As I look forward to Tristan and Isolde this weekend - yes, that's the 5 hour long Wagner operama, rebroadcast from The Metropolitan Opera in New york - and listen to Eurovision 2003, the more similar they seem to be.
Both are a multi-lingual experience - i.e. for monolingual people like me this means hearing mysterious words that one presumes to be meaningful and poignant. When you hear a hauntingly beautiful aria from a bel canto opera it is natural to presume there is a poetic view of the human soul being expressed in caressing tones.
Honestly, opera can disappoint if one expects this to be fully realised when you finally take time to follow the libretto along with the music. The chances are that the great poetry you imagined is just something like "hey, come and smell these flowers, don't they smell nice".
By comparison it is easy to presume that Eurovision is the opposite - just a bunch of glammed up Eurotrash singing "ding a ling a ling a ling" over and over. Yes, sometimes it is just that - but sometimes it is deep and profound, and poppy to boot.
Take the opener for 2003 from Iceland, "Open your Heart". On the surface this is just a bombastic pop song about love. But lo, it says: "Open your heart, show me the pain, it’s all part of who you are. Tell me your dreams, your hopes and your fears, just open your beating heart to me"
To my mind this goes to the core of what a real relationship is all about, and why honesty to ourselves and each other is so vital. Otherwise we're just sharing taxis and restaurant meals.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment