Cologne/Modena May 28^th 2002 Pavarotti & friends 2002

About the true magic

I haven't been there live, I just sat at home and watched TV, still I feel I have been a witness of an historical event.

It was the re- celebration, re-incarnation, re-birth of that song which opened new ways - new ways for music, new ways for benefit events, new ways for an Italian rock musician, new ways for the most famous tenor in the world, new ways for a young Tuscan Piano bar player, who dreamed of making a life with music and new ways for thousands of people, who learned to dream and feel in music again. A true magic song.

Miserere was a new idea of music, a mix of rock and classic, new in its way for the Italian rocksinger Zucchero, who invented it, new for Maestro Luciano Pavarotti, who was supposed to sing it. When he had heard the demo, which was sung by that unknown Tuscan piano bar player, he said "You don't need me to sing that song. You have already an excellent tenor to sing it." Thus it happened that the young piano bar player had to leave his silent life in Tuscany to become a world famous tenor himself, and he went out there to make thousands of people happy to give them force and hope, just by hearing his voice. The classic/rock mix of Miserere gave birth to Maestro Pavarotti's idea to create an annual benefit concert against the suffering in the world.

Today, ten years later Miserere reunited Maestro Pavarotti, Zucchero and Andrea Bocelli on the stage of Pavarotti & friends for Angola. Three magic voices united in one magic song.

At least I felt so, this is why I sat to write this down, though it isn't exactly what I would call a concert report, it is just the feeling, I have to share, that song was born to create great things, that song is destiny and it is the proof of Andrea's thesis that there nothing happens by chance in life.

The crowd cheered as we all would have cheered, if we would have been so lucky to be there, when they had heard the three giants of music celebrating Miserere. Zucchero sat at the piano and sang his rock part, Andrea and Maestro Pavarotti alternated singing the classical part, demonstrating the equal force of their unique voices. Nothing can describe this. Actually I was glad I wasn't there, probably my heart would have exploded with mere feelings. What a power, what a sky shaking event.

Right after that, Andrea sang his Mille lune, mille onde in an extremely sentimental way, obviously also he inspired himself by the great performance before.

The later medley of "My way", "Parlami d'amore Mariù" and "O surdato'nnamurato" together with Maestro Pavarotti once again reunited the two most wonderful voices in the world - at least to my, maybe not very objective opinion.

At the end all the artists, from Sting to James Brown, to Lou Reed to Grace Jones, to Elisa and Gino Paoli and Raf together sang with the masters of Miserere a sensational "Hey Jude". And the magic went on. Thousands of happy spectators raising their hands, swinging and singing along. And on stage radiant artists among them smiling his incomparable smile, Andrea Bocelli.

I hope you soon all can see this. Surely Pavarotti & Friends 2002 will be released as video and CD all over the world. Surely a lot of TV stations will repeat this event.

Whatever you do… if you have any occasion to see or hear it… don't miss it

Ciao Renate