Comic opera at it best, come to City Hall London, starring Boris the Clown as the Buffoon. Tickets at give away prices owing to collapse of the pound. Farage and Galloway's supporting act with be followed by a sinister version of Gove the Impaler starring IDS with a chubby bloke called Dave as the victim...
Looking at the latest websites for Bojo's campaign it's all straight out of Gilbert and Sullivan. He'll be dressing up as Brittania next......you should see the comments- getting our country back, better before Heath, sun setting over the Empire (Hackney), soon it will be no foreign food muck, warm beer and stale cheese sandwiches. I was asked by a French farmer yesterday to help him buy some British cattle as they make better breeding stock (ha ha maybe it's true!) I won't tell Johnson!
In operatic circles most of the operas people will roll off their tongues will be German, Italian or Russian, a few might just stumble into French but miss Hungarian, classify Austrian as German and then for all of that a piece of work like Billy Budd has no great acclaim. As said, UK opera house reflect that even. Wagner or Verdi versus Britten and we can surmise which performances will be sell outs. David is right though, proscribe the foreign rubbish, let us remain low brow on our own, we know best, pesky Europeans!
I would describe Britten as more challenging than naff but in fact I believe that he is more appreciated at home than abroad. (I sang some of his music in front of him in 1962 but it was the end of my musical career). What about Elgar, Walton, Vaughan Williams, Parry, and more recently the magnificent Rutter, Taverner? Earlier one thinks of Tallis, Byrd, Dowland, Campion, Gibbons, Jeremiah Clark.... Google English Composers then take a look at Spotify it will keep you busy. The early music put England in a very strong place IMHO! maybe the Brexit people will want to "proscribe" foreign decadent material? Maybe we could start a rumour? It seems to be all the rage.
Not sure you can say Purcell or Britten are naff (though they are certainly both very much part of the European tradition)
Sorry Guv, guilty as charged.
far more undecided.
Looking for something the blame would be put on the EU by the Currant Bun, Daily Fail, etc and as for opera, well there you have EUROPEAN music dominated by Germans and Italians with English opera being rather naff, which reflects in the performances throughout UK opera houses. Nice diversions, back to topic...
Donnachadh McCarthy summed it all up neatly. People only listen with deaf ears and look with blind eyes if they do either. Once upon a time the UK was opening to the world, now they have reverted to flight in ignorance driven by newspaper proprietors and editors who have upped the ante on hypocrisy way above the ken of their readership. I hope Tim is right though. The other way round would be hell.
Ok Norman, it's a fair cop - i'm guilty of the opera but i'm not taking the rap for the Mars bar.
I wonder if there has been a gender poll on this issue
Despite what hubby says about the bloody Germans and Frogs down at his local the wife as in most families will quietly ensure that the mark he puts on the paper come the day will reflect what she feels will be best for her family and the future of her children.
Sorry, but I am suddenly lost! Last night we were talking about Brexit etc., and now Mars Bars and Opera? Have I lost a day somewhere or has the thread been hijacked or are we at cross purposes?
Again I hope you are right. If the result is anything less than a minimum of 60% FOR staying in, the problem will remain and fester.
Brilliant - but have the Brits. the ability to read and hear this? I hope I am wrong, but I fear the worst.
The National centre for social research conducted a poll which suggested that despite the Uk being Euro sceptic they will vote to stay in by 60% to 30 with 10 undecided.
It echoes what I firmy believe at the end of the day it comes down to putting food on the table.
If the Euro sceptics could convince the electorate that they would be better off out then the poll would have reflected that .
That is not going to happen as major companies in significant industries are telling the nation that leaving could cost jobs and this message will hugely influence the outcome of the referendum in favour of staying in.
Fear is a great motivator and I think that the leap into the dark that a Brexit would entail will be a step too far for people on the day. There is a precedent for this feeling, the Scottish referendum despite strongly nationalistic feeling many Scots heeded the warnings of large companies based in Scotland who warned of the consequences of cutting ties with the UK
Regarding Axel Rose. My late missus was a massive opera fan. Lanza & Callas et al. were her favourites. She always sang in choirs or chorales etc and loved the human voice. She actually qualified as a music teacher in her early days though branched off into 'Languages' as a job. I would say she was pretty well qualified to give an opinion on voices and the like. One day to my sheer amazement she told me Axel Rose's voice was 'superb' and became almost addicted to his rock singing style ! You live and learn I suppose..
Sorry to all - off topic yet again.
I agree, I simply meant that in conventional terms being out of key and wandering away from the melody has been part of other people's success. I did not mean it as a criticism. How could I, I own too many Dylan and Pogues records! Fearnley did often wander off anyway, which made him stand out. Axel Rose, yes gravelly and a bit shouty but in tune for sure. I suspect that on a good day when sober and a pitch higher Renaud can sing perfectly well.
I'm a big Pogues fan (big punk fan) and I wouldn't compare James Fearnley with either Dylan or Renaud. Fearnley is a bit like Axel Rose (Guns 'n Roses) for me, gravelly but in tune.
