Il Divo in Jordan Festival...article

There is an article in the Jordan Times about the Jordan Festival and probably Il Divo will be performing there, now we just need an official announcement from the OF

Jordan Festival opens June 30

AMMAN (JT) - The Jordan Festival will open on June 30 featuring a variety of Jordanian, Arab and international artists.

The month-long event, organised by the Friends of Jordan Festivals (FJF) in cooperation with organisers of the Beiteddine Festival, will take place at Jabal Al Qalaa (Citadel), with ticket prices starting at JD10, according to a FJF statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times yesterday.

One of the highlights of this year’s festival is a tribute to “Kawkab El Sharq” Oum Koulsoum with the Egyptian diva Amal Maher and Salim Sahhab’s orchestra on opening night, according to the statement.

The festival will also feature a concert by prominent Iraqi singer Kathem Al Saher who will pay homage to the famous poet, Nizar Qabbani, and dedicate most of the songs to his poems, the statement.

In addition, Pink Martini, Il Divo, Rafael Amargo, the Syrian jazz band “Itar Shame’”, the Palestine Youth Orchestra, the Shaolin Monks, the Khoury Brothers, Makadi Nahhas, Amal Maher, Whirling Derwishes Dede, and Farida and the Iraqi Maqams will participate in the festival.

Jadal, Humam Ammari, Salam Hmoud, Aziz Maraqa and stand-up comedians will present the Jordanian Night, the statement added.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Maha Khatib yesterday said the government entered into partnership with the private sector to hold the festival, as it alone cannot run cultural festivals and allocate the required funds in light of the current conditions the Kingdom is going through, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

In a press conference on Monday, the minister highlighted the importance of collaborating with the Beiteddine Festival to exchange expertise.

“Jordan Festival 2010 is more than an artistic event for us, it is a true reflection of the rich cultural dimension that Jordan enjoys and which we are proud of,” the statement quoted FJF Chairman Issam Salfiti as saying.

“The twinning with the… renowned Beiteddine Festival is a step towards sharing experiences, building capacities, promoting local talents, cutting costs and networking with international artists and festivals, thus reaffirming Jordan as a cultural and tourist destination,” he added.

Founded in March 2010 by a group of businessmen and businesswomen, the FJF is a nonprofit organisation that seeks to promote Jordan as a cultural destination.

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=26651

You can find pictures about this preformance here:


http://www.daylife.com/search?q=Il+Divo

Adagio in Amman Jordan

Blurry pic but the souns is soooooooooooooooooooooooo the guys....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkUrd6E0iig



LG
Admin

By Jean-Claude Elias

AMMAN - Was it the ultra-chic tuxedos they wore or the Elvis Presley looks of Spanish baritone Carlos Marin? Was it the warm, beautiful summer night and the picture-perfect outdoor setting of the Amman Citadel? Was it the smart choice of the well-known songs they interpreted? Or was it the excellent performance of the 24-member orchestra?

It was a little bit of all of the above, and foremost, the beauty of Il Divo’s voices combined with their charisma, stage presence, wit and youth that made their charm - a key word here - work as expected and even more during the quartet’s performance last Friday night in Amman as part of the Jordan Festival.

The festival must be in a multilingual spell, for this is the second group to sing in multiple languages (following Pink Martini), singing in English, French, Spanish and Italian.

“Il Divo” in Italian means the lead singer, or literally, the divine singer. Usually the term is reserved for a female opera singer who is called “Diva”. The group of four male singers includes tenors Urs Bںhler from Switzerland and David Miller from the USA, baritone Marin from Spain and French pop singer Sژbastien Izambard.

Il Divo sang Charles Aznavour’s hit “She”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel and “Unchained Melody”, the song made famous by the Righteous Brothers in the 1960s.

The group then moved on to the Moody Blues’ haunting “Nights in White Satin”, sung in Italian, “Without You” (by Nilsson) in Spanish, and to the audience’s delight, “Pour que tu m’aimes encore”, the song written by Jean-Jacques Goldman for the great Celine Dion. It, of course, was performed in French.

Between songs, each of Il Divo members stopped to say a nice word to a mesmerised, delighted audience. The quartet then sung “Every Time I Look at You”, “Hallelujah” (Leonard Cohen) before shifting to the classical “Adagio” by Albinoni and its moving harmonies.“Adagio” was the only classical piece in Friday’s repertoire, and Il Divo sang it very, very well.

Towards the end, the group performed “Caruso”, the Italian tribute to the great tenor from the early 20th century, a song that was originally recorded by Lucio Dalla. The talented, four-part harmony quartet closed with Frank Sinatra’s cosmic hit “My Way” sung in Spanish (A mi manera).

The audience managed to have Il Divo back for two encores. They sung “Amazing Grace” with the excellent orchestra recreating the sound of bagpipes, and then “The Impossible Dream”, saying goodbye for a second, final time.

The role of the orchestra was essential to recreate the classy pop sound, one of Il Divo’s trademarks. Particularly noticeable were the acoustic guitar and piano segments, with the latter mostly done on digital keyboards. The bass and drums worked remarkably well together and constituted a solid foundation, the section that made the difference between purely classical arrangements and pop.

Overall the sound system was good, except for a few brief moments, when the power of the four voices brought the system close to distortion.

The turnout for Il Divo, formed and managed by TV producer and presenter Simon Cowell, eclipsed that of Pink Martini last Sunday, practically a full house.

From The OF the video in Jordan

http://forums.ildivo.com/topic/35738-jordan-festival/page__st__40


Enjoy the Guys .....


LG
Admin