Post by roger on Sept 23, 2005 10:23:36 GMT
This has just appeared on icNorthWales (in association with Daily Post).
Having mentioned the occasional difficulty that some people apparently have in understanding hayley's accent, the article then mention the disease from which so many children in Ghana were suffering from during her field trip earlier this year. However, they call it "skinny worm". Try Guinea worm, dears!
Roger.....
Hayley's Celtic odyssey
Sep 23 2005
By David Powell, Daily Post
CHATTING by phone to Hayley Westenra in her London flat is highly enjoyable - if you can keep up with her rapid-fire delivery and New Zealand accent. For example, what does her Dad Gerald, 44, do for a living?
"He's a gymologist," she replies.. "A germologist?" I ask,, uncomprehendingly.
"No, a gymologist. He values jewellery," she explains..
"Oh, a gemologist," I laugh.. But putting accents aside, this 18-year-old with the God-given voice is as bubbly and down-to-earth as when she first came to our attention on that magical Faenol Festival night in 2003.
Back then, she performed alongside Bryn Terfel and José Carreras, before releasing Pure and now new album, Odyssey. It contains classical and Celtic works - "It would be boring to do a whole album of established songs," she explains.
The Christchurch teenager was listening to Andrea Bocelli records aged 11, has performed for the Queen, President Bush and Tony Blair and is a Unicef ambassador. When I ring, she's jetlagged from a Singapore trip. She spends "way too much time on aeroplanes" but her infectious personality soon resurfaces.
How important was that Faenol night to her career? "Hugely important. I thought 'Wow, a lot of people saw that.' It launched me in Wales."
Odyssey is another landmark, with a cover photo of her on a rocky beach in Portugal. It boasts a duet with Andrea Bocelli, 46, on Dell' Amore Non Si Sa and she says: "I loved singing with him because his album was the first I bought. He's very warm and gentle."
Another Odyssey highlight is Westenra's version of Puccini's O Mio babbino Caro. She explains: "When I was 14 I was told I wasn't old enough to sing it. I adore that song."
Westenra also sings an unfamiliar Ave Maria by Caccini. "I've performed Schubert's Maria but I was given the (Caccini) sheet music by my grandmother a while ago. It wasn't till I heard Bocelli's version that I fell in love with the song. It's hypnotic."
We're also treated to Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now, a Celtic Bridal Ballad and folky She Moves Through The Fair. "I love the Celtic vibe. Singing Bridal Ballad, I felt I was on a cliff in Cork county," says Westenra,, whose great grandmother was Welsh.
Any free time? "Being a girl I enjoy shopping. If I have time off I watch telly and listen to Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Kate Bush, and the Three Tenors.
"I like books where I learn something too. I'm reading Dag Hammarskjöld - Visionary For The Future Of Humanity (about a former UN Secretary General).
Westenra has just returned from Ghana, which she visited in her Unicef role. She visited welcoming yet debilitated villagers ill from drinking water contaminated with skinny worm - surely a harrowing experience for anyone. "It was an emotional rollercoaster," she says..
* Hayley Westenra's new album Odyssey is out on Universal Music on September 26.
Having mentioned the occasional difficulty that some people apparently have in understanding hayley's accent, the article then mention the disease from which so many children in Ghana were suffering from during her field trip earlier this year. However, they call it "skinny worm". Try Guinea worm, dears!
Roger.....
Hayley's Celtic odyssey
Sep 23 2005
By David Powell, Daily Post
CHATTING by phone to Hayley Westenra in her London flat is highly enjoyable - if you can keep up with her rapid-fire delivery and New Zealand accent. For example, what does her Dad Gerald, 44, do for a living?
"He's a gymologist," she replies.. "A germologist?" I ask,, uncomprehendingly.
"No, a gymologist. He values jewellery," she explains..
"Oh, a gemologist," I laugh.. But putting accents aside, this 18-year-old with the God-given voice is as bubbly and down-to-earth as when she first came to our attention on that magical Faenol Festival night in 2003.
Back then, she performed alongside Bryn Terfel and José Carreras, before releasing Pure and now new album, Odyssey. It contains classical and Celtic works - "It would be boring to do a whole album of established songs," she explains.
The Christchurch teenager was listening to Andrea Bocelli records aged 11, has performed for the Queen, President Bush and Tony Blair and is a Unicef ambassador. When I ring, she's jetlagged from a Singapore trip. She spends "way too much time on aeroplanes" but her infectious personality soon resurfaces.
How important was that Faenol night to her career? "Hugely important. I thought 'Wow, a lot of people saw that.' It launched me in Wales."
Odyssey is another landmark, with a cover photo of her on a rocky beach in Portugal. It boasts a duet with Andrea Bocelli, 46, on Dell' Amore Non Si Sa and she says: "I loved singing with him because his album was the first I bought. He's very warm and gentle."
Another Odyssey highlight is Westenra's version of Puccini's O Mio babbino Caro. She explains: "When I was 14 I was told I wasn't old enough to sing it. I adore that song."
Westenra also sings an unfamiliar Ave Maria by Caccini. "I've performed Schubert's Maria but I was given the (Caccini) sheet music by my grandmother a while ago. It wasn't till I heard Bocelli's version that I fell in love with the song. It's hypnotic."
We're also treated to Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now, a Celtic Bridal Ballad and folky She Moves Through The Fair. "I love the Celtic vibe. Singing Bridal Ballad, I felt I was on a cliff in Cork county," says Westenra,, whose great grandmother was Welsh.
Any free time? "Being a girl I enjoy shopping. If I have time off I watch telly and listen to Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Kate Bush, and the Three Tenors.
"I like books where I learn something too. I'm reading Dag Hammarskjöld - Visionary For The Future Of Humanity (about a former UN Secretary General).
Westenra has just returned from Ghana, which she visited in her Unicef role. She visited welcoming yet debilitated villagers ill from drinking water contaminated with skinny worm - surely a harrowing experience for anyone. "It was an emotional rollercoaster," she says..
* Hayley Westenra's new album Odyssey is out on Universal Music on September 26.
