|
|
(Of Freddie at the Live Aid concert, 1985): It was the best stage for him, the whole world…
Sir Bob Geldof
This page deals with Queen's international appeal, especially the use of foreign languages in any of the material.
Use what language you will you can never say anything but what you are.
One of our great strengths was that we thought of ourselves as international. Brian May Music crosses all barriers Roger Taylor (Of their first tour in Japan, 1975): Everywhere we went we got followed... It wasn’t what we expected at all… John Deacon
Teo
torriatte konomama iko
Let
us cling together as the years go by Brian May, Teo Torriatte
'Teo Torriatte' from the 'Day At The Races' album contains a section in Japanese. Queen have always been extremely popular in Japan. They made it big there before they did in the UK. The first experience the group had of ‘Queenmania’ was on their Japanese tour of spring/summer 1975. ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, Queen’s first single, released in Japan a few months after it failed to chart in the UK, was successful there. ‘Las Palabras de Amor’ from the 'Hot Space' album was written by Brian May partly in Spanish after the group had achieved success in South America. Here is an extract: Las
palabras de amor Las
palabras de amor Las
palabras de amor More interesting facts about Queen’s international appeal: Queen played to 80,000 people behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ when they performed in the Nepstadion, Budapest, in 1986. They sang part of a Hungarian folk song – ‘Tavaski Szel’. In 2004, a Queen album has been allowed to be released officially in Iran, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3593532.stm In May 2003 at a concert in Modena, Italy, Brian May performed a duet of ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ together with Luciano Pavarotti, who sang his part of the lyrics in Italian.
Zucchero
Another Italian artist with whom Brian and Queen have collaborated with is Zucchero. He sang 'Las Palabras de Amor' at the Tribute Concert and in 2004 played guitar on a racy rocking track called 'Il Mare'on this duets album:
Here is a video recording of the song so you can get an idea what it sounds like:
There were live collaborations in 2003 for the 46664 launch in South Africa (with Queen - see item below) and with Brian at Arctic 46664 in Norway in the summer of 2005. See videos of the two performances respectively:
,Indaco dagli occhi del cielo'/'Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime' with Sharon Corr on violin
'Cosi Celeste', a song which is also features on the above album, but not with Brian!
Queen in South Africa, 2003: See 46664: Invincible Hope (fourth item) Concert in aid of Nelson Mandela's Charity, 46664, Cape Town, November 2003 (Pictures from www.queenonline.com)
Say It’s Not True by Roger Taylor Written to support the Nelson Mandela Aids Charity, 46664, launched in the concert in Cape Town in November 2003: The harder we play
Queen plus Paul Rodgers version, released Dec 07:
****** ANNIE
LENNOX 46664 SPEECH (Made
at the concert in Fancourt, South Africa, in March 2005): Prior to her awesome 10 song set on Saturday evening, Annie Lennox stepped up to podium at the beginning of the live broadcast to deliver an impassioned and pronounced speech on the HIV/AIDS crisis and its effective on African women in particular. ANNIE LENNOX: "We have come here tonight to bring your attention to am unacceptable situation. What I have to say is going to alarm you …and you need to be alarmed in order to wake up to the fact that the AIDS crisis has reached unprecedented epidemic proportions. Among man, women and children, here and in other parts of Africa, AIDS is effectively causing mass genocide. Let me give you some facts… In Africa, more people are wiped out by AIDS every year, than in the entire Asian tsunami disaster. There are probably 25,000 people here in the stadium tonight…look around and take it in…now double that number…every day, more than two stadiums like this become infected with HIV. Its horrific…think about it. And for every ten that are infected…six are women. In this society women are powerless and vulnerable to the whims of men who refuse to practice safe sex and use condoms. How can we implement awareness and change the notion that it’s acceptable for women to be exposed or forced in to having unprotected sex? This needs to change. Women’s rights have to be asserted and implemented. I am here to add my voice to the countless numbers of women who are focused into silenced on this issue. Women need to insist on protecting themselves. Sex without condoms can serve a death sentence… Between 12-14 million people in this country are probably carrying the HIV virus without knowing it. Every one of us needs to be aware of their own HIV status. You should know whether you are carrying the virus or not… Free