Renaud has had a strange life. Self-proclaimed as the Socialist activist and 'peoples person' I just wonder if the French people will remain faithful and stick by him as he becomes a bit 'passé' maybe ? I don't know if he has anything to say nowadays....we'll see.
Terry Williams linked this on Facebook. I have copied and pasted it over for a good read:
Donnachadh McCarthy
22 February at 05:47 · London, United Kingdom ·
“What did the EU ever do for us?
In the week when the UK's five extremist right-wing media billionaires won their battle to waste our time, money and political capital on a EU referendum, I thought it a good time to post the great letter by Simon Sweeney in the Guardian, which he kindly allowed me to reproduce in my book, "The Prostitute State - How Britain's Democracy has Been Bought":
"What did the EU ever do for us?
Not much, apart from: providing 57% of our trade;
structural funding to areas hit by industrial decline;
clean beaches and rivers;
cleaner air;
lead free petrol;
restrictions on landfill dumping;
a recycling culture;
cheaper mobile charges;
cheaper air travel;
improved consumer protection and food labelling;
a ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives;
better product safety;
single market competition bringing quality improvements and better industrial performance;
break up of monopolies;
Europe-wide patent and copyright protection;
no paperwork or customs for exports throughout the single market;
price transparency and removal of commission on currency exchanges across the eurozone;
freedom to travel, live and work across Europe;
funded opportunities for young people to undertake study or work placements abroad;
access to European health services;
labour protection and enhanced social welfare;
smoke-free workplaces;
equal pay legislation;
holiday entitlement;
the right not to work more than a 48-hour week without overtime;
strongest wildlife protection in the world;
improved animal welfare in food production;
EU-funded research and industrial collaboration;
EU representation in international forums;
bloc EEA negotiation at the WTO;
EU diplomatic efforts to uphold the nuclear non-proliferation treaty;
European arrest warrant;
cross border policing to combat human trafficking, arms and drug smuggling; counter terrorism intelligence;
European civil and military co-operation in post-conflict zones in Europe and Africa;
support for democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond;
investment across Europe contributing to better living standards and educational, social and cultural capital.
All of this is nothing compared with its greatest achievements: the EU has for 60 years been the foundation of peace between European neighbours after centuries of bloodshed.
It furthermore assisted the extraordinary political, social and economic transformation of 13 former dictatorships, now EU members, since 1980.
Now the union faces major challenges brought on by neoliberal economic globalisation, and worsened by its own systemic weaknesses. It is taking measures to overcome these. We in the UK should reflect on whether our net contribution of £7bn out of total government expenditure of £695bn is good value. We must play a full part in enabling the union to be a force for good in a multi-polar global future.
Simon Sweeney,
Lecturer in international political economy, University of York"
Please share - the anti-EU campaign will have the full force of Murdoch's and the other 4 extremist right-wing media billionaires papers whose agenda is to destroy all our human rights.
As I wrote in The Prostitute State, over 80% of UK papers are owned by five extremist right wing media billionaires: Rupert Murdoch, (Sun/Times), Barclay Brothers (Telegraph), Richard Desmond (Express) and Lord Rothermere (Daily Mail).
Murdoch is Australian living in New York, Rothermere lives in France, the Barclay Brothers in the tax havens of Monaco and Guernsey. All of them use tax haven entities to avoid UK taxes.
So key question is in light of the above list, why have these billionaires for decades tried to destroy the EU's democratic institutions?
Together we can take him/them on and beat him/them.
peace love respect
Donnachadh x
www.theprostitutestate.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/The-Prostitute-State-How-Britain…/…
My OH who shares my appreciation of Irish music has his Molly Malone album. He is so out of tune and bitty that it seems strange it was ever released but the didn't Bob Dylan do that and the singer with the Pogues, etc? Interesting character though.
With you. I began studying in the mid-60s. The UK was sometimes in turmoil other times a beacon of hope for change for the better. With what was happening in pop music especially, also in changing politics and all the counterweights to the less visible dying and failing industries there was still hope. The UK was outward looking and setting an example to other countries. Some followed and kept going, the UK stopped but has since turned back round with all that was gained gradually dwindling. I naturally looked outward because I chose a discipline that pointed me that way. Once I began travelling I found so many people interested in the UK and wanting to be like them. More recently whilst till travelling I was finding people increasingly hating the UK as a crony of the USA that is always interfering. Now the UK seems to have made a complete U-turn on itself and even European neighbours are to blame for everything, never themselves. Of course the old colonies will fall into line, the superior English mind thinks that anyway, whilst not even accounting for any discontent that may yet come from within that union they are in, the UK. London and the affluent SE in particular are estranging and disenfranchising the rest of the union and may bring about its demise with its short sightedness. They don't see that right now because they are too busy blaming Merkel, Juncker, Tusk, Hollande and Syria for everything under the sun and in the paper of the same name orchestrated by an Australian who appears to be a great patriot of empire but I suspect is rubbing his hands in glee at the mess. The myopia is as stunning as the changes back to the island that was once at the centre of empire but is now unable to differentiate between that and future obscurity.