washington, D.C. area seven years ago.
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?m=pool&s=rec&w=576934%40N24&q=Brown+County%2C+Fall

Reminder: west to east -Iowa, Illinois, Indiana: the Three I's.
Michigan is north, Ohio is east and Kentucky is south. Got it?

I won't even try to mention the technical descriptions of the particular dancing skills and requirements that I can so easily visualize in my head, since 99.9% of you won't understand them even if I did, but...

If anyone out there reading this knows of at least two very talented skaters who are looking for some music to accompany their choreography in Ice Dancing, especially for an exhibition, I think you could really strike gold with La Voix, as performed by fabulous opera singer Malena Ernman, which was the song she sang representing Sweden at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, where Alexander Rybak of Norway won for Fairytale. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4D_hguWPQE

More info on Malena and the ridiculously catchy song that WILL stay in your head.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_voix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malena_Ernman

Twitter @Malena_Ernman  http://en.twitter.com/Malena_Ernman

IF anyone knows of any figure skater(s) anywhere, more likely in Europe, whether singles or pairs, who has already used this intensely catchy song in competition or an exhibition, please let me know how it turned out. 
And if there's a video of it somewhere on the Internet, all the better.

In the right hands, this song could/would/should be a dynamite crowd-pleaser for a very talented Ice Dancing couple.

Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean -STILL the GOLD  standard!

Torvill & Dean performing to Bolero at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo- HQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zbbN4OL98

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir at 2010 Vancouver Olympics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE4TbwxMsCA

Official website for 2010 Olympic Gold Medalists Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir of Canada: http://virtuemoir.com/



Official website for Malena Ernman, chock-full of interesting photos, videos and anecdotes about her career and life. An opera singer with a great sense of humor, moxie and humanity!: www.malenaernman.com

A marriage made in heaven -in my head, at least: marrying opera singer Malena Ernman's performance of "La Voix" to a Pairs Ice Dancing routine; @Malena_Ernman

Eurovision Song Contest YouTube Channel:

Malena Ernman - La Voix, Sweden 2009; new version. 

Uploaded April 24, 2009

Written by Fredrik Kempe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CchOtQMKTE

I wrote about the ridiculously-talented Malena and the song here on the blog last year:http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Malena%20Ernman

Honestly, why hasn't SAS figured out a clever way to incorporate this catchy song and Malena into a new TV campaign for the airline, showing sophisticated places in Europe where talented and sophisticated Malena is both flying and working/performing in?
You know, like Scandinavian travelers? 
I mean the video at the top is practically an invitation AND how-to-guide served up on a silver platter to SAS? #frustrating.

Here's the version Malena performed at last year's Melodifestivalen. 
Still gives me #goosebumps! 


https://youtu.be/5WH2OwJeMBE

The craziest, brilliant idea I've had in quite some time came to its logical conclusion in next-door Aventura late Saturday afternoon, after I'd watched the latest in a long line of dreary, punchless Indiana University football losses to Big Ten teams since that seminal Bill Lynch victory over Purdue two years ago, losing to Ohio State 38-10 over in Columbus. 
(More on the ballgame later today.)

Yes, it involves another trip by yours truly to the "Venezuelan" Target, which was in rare form late Saturday, completely living up to its well-earned reputation as being the #1 casual hangout hereabouts for all the many beautiful Venezuelan women living in Aventura and SE Broward County, plus, their very good-looking Argentine friends. Claro!
Style-wise, it's the closest thing to being back in Washington, D.C. or Stockholm.

Over the past week, I'd been going thru some songs I'd favorite-ed on my YouTube Channel since I first signed-up and created it, which included some songs that I know that 99.9% of you have never heard of. Like REALLY, REALLY never heard of.
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

So as a result of that, I've had some songs in my head recently that I haven't thought of in quite some time, and been humming many of them as I wait in a long line in the many left-hand turning lanes on Hallandale Beach Blvd. that you MUST endure to get anywhere in this traffic-gridlocked city next to the ocean.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kghCqyMLPFA

Catchy songs, pop songs, songs with hooks...
No, not just the delightful Kristina Pelakova singing "Horehronie" in Oslo, above, which I mentioned here recently, but also some terrific catchy French songs as well, which I'll share here soon so you can "hear" what I've been thinking about lately.
You know how I love the EuroPop!