tests are available to everyone. Go get tested. Then you can prevent the spread of the disease Please take it very seriously, when we tell you that right now the battle against AIDS of the disease. is being lost. It is becoming worse…not better. Not nearly enough resources have been put into effectively dealing with the situation. In fact…we are at war, but the nation is asleep. A silent serial killer stalks the land. It murders millions of men, women and children as we ignorantly and passively stand by and watch. This is completely unacceptable. We absolutely must respond. We cannot allow this to happen. We need to take urgent and effective action right now. 46664 invites and challenges the powers that be… The governments, leaders, corporations and businesses, the media, the educators, universities and schools, men and women and children of this rainbow nation to join with us in the struggle. To continue to ignore it means only one thing…utter catastrophe. Thank you for listening." For Brian’s commentary on the 46664
Arctic concert in Tromsø,
Norway, in June 2005, including link to Nelson Mandela's speech,
see the link below: http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssbjun05a.html#17 In
January 2005, it was announced that Nelson Mandela’s eldest and only
surviving son Makgatho, aged 54. In his grief, Mandela ensured that the
world knew the truth about his son’s illness, seeing the stigma which
often leads Africans to cover the truth as one of the obstructions to
fighting the illness. The following
are the major effects of the Aids epidemic in Africa: A lowered life expectancy; the loss of the income earner in a household, leading to hardship, many orphans/child carers and child workers who may have to stay away from school to fulfil the needs of the family; additional pressure on the health sector; effects on the economy are felt when those of a working age become too ill, resulting in a labour problem. Source: http://www.avert.org/aafrica.htm
46664 Recordings:
'Invincible Hope' (With the Voice of Nelson Mandela)
'' 46664 - The Call'
Amandla - with Anastacia, Dave Stewart and Andrews Bonsu *********************** from www.brianmay.comSee also: http://46664.tiscali.com/minisite/
**************************************** SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW STRUGGLE - A report by Tony Leonard (Extract). Nelson Mandela interviewed for 'AIDS 2000' (Gay Times in association with the National Aids Trust), December 1998. (Mandela): "The severity of the economic impact of the disease is directly related to the fact that most infected persons are in the peak productive and reproductive age groups. Aids kills those on whom society relies to grow the crops, work in the mines and factories, run the schools and hospitals and govern nations and countries, thus increasing the number of dependent persons. It creates new pockets of poverty when parents and breadwinners die and children leave school earlier to support the remaining children." But Mandela is also keen to emphasise that this is not just a medical emergency. While the HIV virus is no respecter of racial or class boundaries, there are political and economic reasons why the region has been so badly affected. "In many ways," he saudm "South Africa's past - as with most colonial societies - remains with us today, not least in the social dimensions of the unfolding Aids epidemic. The poor, the vulnerable, the unschooled, the socially marginalised, the women and the children, those who bear the burden of colonial legacy - these are the sectors of society which bear the burden of Aids." Needless to say, these are also the sectors of society least likely to benefit from expensive medical advances. Taking a lead from the ideas voiced by the joint United Nations Programmes, UNAIDS, Mandela stated that "in the longer term, it will be community development, employment and wealth creation, literacy programmes, promotion of equality between men and women and the protection fo human rights which will address the underlying conditions and the consequences." South Africa's National Health Policy, developed in 1994, clearly established these principles in tackling the epidemic. Promoting a "multisectoal, community-based approach" (involving as wide a range of agencies as possible, and working closely with the communities most affected), the policy states that all discrimination against people with HIV, explicitly and implicitly, must be tacked and that the "compassionate care of HIV-infected people must be guaranteed". The policy also stresses that eliminating poverty and providing all-round education and health care are vital in combating the spread of the virus. This, however, is the catch-22 situation that South Africa and its neighbours find themselves in - poverty enables the disease to spread, and the disease creates more poverty in its wake. POVERTY=AIDS. AIDS=POVERTY. While