Post by Stephany on Nov 2, 2007 8:47:10 GMT
Hello everybody!
You may remember that Hayley was interviewed at Passchendaele for the British Army magazine 'Soldier' on October 4, 2007. It is now available in the November issue with Katherine Jenkins - who visited British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan - on the cover.
Remembrance: The New Zealand soprano finally gets to see the name of her distant relative carved on the Tyne Cot cemetery memorial
Stephany
You may remember that Hayley was interviewed at Passchendaele for the British Army magazine 'Soldier' on October 4, 2007. It is now available in the November issue with Katherine Jenkins - who visited British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan - on the cover.
Remembrance: The New Zealand soprano finally gets to see the name of her distant relative carved on the Tyne Cot cemetery memorial
SOLDIER - MAGAZINE OF THE BRITISH ARMY
Interview by: Karen Thomas
www.soldiermagazine.co.uk
The vibrant voice of Hayley Westenra floated across the Tyne Cot cemetery headstones and briefly haunted the soldiers sleeping an eternal slumber in the mass grave of Passchendaele.
As the celebrated soprano sang Abide With Me, sighs from the hundreds of thousands of men swallowed by the bloody campaign waged in a cramped corner of the Western Front were almost audible. Marking the 90th anniversary of the Third battle of Ypres, the New Zealand star sang in tribute to her fellow countrymen who fought valiantly alongside their British comrades.
But 20-year-old Hayley also counted a personal cost of the human sacrifice paid by the soldiers in 1917 as they doggedly advanced through the Flanders’ mud to the German lines. Her distant relative, infantryman Pte Frederick Alan Westenra of the Canterbury Regiment, died in the carnage. Like so many, his body was never recovered and Pte Westenra’s name is carved on the Memorial to the Missing at the rear of Tyne Cot.
“It was really only by chance we discovered we had a relative who had lost his life here,” Hayley told Soldier, explaining how a random check by Belgian archivists started the investigation into whether the two Westenras were related.
“It’s really special because there are not many of us Westenras and none of our relatives knew about him. I doubt anyone’s come to visit him, so it’s really nice to be able to pay our respects to a family member.”
The perfect pitch of the Christchurch-born prodigy was discovered when she was six years old and cast as the singing lead in a Christmas play. Her rare talent brought rapid fame and nine years later Hayley’s CD Pure debuted in the UK as the fastest selling classical album. Almost a million copies flew off the shelves, launching her career.
Hayley has sung for the Queen, Tony Blair and George Bush, and for audiences in the Sydney Opera House and Royal Albert Hall. But her soulful renditions of Amazing Grace and Handel’s Let Me Weep My Cruel Fate this time soothed the dead Empire soldiers on a damp, grey day in this now quiet corner of Belgium. The free concert reflected Hayley’s desire to remember beyond her classroom history lessons and annual Poppy Day the soldiers who died for her freedom.
“It is quite draining being here, just taking onboard the loss – it’s really hard to comprehend the scale of it all. As you think about each life that was lost, you also think they could have had a wife, a loved one, a girlfriend back home and about the pain they went through too. It’s good to have this opportunity for me personally to put everything into perspective,” added the songstress.
By the time the last shells fell on Ypres in October 1918, the Salient had claimed 185,000 Commonwealth lives. At that time Hayley’s homeland had a population of just one million, of which one tenth was lost to the First World War. But that was when the Empire was indomitable and the bonds between the motherland and her colonies were particularly close.
“We still feel we’re part of the Commonwealth and we feel a strong connection to the British so I think it’s good to appreciate what the Army goes through,” stressed Hayley when asked whether commemorating the fading memories of the Great War held any relevance to the 21st century conflicts Britain is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We went to the New Zealand memorial at Gravenstafel and looked out on the fields the soldiers had to cross and although you can’t know exactly what they went through, you can at least try and put yourself in their shoes.
“I think it’s really important for as many people as possible – especially young people who won’t be in an army – to at least appreciate what their fellow human beings went through many years ago and still go through now.”
Interview by: Karen Thomas
www.soldiermagazine.co.uk
The vibrant voice of Hayley Westenra floated across the Tyne Cot cemetery headstones and briefly haunted the soldiers sleeping an eternal slumber in the mass grave of Passchendaele.
As the celebrated soprano sang Abide With Me, sighs from the hundreds of thousands of men swallowed by the bloody campaign waged in a cramped corner of the Western Front were almost audible. Marking the 90th anniversary of the Third battle of Ypres, the New Zealand star sang in tribute to her fellow countrymen who fought valiantly alongside their British comrades.
But 20-year-old Hayley also counted a personal cost of the human sacrifice paid by the soldiers in 1917 as they doggedly advanced through the Flanders’ mud to the German lines. Her distant relative, infantryman Pte Frederick Alan Westenra of the Canterbury Regiment, died in the carnage. Like so many, his body was never recovered and Pte Westenra’s name is carved on the Memorial to the Missing at the rear of Tyne Cot.
“It was really only by chance we discovered we had a relative who had lost his life here,” Hayley told Soldier, explaining how a random check by Belgian archivists started the investigation into whether the two Westenras were related.
“It’s really special because there are not many of us Westenras and none of our relatives knew about him. I doubt anyone’s come to visit him, so it’s really nice to be able to pay our respects to a family member.”
The perfect pitch of the Christchurch-born prodigy was discovered when she was six years old and cast as the singing lead in a Christmas play. Her rare talent brought rapid fame and nine years later Hayley’s CD Pure debuted in the UK as the fastest selling classical album. Almost a million copies flew off the shelves, launching her career.
Hayley has sung for the Queen, Tony Blair and George Bush, and for audiences in the Sydney Opera House and Royal Albert Hall. But her soulful renditions of Amazing Grace and Handel’s Let Me Weep My Cruel Fate this time soothed the dead Empire soldiers on a damp, grey day in this now quiet corner of Belgium. The free concert reflected Hayley’s desire to remember beyond her classroom history lessons and annual Poppy Day the soldiers who died for her freedom.
“It is quite draining being here, just taking onboard the loss – it’s really hard to comprehend the scale of it all. As you think about each life that was lost, you also think they could have had a wife, a loved one, a girlfriend back home and about the pain they went through too. It’s good to have this opportunity for me personally to put everything into perspective,” added the songstress.
By the time the last shells fell on Ypres in October 1918, the Salient had claimed 185,000 Commonwealth lives. At that time Hayley’s homeland had a population of just one million, of which one tenth was lost to the First World War. But that was when the Empire was indomitable and the bonds between the motherland and her colonies were particularly close.
“We still feel we’re part of the Commonwealth and we feel a strong connection to the British so I think it’s good to appreciate what the Army goes through,” stressed Hayley when asked whether commemorating the fading memories of the Great War held any relevance to the 21st century conflicts Britain is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We went to the New Zealand memorial at Gravenstafel and looked out on the fields the soldiers had to cross and although you can’t know exactly what they went through, you can at least try and put yourself in their shoes.
“I think it’s really important for as many people as possible – especially young people who won’t be in an army – to at least appreciate what their fellow human beings went through many years ago and still go through now.”
Stephany
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