So, with the items I needed I inside the snazzy, new streamlined Target plastic shopping carts I was piloting -SO MUCH lighter and quieter than the old metal ones- I ambled over to the back of the store to where they keep 'seasonal' products, where I spied the hysterically funny and clever Halloween costumes for kids. Sorry the photos aren't clearer!

Below, October 9, 2010 photos by me, South Beach Hoosier at the Aventura Target.




Eventually, after wandering the three aisles they have for Halloween costumes, I came across a thirty-something year old father with his kid in tow, waiting patiently for the wife/mother member of the triangle to make up her mind about whatever it was she was choosing between as the head consumer of the family.

And then, out of the blue, inspiration hit me like a bolt of lightning. 
I heard this kid humming something that I couldn't quite make out.
And the next four words that came to mind were, strangely enough, "Malena Ernman" and "Ice Dancing."

Frankly, I'm writing this now knowing in advance that I won't be nearly able to adequately describe this enough to satisfy myself, much less you, despite how clear it is in my head.
But I have just got to get this out of my head before I go crazy.

It's frustrating, like trying to describe how intensely beautiful Bloomington and nearby Brown County are, esp. in the Fall when the leaves are changing colors, http://www.browncounty.com/ 
to someone who has not only NEVER been there, and can't conceive of how magical it is.
To say nothing of only vaguely sure where, precisely, Indiana is located in the Midwest, which, shockingly, is the case with lots and lots of people I've met in South Florida since returning from the Washington, D.C. area seven years ago.
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?m=pool&s=rec&w=576934%40N24&q=Brown+County%2C+Fall

Reminder: west to east -Iowa, Illinois, Indiana: the Three I's.
Michigan is north, Ohio is east and Kentucky is south. Got it?

I won't even try to mention the technical descriptions of the particular dancing skills and requirements that I can so easily visualize in my head, since 99.9% of you won't understand them even if I did, but...

If anyone out there reading this knows of at least two very talented skaters who are looking for some music to accompany their choreography in Ice Dancing, especially for an exhibition, I think you could really strike gold with La Voix, as performed by fabulous opera singer Malena Ernman, which was the song she sang representing Sweden at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, where Alexander Rybak of Norway won for Fairytale. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4D_hguWPQE

More info on Malena and the ridiculously catchy song that WILL stay in your head.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_voix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malena_Ernman

Twitter @Malena_Ernman  http://en.twitter.com/Malena_Ernman

IF anyone knows of any figure skater(s) anywhere, more likely in Europe, whether singles or pairs, who has already used this intensely catchy song in competition or an exhibition, please let me know how it turned out. 
And if there's a video of it somewhere on the Internet, all the better.

In the right hands, this song could/would/should be a dynamite crowd-pleaser for a very talented Ice Dancing couple.

Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean -STILL the GOLD  standard!

Torvill & Dean performing to Bolero at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo- HQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zbbN4OL98

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir at 2010 Vancouver Olympics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE4TbwxMsCA

Official website for 2010 Olympic Gold Medalists Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir of Canada: http://virtuemoir.com/


Official website for Malena Ernman, chock-full of interesting photos, videos and anecdotes about her career and life. An opera singer with a great sense of humor, moxie and humanity!: www.malenaernman.com

Dave

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth

https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir -Is It True, two video versions of a great song

Prepare yourself to hear the perfect version of

contemporary Pop Sensibility with a Nashville

accent, via Reykjavik, in the form of the amazing

Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, a.k.a. Yohanna

The first video is from the Icelandic national

music competition which Jóhanna won in

February performing the song she wrote,

Is It True, earning her the right to represent

Iceland at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest

in Moscow last week.

It is the superior of the two videos in every way

-lighting, clarity and audio- having the great

advantage of having been filmed and lit in a

TV studio, not a large sports arena, as

was the case in Moscow..