the Government's health policy demonstrates that, even from the early days of coming to power, the African National Congress recognised the scale of the problem, the actions recommended have, until now, only partially been put into practice. The country has had other things on its mind, of course -not least the reconstruction fo the nation after the apartheid era. But on top of that, Aids organisations and other support agencies both inside and outside the country have not come together to harmonise their work as much as the architects of the health policy might have hoped. When he soke last year, Mandela said the country was "conscious of [the] need to put the effort to combat Aids on a higher plane". And, echoing the language of the struggle against apartheid, he described South Africa's National Aids Programme as "A New Struggle" and stressed the need for a global initiative. "South Africans achieved victory in their struggle for freedom, thanks to the solidarity of the international community and its commitment to justice. As the freedom of each nation is interdependent with that of others, so too is the health and well-being of their peoples. Nowehere is this more true than in the case of Aids." See also Goodbye BafanaA few personal words: Before going to prison for a sentence that was to last 27 years, Mandela stated that he was prepared to die for the struggle against apartheid. His name was kept alive in the townships over many troubled years - those who had been prison with him were excitedly asked about him once they were released. His image was concealed from the world through all those years. When he finally walked free in February 1990, he made sure that his appearance on foot defied what he had once been told - that he would never walk out of prison. Twenty years ago, in 1988, I was active in my local anti-apartheid group and was on the ANC mailing list. On Mandela's 70th birthday - the penultimate one he would spend as a captive - I was handing out leaflets to the public to campaign for his release, just part of the effort to sustain international pressure. I finally saw Mandela in 2001 when I won a wristband to a free concert to commemorate a Free South Africa in Trafalgar Square. He has now declared that the second struggle against Aids is also a human rights issue. Find more about the campaign at
|
The American Indian Movement
White
Man by Brian May
I'm a simple man
With a simple name
From this soil my people came
In this soil remain
Oh yeah, oh yeah
We made us our shoes
We trod soft on the land
But the immigrant built roads
On our blood and sand
Oh yeah, oh yeah
White man, White man
Don't you see the light behind your blackened skies
White man, White man
You took away the sight to blind my simple eyes
White man, White man
Where you gonna hide
From the hell you've made ?
Oh the Red man knows war
With his hands and his knives
On the bible you swore
Fought your battle with lies
Oh yeah
Leave my body in shame
Leave my soul in disgrace
But by every God's name
Say your prayers for your race
Oh yeah
White man, White man
Our country was green and all our rivers wide
White man, White man
You came with a gun and soon our children died
White man, White man
Don't you give a light for the blood you've shed
Oooh yeah
Oh White man, White man (White man)
White man, White man
Fought your battle with lies, yeah
White man, White man - but weren't too civilised yeah
White man, White man
Take a look around
Every skin and bone
Hey
What is left of your dream ?
Just the words on your stone
A man who learned how to teach
Then forgot how to learn
Oh yeah
*****
Native
All around the world
People are looking inside
The teachings of the past
Are better than what they have tried
Native, Native, Native
Coming Home
Native,
Native, Native
Coming Home
I feel I understand
Our elders had inner sight
They saw beyond today
Past the pain and the fright
Native, Native, Native
Coming Home
Native,
Native, Native
Coming Home
Let’s begin where we began
The power of change is in our hands
In our hands
Never let the dream die
Finish what they began
There’s changes being made
And I’m doing all that I can
Native, Native, Native
Coming Home
Native,
Native, Native
Coming Home
Lyrics by Arigon Starr from the album ‘Meet the Diva’, Starrwatcher publishing (ASCAP) Reproduced from ‘Of Earth and Elders’, Visions and Voices from Native America by Serle Chapman.
Arigon Starr (centre) with Brian and friends during the Queen and Paul Rodgers concert tour in the USA, Spring 2006. Source: arigonstarr.com
The problem I had when approaching a commentary on the song ‘White Man’ was twofold:
I knew very little about Native American history, so I had to read quite extensively from different sources;
Once I started investigating the issue, I realised that there was really no end to the catalogue of abuses against these peoples and that I wouldn’t know where to start.
