Many of my friends know how much I love Italy – its people, culture, art, music, food, wine, operas, fashion, architecture, beautiful landscapes, and pretty much everything in between.
I have many close friends around the world who are Italian or have strong ties to Italy, and from 2011 to 2014 even worked for an Italian-based venture capital firm.
So when the COVID-19 crisis hit Italy in February, I was heartbroken to see so many of my friends all over the world with loved ones they knew directly or indirectly suffering through the turmoil. I decided I would do a little part on my side and re-learn some Italian on DuoLingo these past few weeks (I used to be able to speak some rusty basic conversational Italian 10 years ago). And so after a couple of days of practice, I tried doing one of the most famous classic Italian songs of all time – ‘O Sole Mio’. It isn’t even sung in proper Italian but rather in the Neapolitan dialect spoken in Napoli. The song dates back to 1898 when it was first composed by Eduardo di Capua.
For someone who’s not an native Italian speaker, this was especially hard, and to top it up, I did a 3-part vocal harmony. So I’m hoping this has come out ok.
This beautiful love song goes out as a song of hope to everyone in Italy and around the world that is suffering the consequences of this deadly pandemic.
Gratitude. Empathy. Kindness. Love.
#lockdown #music #acoustic #unplugged #soulfood #thelockdownsessions #musicislife #capetown #acapella #italy #napoli #opera #italian #pavarotti #vocals #harmony #osolemio