Thursday 31 January 2008

Life is short



Our neighbour John died very suddenly of a stroke. This remembers me once again that we really should enjoy life to the fullest and should not wait to do all the things we want to do!

Tuesday 29 January 2008

Sachertorte and Wiener melange!





Diana and I are enjoying the advantages of business trips...

Friday 25 January 2008

Ana Moura: a fabulous concert


Tonight Eise and I went to a concert of Ana Moura, one of Portugal's youngest and apparently also one of the best Fado singers. I have never really been into Fado, and I had my reservations before going to the theatre tonight, but is was unbelievably beautiful. What a voice!

In my mind, Fado was a very sad kind of music, depressing almost. But I was wrong. Fado is the genre of Portugese songs of life, and of course life is not only sad. I should have known better! The songs I heard tonight were mostly happy (as far as I could interpret, without being bothered by any understanding of the Portugese language) and Ana Moura's voice is simply very, very beautiful. She sang both traditional and more modern Fado and without exception, all songs were lovely to listen to. Even for me, as I am bored pretty quickly. I have been listening with awe all night.

Especially impressive was the un-amplified song to show the audience what Fado in a traditional Portugese Fado House is like. I immediately wanted to go to Portugal! One other song worth mentioning was "No Expectations", originally a Rolling Stones song. Ana Moura has recorded this song with the Stones for the Rolling Stones Project, a project where singers from all over the world cover a Stones song in their own genre.