In the end, I felt that the most appropriate place would be with the Kikapoo/Creek musician
‘It has been a history of genocide, theft of land and much of its life, of violations of law – all ostensibly to create and maintain a country of freedom and democracy’.
Bruce Ellison, defence lawyer of many members of the AIM (American Indian Movement).
The last sentence is particularly important – when reading about the shooting of Native Americans in incidents in the seventies involving the FBI, for which nobody has been charged, I suddenly had a vision of Tiananmen Square in 1989 – the defiance of that one man standing in front of the tanks of a government firing on its own people.
The story of the European settlement starts with the ‘Beaver Trap’ when the Native Americans upset a vital natural balance by hunting beaver to exchange for the goods they wanted from the immigrants. It carries on to, and beyond, the Termination Policy of 1953 which divided tribal property among the tribes’ members thus subjecting them to taxation, curtailed tribal self-government and relocated many Indians to the cities where jobs were available.
The site of Wounded Knee plays a momentous part in this story. This was the place where, in 1890, nearly 300 Native Americans were killed in response to the heavy defeat of General Custer and his regiment at Little Big Horn. This site is part of the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Lakota Nation. In 1973 there was a siege there which arose from a Native American protest against treaty violations, when members of state paramilitary moved in. It ended when the US government agreed to investigate and redress the wrongs, but the promise was not kept.
Between 1973 and 1976, it appears that the FBI equipped a paramilitary to act on behalf of the tribal administration in killing over 60 people on the reservation, notably in1975 there was a firefight when a Native American called Joseph Stuntz was killed. He, along with Anna-Mae Aquash, are mentioned in Buffy Sainte-Marie’s song ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’. Anna-Mae Aquash was active in the American Indian Movement, campaigning against the mining of uranium on the reservation. Although the FBI originally said she died of exposure, an autopsy revealed that she had been executed by a bullet to the back of the head. It appears that she refused to cooperate with the FBI in the accusations against Leonard Peltier, who was later convicted, (despite dubious evidence) and is still in prison for the murder of two FBI agents in the shoot-out. There has not been justice for the killers of Joseph Stuntz and Anna-Mae Aquash. In spite of widespread support for a re-trial for Leonard Peltier, this has never happened.
Therefore the history of the Native American is a history that can be shared with many oppressed peoples – it’s not surprising that common ground was found with the Black Civil Rights Movement in the late fifties and sixties – but especially indigenous peoples throughout the world. It appears that Europeans have committed many wrongs in the name of Christianity, so it’s hardly surprising that many Native Americans have a negative view of the faith, their own spirituality being connected with the land which had been shared among them. Of course, there is the recognition that there are Christians who, despite everything, didn’t and wouldn’t behave in this ignorant way. Most of all, the last line of the song carries a great poignancy – a teacher must always be prepared to learn, and recognise the need to do that – there is so much to be learned from the Native Americans, which makes it such a tragedy that their great traditions were cast aside and destroyed by those who thought they knew better.
For a related link on this site, click here.
Arigon's Visit to the Premiere of 'We Will Rock You' - Las Vegas - scroll down to news dated 21 Sep 04:
http://www.arigonstarr.com/Diva/dox/news9_2004.html
Her words about Freddie, 24 Nov 04:
http://www.arigonstarr.com/Diva/dox/news11_2004.html
More on Native Americans here.
|
More in Japan The Jewels II album from Japan contains a brand new mix of ‘Teo Torriatte’:  Message
from Brian May on the release of Jewels II:
Hi folks - This is the new "Jewels" set. It was the brilliant idea of our Japanese record company to issue QUEEN JEWELS (volume 1) last year. We had no idea that it would be so phenomenally successful. It was based around some Queen tracks that were being heard on Japanese Television at the time. The amazing and unexpected thing was that it brought our music to the ears of a whole new generation of Japanese music afficionados. It was with their parents that we fell in love all those years ago, in the 70s when we were just young boys, adventuring for the first time so far from home. But now we are delighted to find that a new contact has been made - a new connection forged. I hope one day to have the privilege to play live to this new generation of Queen 'fans', or perhaps I say "friends". Of course when our Japanese record company suggested "JEWELS 2" we figured they must know what they are doing!! We have interacted on the track listing and some attention has been paid to assembling the best possible digital remasters on these tracks. But fundamentally you are hearing Queen as it was heard on Japanese airwaves as long as 30 years ago. We are proud that we are being heard anew in 2004. So many memories ... such great times ... You, our dear friends the Japanese people, gave us, Queen, our first taste of being treated like "stars". We will never forget. Enjoy! Much love Brian May, November 2004
'Queen
in Hong Kong Charts Queen
Jewels album is at number 15 in Hong Kong album charts, and "I was
born to love you" is number three in that country in Airplay ranking.
The
first ‘Jewels’ album: Successful in Hong Kong, track listing:
1.
I Was Born To Love You 2.
We Will Rock You 3.
We Are The Champions 4.
Don’t Stop Me Now 5.
Too Much Love Will Kill You 6.
Let Me Live 7.
You’re My Best Friend 8.
Under Pressure 9.
Radio Ga Ga 10.
Somebody To Love 11.
Killer Queen 12.
Another One Bites The Dust 13.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love 14.
Flash 15.
The Show Must Go On 16.
Bohemian Rhapsody
"I
was born to love you" was also number one, and it was the song of the
tv programe "Pride", which of the album a great success. The
rest of the discography of the band was great sellers. And
after that great success it is realised in Hong Kong, and Queen can do it
again. It has to remember that Queen made a number one in Hong Kong in
1991 with the single "I´m going slightly mad" of the album
"Innuendo", and was a great success there.
Source:
Queenzone
Japan http://www.brianmay.com/brian/briannews/briannewsnov05.html#03 http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssbnov05.html#03 *source - www.deaky.com
Minako Honda (the Brian May tracks) on Youtube:
Golden Days:
Crazy Nights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/2NS_3KtTDuQ
Brian, Lynn, Eric Lowen, Dan Navarro Brian played on two songs on American singer/songwriter/guitarist Lynn Carey Saylor's album, 'You Like It Clean'. I have a signed copy!
Here's a review from www.areuonsomething.com:
Every
few years a solo artist comes along that truly fits the title of
"singer / songwriter." Okay, maybe it's every decade. I'm talking
about an artist that sings material that they have written themselves and
have a personal bond with. Lynn Carey Saylor is one of those rare artists,
and she is extraordinary.
Look for Lynn Carey Saylor to explode. This is one of the best albums of its kind to come out in a long time. Saylor is ready to pack her bags for a tour in support of the album. She has endorsement deals with SPG Guitars and Dean Markley strings. And, she has a super producer for a husband, and brilliant musicians as dedicated friends. Yes folks, very soon the whole world will begin to "like it clean." ******* Brian plays guitar on 'If We Believe', and 'We Belong' for which he also helps out on the vocals, as stated! See the video of the latter:
An interesting story from Katie Melua about her childhood in Ukraine and Georgia, and a video of her siniging 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' with Queen at the 46664 concert Fancourt in March 2005 (see above) KATIE MELUA ON QUEEN AND SINGING WITH BRIAN
SHY
CHILD: Katie Melua is one of Britain's biggest-selling Extract: Melua is something of an enigma. She is on an independent record label, she shuns black-tie events and the media – she rarely gives detailed interviews. She's a self-described hippy who shuns material possessions. She's known poverty – Ketevan "Katie" Melua was born in the Ukraine, in Georgia. She lived there with her grandparents in "a shack". A young Melua used to carry buckets of water up five flights of stairs while belting out Queen songs – they're her "favourite band of all time", the first record she bought. "I sang Too Much Love Will Kill You with Brian May at the 46664 concert in South Africa for part of Nelson Mandela's HIV gig. It was just incredible to look across the stage and see him there, a dream come true. "I never thought that would ever happen to me when I was a kid with my prized Queen bootleg – there was hardly any legal buying of CDs in Georgia, you got a kind of pick'n'mix – the pirates would do their own compilation. My uncles used to play Queen songs in a band so I knew them well. I never dreamed I'd be on the same stage as Brian May."
|
