Betcha Can't Watch Just Once
He works at a mobile phone store in Cardiff, Wales, but he sings like he works at La Scala.
Please, somebody give this guy a recording contract immediately. And whatever you do, don't "handle him" or fix his teeth. There's something so moving about a snaggle-toothed ordinary guy singing the way he does.
That was very impressive. I'm an opera fan anyway, and he's as good (at least on first impression) as many of the pros I've heard.
Before I finished reading the first sentence, I was sure it was going to be you spanking another cell phone user, though.
Rod at June 13, 2007 10:06 AM
Hard to believe that an awesome voice like this works in a phone store. Unbelievable.
And you were right. I watched and listened to his song twice... :-)
Rainer at June 13, 2007 10:30 AM
When general audiences enjoy a slender serving of opera, as they do about every seven to eighteen months, what exactly are they responding to? We all just adored the Three Tenors, but that was just one night fifteen years ago, and you had to have three of the form's brightest lights to make it happen. What we got here is an attractively nebbish little pudge-mucker howling along to a boom box... And it looks like he's lipsyncing. There's none of opera's powerful staging or collusion of star performers.
So what I'm asking is, if you play audio of his singing for an audience of discerning opera enthusiasts, would they be impressed? I'm curious because I think people are responding to his cuteness rather than any other gift.
Back in high school in Indiana we had a Fat Kid. He wasn't a dim guy, but he was no firecracker either. When you saw him in the mall you thought "There's the Fat Kid," but only in the back of your mind, at an unconscious level, the way you absently discern cumulus from cirrus clouds when you walk out the door in the morning. In his senior year he dropped about a hundred pounds in a hurry. Then he made an appearance at the school talent show: He sang "Feelings." You know the one... "Woe, woe, woe, feeeeeee-lings...."
None of us had noticed that he'd lost the weight until he walked onstage. Even then it was hard to remember who he was, and burdensome to think that we were going to have to assign him a whole new condescending stereotype, which might require getting to know him first. People applauded politely because we were expected to and we knew Led Zeppelin wasn't going to show up anyhow. (The next day's newspaper said he killed.) I don't know what's become of him or how much he weighs now. Presumably, the heartfelt theme of his presentation was "Even fat people have emotions, you bigoted jerks!" (This was the 1970's.)
Anyway, people will slice off a thin layer of attention and give it to some normal person who seems sincerely slender or snaggletoothed. But that's only when catching their breath between the attractive and talented performers on the bill.
Crid at June 13, 2007 10:40 AM
I'm a longtime opera buff (35 years), and this guy definitely has what it takes.
A peculiarity about opera is that lead roles invariably are written for tenors, and tenor voices are rare. In any random group of men, tenors will most likely make up a single digit percentage. This being the case, there is always a need for tenors for operas to be performed in the first place. Even a stunningly ungifted tenor could probably at least make a living. All this guy really needs is someone with industry connections; I hope he gets that someone, because I'm dying to hear more from him.
That Julia at June 13, 2007 11:27 AM
Edit: "Invariably" is the wrong word. I meant "in a vast majority of cases".
That Julia at June 13, 2007 11:29 AM
Crid,
Not sure I followed your dark thoughts there.
Talent shows are full of dreck.
On to the stage steps a plain guy who makes a plausible case for not having oodles of confidence.
He opens his mouth - and is unexpectedly terrific.
It feels like we're seeing his first moment in the sun.
What's not to adore?
Jody Tresidder at June 13, 2007 2:20 PM
Crid, I considered that when I listened. I listen to opera; mainly Verdi, and while I'm not educated in the genre, I found his singing, in and of itself, to be beautiful and moving.
Amy Alkon at June 13, 2007 2:30 PM
I got the chills listening. I hope he gets an opportunity to make his dream of singing happen even if he doesn't win the contest.
Gretchen at June 13, 2007 4:34 PM
Crid,
I also can't say that I can relate to your pessimistic view of this.
Lip-syncing didn't occur to me, maybe I just don't automatically assume the worst (additionally, while I don't follow these programs, I can't really imagine that they don't have some kind of process in place to keep that from being a problem).
As for his singing, Turandot is one of my top 10 favorite operas, and I've heard this aria done by quite a few singers. While this young man could probably use a bit of polish (and it does remain to be seen if he has more performing chops than just his obvious vocal talents), his version of this was very good, better than some I've seen in a couple of productions.
And while your statement about the fickleness of the general public is largely correct, opera is really one of the few venues where talent vastly outweighs appearance (or other superficial perceptions).
The general public will likely forget this before too long, but if he can get his foot into a decent opera company or production, I'd say he has a pretty good shot.
Rod at June 13, 2007 10:25 PM
As a side note, it appears that he has a few chops after all.
In another thread I was reading about this performance, one of the posters found this page to Bath Opera, and the singer's role in their production of Aida:
BathOpera
Looks like his training is pretty substantial, and it may well be that getting this kind of exposure is what he's looking for.
Rod at June 13, 2007 11:51 PM
> Talent shows are full of dreck.
That's the thing. I'd always thought that America Idol's success was indicative of our own characteristic obsession with entertainment, because it's not even a talent show. It's a venue for young, fertile, untrained emo singers who evoke all that other stuff. If it were open to gifted intrumentalists or even electronic composers, it might well be an interesting show. There's a very slender range of people they're looking for. As with all pop culture, the audience has to be able to relate. Or as you put it:
> It feels like we're seeing his
> first moment in the sun.
It would be silly to quibble with people who are being successfully entertained or to interrupt their flow, and I promise to God this is not meant to be snarky and elitest, but some of us want more from musical talent than entertainment.
> What's not to adore?
Well, I was just asking. Opera is something I'm deaf to, but there's no denying that enthusiasts have an ear for details of the human voice that the rest of us just don't have. I wanted to know if people who have that blessing would care for the guy. To wit:
> Opera is one of the few venues where
> talent vastly outweighs appearance
> (or other superficial perceptions).
I think that only applies to an opera audience. The rest of us wouldn't know an excellent tenor from a mediocre one. Jody & co were seriously heartened by the other dramatic forces. If the opera people are getting their rocks off too, the everybody wins, right?
Well, as Gershwin put it, "They're writing songs of love, but...."
Crid at June 14, 2007 12:49 AM
... not for me :)
I think that only applies to an opera audience. The rest of us wouldn't know an excellent tenor from a mediocre one.
You're right from the audience standpoint, but I was thinking more from the standpoint of a company giving someone like this guy a shot. They already know that they have a pretty specific audience, so they'll focus on talent, but like you say, it's also because that's the kind of thing the audience appreciates.
I would have liked to hear this particular performance live, because that's where you get all the nuance, some details just don't come across in most recordings (especially these low bandwidth kinds, not to mention the venue). It's still safe to say that this fellow has something going. Singing opera is *hard* to do well, even passably well, and he clearly has the right tools. Hopefully, he can go somewhere with them.
You're also right about the enthusiasts ear for details. When I try to explain my love of opera to someone who really doesn't get it, I usually say it's because the best opera vocals are the best expression of the human voice as a virtuoso instrument (no, it doesn't really help them see it :o)).
I sometimes wonder if I'm missing something when most 'popular' music sounds to me like breaking glass or a horrible accident in a sheet metal shop, but I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it isn't really going to work for me (much as you appear to have done concerning opera).
Rod at June 14, 2007 1:41 AM
> sounds to me like breaking glass
> or a horrible accident
Last week I found myself thinking of a twenty-year old pop tune I'd meant to listen to carefully because the guitar solo'd had something of interest.
So I went out an got a copy of Rick Astley record. He was a British bubblegum guy. Letterman once called him a "little weenie man with a voice like thunder" or words to that effect. So anyway, on the record you hear these clear, roaring notes in the center of the lines, but twitches and dribbles at the start and end. It's not that he meant to do that, or that it was the fashion during the Thatcher years.... The guy just didn't care, and even his producer didn't tell him to spread his attention across the whole line.
(Turns out the guitar phrase was a tape-speed manipulation that made the player sound better than he was, so long as you only were going to hear it one time in your car.)
Crid at June 14, 2007 3:14 AM
solo had etc... It's late here, people....
Crid at June 14, 2007 3:15 AM
Crid,
On the dubious off-chance you've the mettle for another worth-listening-to-once whatsit - I submit the following - also from the UK's current talent show.
(It's from the metafilter Nessun thread, btw)
The singer is also dentally-challenged (but her age explains it) You have to suffer through the set-up, because it will make you so annoyed that the payoff is all the more surprising:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En0A8KGMgq8
Jody Tresidder at June 14, 2007 7:16 AM
Well, geez, at what point is destiny fulfilled, where I come off like a bitter crank? Both of these were on Digg over the weekend. I scanned through it. It has all these cliches... Television is a cliche delivery service. We see her spunky interview. We see the spunky over the shoulder shot from behind the curtain. We see her step spunkily to the center of that big ol' stage, where her tiny little self stands in an enormous, empty field. ("A field of fear, yes... but also of spunky resolve!") Mom's smile twitches with spunky pride even before she start to sing. She sings a spunky tune, and trots off stage in spunky victory.
Is OK to mention she has pitch problems?
I always hated that tune until I heard this guy play it (the studio version is even better, unaccompanied by French songbirds):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfz_xhkTmro
Listen, if these people like music so much, why do they have do tart it up with all these other narratives? She's a cute little girl... But you don't have the need for a melodrama, the payoff never happened.
Crid at June 14, 2007 10:25 AM
I don't generally claim to be a fan of this kind of performance, but I wept.
Deirdre B. at June 14, 2007 10:28 AM
One more about pop singers. This is a long, rote piece about a record we've each heard 10,000 times, which is about 9,751 times too many. But about halfway through her son tells us something about the singing that I never noticed before.
Pop music is about giving us "what we need..."
http://media.freep.com/respect/index.html
Crid at June 14, 2007 10:42 AM
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