Showing posts with label Is It True. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Is It True. Show all posts

Friday, January 1, 2010

Wow! Yohanna sings "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day" on TV3's "En Sång För Hemlösa 2009" (HD)

To start the New Year off right, in a positive mood, I'm going to a new favorite of mine this
past year, with Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, a.k.a. Yohanna.

I wrote in this space many, many months ago, much as I had earlier -and justifiably so- for Molly Sandén and Esmée Denters
Hennes enorma talang kunde knappast vara
mer uppenbar!
Her enormous talent could hardly be more obvious!



I was more accurate about that than anything else I wrote here all year.


For your perusal, below, along with the teaser, from just two weeks ago on Dec. 15th in Stockholm, for TV3's Dec. 23rd and 25th broadcast of her amazing performance at their "En Sång För Hemlösa 2009" (A Song For The Homeless 2009), Yohanna sings "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day"




If you've heretofore neglected to take my sage advice to heart, do yourself a favor and start
the new year off right and take a listen to Yohanna's amazing voice for yourself at

http://www.youtube.com/user/yohannamusic
and
http://www.youtube.com/TEAMYOHANNA
and
http://www.myspace.com/yohannamusic


You can watch the entire video of the broadcast, by turns beautiful and thoughtful, and just under
59 minutes, at: http://www.tv3.se/play/224911

Once there, click Fullskärm for full screen and best viewing.

The audio is superb.


I should mention as a bonus delight that the second song played here is Yohanna singing
the song she sang in Moscow at Eurovision and captured second place with, Is It True.
I hardly need tell you at this point that she's amazing here, as per usual.
But she is.

I realize that many, if not most of you, won't know whom everyone singing and speaking
is, per se, but trust me, it's well-worth seeing for yourself, and shows what you can put on
television if you genuinely have the desire to put quality first.

It beats the hell out of any original holiday programming that you saw on American TV
networks over the past two weeks -as if there was any!

Don't hold your breath thinking that COMCAST is going to do anything half this quality if
they get the govt. okay to buy NBC-TV.

And besides, what's the point of my having a blog if I can't share with you here, something
that I personally find of great value and pleasure?




Gott Nytt År
!

Monday, July 27, 2009

French Connection & Conundrum: Mélanie Doutey, Yohanna en français; Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir

Sur ce blog, je vous parlerais
simplement de ce que j'aime,
et ce que je n'aime pas.
Among other things, j'aime
actrice Mélanie Doutey!

Latest French film sensation: Mélanie Doutey


She's so adorable et charmant in her
films, that it's almost as if she's channeling
Sophie Marceau's kid sister, whom you
recall as a bit of a pesky and tomboyish
pre-teen.
Now, years later, you see her again and
her self-evident talent, smarts, good looks
-and sense of humor- just knock you off
your feet!
And you are smitten!

I first became aware of her enormous talent
a few years ago after seeing Claude Chabrol's
La Fleur du Mal, and she just knocked
me out cold.

It was one of the very last films that I saw
in the D.C. area in 2003 before leaving to
come back here, and rather obviously,
given the foreign language theater situation
down here, the last French film I saw
in a theater avec le popcorn.




to keep up with what this busy actress
is doing.
It's a really fabulous site that clearly
spends a lot more time and effort than
99% of the film websites you'll come
across.
And it's well-designed with lots of good
current photos and videos.

As a bonus here, to the woman who
emailed me Thursday, asking if I knew
of a good version of Yohanna's song
Is it True en français.
Oui, s'appelle
Si tu Sais.

Like most people in Iceland
-only one of the world's MOST
literate places, after all, unlike,
well, here- Yohanna's
multi-lingual
and has released at least a
half-dozen
versions of the song in
different languages.

As some of you may or may not already
know, many kids in Iceland actually learn
Danish while they're in school, and as it
happens, she was actually born in
Copenhagen, albeit to Icelandic parents.

Also, speaking of the French language,
for a sign of the times last year at
Eurovision, see this perceptive piece from
Le Monde titled La chanson française in english

http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=1049465

"La France était représentée cette année à l'Eurovision avec une chanson... en anglais.
Les enfants de la mondialisation renoncent à l'écriture en français."

Mon dieu!
La France, can't live avec it,
can't live without it!

-----------------------------------
Les relations franco-américaines
devraient continuer à s'améliorer.
Thanks to Obama.

Friday, May 22, 2009

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
or her YouTube Channel, and spend a few minutes
listening for yourself: