I feel bad making 2 negative blog posts in a row so let me start off with the positives. I truly enjoyed yesterday’s Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony. Contrary to what I’ve heard before the event, it seemed very well organized. The music was awesome, the lighting effects were gorgeous, the poem was breathtaking, the fiddlers were astonishing and I liked Sarah Mclachlan’s performance. The malfunction and the truck ride were disappointing but I’m not expecting perfection.
But what really caught my attention the most was the way our National Anthem O Canada was sung. I think Nikki Yanofsky has a wonderful and inspiring voice and I love her song “I believe”. However I think that our national anthem shouldn’t be sung in that slow jazzy style. If that is her style then someone else should have performed it.
Here is her performance (CTV keep removing the video so I added a vocal only version)
This is how it should have been performed. With passion and power!
Compare yesterday’s performance to how Carrie Underwood sang the US ‘s Star-Spangled Banner during the Superbowl:
I am an American and I LOVED the rendition! I had it stuck in my head all weekend! Canada is such a wonderful country and I thought she represented very well. I LOVE how everyone takes such pride in the song and the country. If you watch when the American National Anthem is song, not many people are singing along. That is because not many americans know the song to even be able to sing along with it. Canada you have so much to be proud of, including how Nikki represented you!!!
The girl’s talent was extrodinary, but I am a traditionalist.
On another note …
I’m concerned about why “CTV” kept removing the video. Canadians need to wake up and realize that many of our freedoms are and have been “removed” from us. That’s 100% crap. People have to begin by recognizing that even though we are told we live in a “free” country, in many ways we don’t. THINK about it and SAY something. Don’t be silent.
Gosh I kept falling asleep. When I saw at the end of the openings the whole copyright bla-bla, I wondered if I could find the Opening Ceremonies on YouTube the next day. The answer was “no”. Too bad: we wanted to see the parade of the nations again and check out the fashions.
I am an American. I could have answered the tirvia question, “What is the national anthem of Canada?” I knew that it is called O Canada. I’ve heard it at the Olympics before, and seen it sung on tv when I was forced to watch a hocky game(I told you; I am an American; from California).
Because it has stayed with me for days now, I looked online today to find out who that girl was who sang O Canada at the opening ceremony. I am sutnned to find that so many Canadians were unhappy with the preformance. As I listened, I thought to myself, FOR THE FIRST TIME; “Wow, this is a beautiful song.”
I totally approve your comment: our national anthem shouldn’t be sung in that slow jazzy style.
I didn’t like it the way she sang it.
Horrible.
it was the best ever! loved it!
It was an awful arrangement and performance (lip-synced to boot). Just another Idol-type manufactured singer and the wrong choice for the anthem. Two thumbs way down.
I wanted to slap her for the way she sang O Canada. It was disgraceful. The same for the pop version they sing at the opening of hockey games. Stinks!
I was moved to tears by her beautiful voice, her beauty, AND HER ARRANGEMENT! With this girl on the rise, who needs Celine Dion? For me, her version of ‘Oh Canada’ and also ‘I Believe’ were among the highlights of the Olympics.
Nikki, thank you! Live long and prosper!