Friday, September 07, 2007

Pavarotti on YouTube

In the previous thread's comments, I posted a link to Crooks and Liars' Late Night Music Club With Luciano Pavarotti. Bluegal writes

Pavarotti, as part of his “Pavarotti and friends” series, sang with everyone from Bono to Barry White. Since we’ve already done the honorable thing and posted Nessun Dorma, let’s show him at his happiest, singing “Viva Forever” with The Spice Girls in 1998. It’s not as bad as I expected it to be, and the guy looks genuinely happy
I was going to post a video here, but couldn't choose one. So here's a link to the Pavarotti videos that can be found on YouTube.

Also, I was just checking out his page on Wikipedia, and wanted to share the section on his humanitarian work...
Pavarotti annually hosted the "Pavarotti and Friends" charity concerts in his home town of Modena in Italy, joining with singers from all parts of the music industry to raise money for several UN causes. Concerts were held for War Child, and victims of war and civil unrest in Bosnia, Guatemala, Kosovo and Iraq. After the war in Bosnia, he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Center in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills. For these contributions, the city of Sarajevo named him an honorary citizen in 2006.

He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as an earthquake in December 1988 that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia.

He was a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales. They raised money for the elimination of land mines worldwide. He was invited to sing at her funeral service, but declined, as he felt he could not sing well "with his grief in his throat".

In 1998, he was appointed the United Nation's Messenger of Peace, using his fame to raise awareness of UN issues, including the Millennium Development Goals, HIV/AIDS, child rights, urban slums and poverty.

In 2001, Pavarotti received the Nansen Medal from the UN High Commission for Refugees for his efforts raising money on behalf of refugees worldwide. Through benefit concerts and volunteer work, he has raised more than US$1.5 million, more than any other individual.

Other awards he received for charity work include the Freedom of London Award and The Red Cross Award for Services to Humanity, for his work in raising money for that organization, and the 1998 MusiCares Person Of The Year, given to humanitarian heroes by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

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