Once upon a time I was a poor little college senior. I lived in an all girls rooming house of sorts on Newbury Street in Boston, MA. It had two community televisions downstairs, a living room, pay phone {PAY PHONE! lol! Can you believe it???} blah, blah, blah. Anyway, every now and then there was something on television that I felt compelled enough to watch to pull me from my room and tempt me to risk some “community viewing” eeeew. But this nite, I was lucky. I was the only one downstairs. …Or perhaps it was the “the irony”? Hmm…? This nite was really no big deal; the Grammy’s were coming on so I guess at the time it was important enough for me to watch it. It was quiet, the awards were okay but more than anything I was enjoying a much needed break from the books and was happy I could veg-out and do it alone. Then something magical happened….
Luciano Pavarotti was up next to perform. Normally this may have been the point where I took a quick intermission, but things got exciting quick! Sting, with an un-rehearsed semi-stressed look on his face announced that Luciano got sick at the last minute and could not perform but that “someone” had just informed “the people” that she knew the song and could sing in his place. That someone was none other than THEE Queen of Soul herself, the one, the only Aretha Franklin! I thought my ears deceived me, but they did not. Aretha “R-e-s-p-e-c-t” Franklin was about to sing ‘Nessun Dorma’ in place of Luciano Pavarotti at a moments notice in Italian no less!!!! Who knew she’d know that particular song? In Italian no less {lol}?! Damnit! I cursed the heavens that I was still alone! It was unusually quiet. By this time I wanted and needed someone there to witness this moment as proof that it was really happening! Even my bestie-Siamese twin-comrade-old reliable-roommate was not around which was unusual! And though it hadn’t actually happened yet, I knew this was going to be worth talking about the next day be it bad or good. It was evident this moment was not going to wait for anyone else to show up and apparently the only somebody that needed to ready themselves was me.
…Ladies and Gentlemen, I tell you……what Aretha would do next was, is and will forever be bookmarked in my mind as one of thee most brilliant performances I’ve ever been blessed enough to witness and judging from the reaction of the crowd, I was not the only one that felt that way: They gave her a standing ovation (at the end I believe Faith Hill is crying and Celine Dione is in disbelief). Aretha sang the song beeeautifully: She did not change her vocal style, she did not force or compromise anything artistically speaking. Yet she remained true, poised, professional and respected the song. …I guess that’s what professionals do! After that performance she was no longer The Queen of Soul in my world, she was The Queen of Everything!
The next day I thought surely people would be talking about it, it would be the buzz but no one said a single word. I called everybody, even my Mama! ….but somehow not a single soul [that I knew] bore witness to this representation of Aretha. Some people even questioned me as though I’d made it up and responded with sarcasm! “Aretha?! …Filled in for Pavarotti?????? Oh right, and sang the song in Italian????? C’mon h.kai”. …My Mama was even reluctant. I could tell she could not quite reconcile the two in her head: Aria+Aretha? and she’s an Aretha fan and music teacher/violinist/pianist! {*It may also be worth noting here that I went to an arts college and watching awards shows was a big deal among most of them. The Oscars, Ellen’s coming out episode, in addition to the last episode of Seinfeld were major affairs there which made it more peculiar that no one seemed to see …this}. After a while I started to feel like maybe it was all a dream! The internet was extremely new at the time and had yet to become the resource it is now, so I couldn’t even seek validation there. …I only had the memory in my head, and without a single confirmation or news story, even I was beginning to wonder how reliable that was! …It was just bizarre {insert Twilight Zone music here}.
Fast forward eleven years later: I finished school and got my degree and could now add youtube junkie to my credentials. Youtube: a visual encyclopedia and history buffs dream come true! Much had changed in the world, but this was etched in my brain forever. One day it occurred to me that this performance was probably there! When I found it, to say I was excited would be an understatement. It took eleven years for me to get that official verification that the moment was as great as I thought it was and that it even existed at all! {thanks to the “youtube commenters” 😉 } Now my friends I am happy to be sharing it with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I and can appreciate Aretha’s brilliance. “The Queen of Soul performs an aria in Italian”…and that is exactly what it sounds like. …In my opinion that is also what makes it so great: her signature style paired with versatility. Please share your thoughts and opinions! You can’t change my mind, but still…
…I want to know how you feel?
By the way, someone has since removed the original clip so I had to replace it with this one. I’ll keep looking though. It’s the Grammy awards 1998 if any of you can find it.
FOUND IT!!!!
Click Me: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrtuBMyB77I]
…Keeping the history and magic alive in Studio5.
-h.kai
