Whereas Rihanna and Jay Z showed us how not to pick music in keeping with an event you're playing at [Read more, here] sixteen-year-old, Birdy showed us how to pitch it perfectly; providing one of the most moving moments from the Opening Ceremony of the London Paralympics with her cover of of Anthony Johnson's Bird Gerhl.
Bird Gerhl, a self-acceptance song about transcending ones own limitations and insecurities to succeed in following your own dreams, was a great song choice that fitted not only the accompanying performance by acclaimed dancer David Toole- which unfortunately you don't get to see in this video- beautifully, but it also successfully echoed the struggle and triumphs of many of the athletes in the stadium.
Birdy pitched her rendition of Bird Gerhl perfectly, with a vocal that sent shivers down my spine when I first heard it. I can not believe she is only sixteen! The silent audience was clearly enraptured with the performance, too.
Check out her rendition of the Bird Gerhl, and the original, below.
Note: Unfortunately whoever runs the Olympics and the Paralymics are incredibly overzealous with protecting "their" content ("people's games", my bum) , and thus videos get removed very quickly from sites like Youtube. That being the case my posting on Diva's who have taken part in the show(s) has been nil, despite there being many. However I had a bit of luck with this performacne as it was recorded by an individual at the event.
Anthony, now there's a guy who deserves a vocal profile on that male vocalists list. ( I mean just this performance alone...stunning!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MDlMdu2gjw
ReplyDeleteMuch prefer his rendition btw.
This Birdy's rendition was too sad and therefor moving a tad too much for my taste into a victim feel. Certainly for that occasion it seemed too sad.
Btw yeah, the Olympic committee is being real childish over this. Not just over the musical performances but also videos from sports are immediately removed. If that meant they but them up on their own ( existing) youtube channel okay but they don't really. I mean what IS the reasoning behind that???
ReplyDeleteIts pretty mad. A guy I used to work with introduced me to Anthony and the Johnstons...this is one extremely unique voice indeed! And I agree a profile would be an interesting read!
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