On May 12th, Jóhanna wowed TV viewers all

across Europe and the on-site judges to win

the night and advance to the final, where she

earned a well-deserved second place to Norway's

Alexander Rybak's Fairytale.

As you watch this, I defy you to not hum along...

or think about how truly big she could become

in a short period of time with that amazing voice,

talent and looks.

The sky's the limit!

This second video is Jóhanna performing

Is It True, from Moscow in the Eurovision

Semi-Final, round one, using the BBC Three

version of the telecast.

Wow!!!

For more examples of Jóhanna's amazing talent,

do yourself a favor and go over to her musical

MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/yohannamusic

or her YouTube Channel, and spend a few minutes

listening for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/yohannamusic

Fairytale for Norge: Alexander Rybak wins 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow

Above, Norway's Alexander Rybak and his team,

the Frikar dance company, arrive on stage before they

get ready to steal the show with judges and TV viewers

alike across Europe.

Photographer: Indrek Galetin (EBU)

Still working on my blog post regarding this weekend's

activities at the always hard to figure Eurovision Song

Contest in Moscow, and the crazier-than-usual circus

atmosphere there, which, depending upon which European

newspaper you read or which country's TV news you watched,

often alternated casting it as a battle pitting nationalism vs. kitsch,

and we all know how kitsch hates to lose.

Kitsch, like rust, never sleeps, and always gives 110%

This year, kitsch lives in Norway.

Malena Ernman

Tack så mycket, Malena, som tack får du en puss!

Rock på!

Won't be posting that blog entry for a few days yet,

but thus far, this is by far the best combination quality

audio and video I've yet found of 22-year old Alexander

Rybak's performance for Fairytale, which earned

Norway the title and the right to host the next Eurovision

competition.

Be forewarned, though, that this version is the one that the

EBU team producing the show throughout Europe ran to

conclude the show, so unfortunately, despite having great

crowd shots, it also has production credits rolling thru

portions of as it concludes.

Click twice to get to full page view and sense of the crowd.

Another video of this song, without the rolling credits, is this

one from March's national competeition, which earned Rybak

the right to perform in Moscow.

Below, Sunday morning, Rybak and company returned to a hero's

welcome in Oslo as his arrival at the airport created a scene of

pandemonium.

See also: http://frikar.com/indexen.html

Sweden's Malena Ernman sings La Voix in new version of 2009 Eurovision entry

"And now for something completely different..."

which may even slightly remind you, as it did me

when I first saw it, of the concept of using well-known

opera excerpts to tie together something old and

something new, as continues to be done to this day

by British Airways using Sous le Dome epais

from Lakme by Léo Delibes in their hugely popular

TV ads around the world, to, in effect, tie something

old and something new -the Old World and the New

World.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbI0TDymgoU&feature=related

Here, the hugely popular and super-talented

Swedish opera star Malena Ernman sings

a new version of La Voix, which she'll be singing

as Sweden's entry in the 2009 Eurovision

Song Contest in Moscow in a few weeks.

The video follows the dynamic mezzo-soprano

from Stockholm to the Opera House in Frankfurt,

-where she's performing this year- as well as

to her favorite nearby Starbucks.

See also http://www.eurovision.tv/event/artistdetail?song=24674&event=1480

and http://www.eurovision.tv/page/home

and http://www.malenaernman.com/

Please click on the video and then hit HQ

and Full Screen right away to get the best

overall effect.

---------------

Below, the nightclub-style version of the song

that Malena sang and performed LIVE on

SVT's Melodifestivalen on March 14th, that

really wowed the judges and TV viewers.

----------

Anxiously waiting for the votes to be tallied

with the rest of the performers, and then giving

an encore performance after coming in number

one.

----------

Malena to Moscow for Sverige!

Nicely edited clips of Malena being interviewed and

joking around after celebrating the big win, and if you

pay close attention, you'll see that the first person to

give her a congratulatory hug is the wonderful

Molly Sandén, one of our new favorite talents.

-----------------------

You can watch the upcoming Eurovision Song

Contest LIVE online, through Eurovision.tv!

Rock på, Malena!

Lycka till!