Alexander Rybak

I hate the Eurovision, that show that I remember back from my childhood when it had much fewer countries than at present. I really do hate it. But then, when you see a nuclear explosion of talent such as Alexander Rybak, you tend to revise your idee-fixes about it...

Another revelation. Susan Boyle then Alexander Rybak... Where will it end?

YouTube - Norway - Points: 387 - Place: 1st - "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak

PS - also here in a splendid, hitherto anonymous, rendition of Foolin'

Susan Boyle Lost Due to YouTube Scam'?

I don't have a TV and after checking with my happy TV-owning friends, they did not have the British channel ITV, so I was left with the Internet to follow the Britain's Got Talent final. Luckily I did find a stream and could follow the whole amazing thing.

Of course it did not surprise me that Diversity came first. But what surprised me was why the third place came to that saxophonist or what. There clearly were much better contenders.

Now I may start to understand the reason if the article below is right. Indeed, after the stream, I followed the news on Youtube and I remember people who through comments urged people to vote for Susan at a certain number,and that number was probably fake. It supposedly directed to Diversity and that saxophonist. That's what I think the complain of the Pro-Susan is, not that it was wrongly posted on an edited photo of the TV screen.

Well, here's for the conspiracy aficionados - thought it may not be that far fetched this time:

Susan Boyle 'lost Britain's Got Talent votes due to YouTube scam' - Telegraph

From an Earthly Vessel Comes Music from Heaven

Magnificent article that translates best of all those I read why Susan Boyle has become such a phenomenon. For once, one of my off-topic blog entry is remotely related to what articles on this blog should be about, i.e. Scientology - and "that's transcendence. That's the assurance of things not seen":

"Sermons are hit or miss. Theology, though intriguing, can get messy, confusing and contradictory. People fight over it. But music can bring us together and raise us up in some mystical manner that defies explanation."

From an earthly vessel comes music from heaven - Kalamazoo, Michigan Living News - The Kalamazoo Gazette – MLive.com

Some excerpt:

I'm sitting at my home computer in tears -- I've just watched Susan Boyle's first performance on "Britain's Got Talent."

I know the whole world's been talking about her for weeks, but I just hadn't made time to listen to her sing.

[...] I google her name, and there she is, in all her dowdiness. I know, from news reports and conversations, that something magnificent is about to break forth. Still, when she opens her mouth to sing "I Dreamed a Dream," and that rich, resonant voice comes pouring out, I'm overwhelmed.

From this antithesis of a superstar comes music straight from heaven.

I begin to cry. Not a lone tear sneaking down my cheek. But a torrent. A deep-hearted weeping that rises up and spills over like a river in springtime.

What's causing this? Is it the lyrics, the melody, the voice, or the fact that this simple 47-year-old woman from a village in Scotland has been given this amazing gift that she's finally sharing with the world? Or is it the fact that she's overcoming all of the world's petty prejudices about her? Is it her triumph over our ignorant idea that only the beautiful and the model-thin have the right to share their talents onstage? Or is it all of these things?

I suspect it's all of them. But it's the music, I think, that pushes my emotions over into tears.

What is it about music that is so intense? That can throw us to the depths or take us to the gates of God?

[...] Music has always been the most direct route to God for me. Maybe it was for my father too.

Sermons are hit or miss. Theology, though intriguing, can get messy, confusing and contradictory. People fight over it. But music can bring us together and raise us up in some mystical manner that defies explanation.

Just look at the faces of the judges as Boyle begins to sing. Or the audience members as they rise to their feet when she's done.

Moments ago they'd been jeering and mocking her when she came onstage. Trivial human concerns about clothes, hairstyle, body shape, sophistication were all that mattered.

Then music broke through. Shattered Earth's illusions. And struck all of us with awe.

For me, that's transcendence. That's the assurance of things not seen.

PS - on the more humorous side, two great videos from the Corrigan Brothers:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcAkmxlEe0U
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpEk5VirxH0