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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
I used to pose this question to my Sociology students:Is a beautiful face important for one to be a recording artiste?Of course, most of them argued that talent and vocal quality was more important than outward appearances.My next question:Name THREE female singers who are fat, ugly and have achieved international acclaim.Silence. Nail-biting silence. Can you think of any?So often in life, we tend to judge people by their outward appearances - their looks, fashion sense, speech patterns, gait etc. Sometimes, one may even avoid someone just because one may not like the way she looks or talks etc.Pity.A real pity indeed.Far too often, we miss out on many good things in a person if we do not look beneath the surface, if we allow our preconceived notions to cloud our judgement of that person and how we relate to him/her. I blogged about this issue in my post called Let's Always Look On the Inside and Susan Boyle is another reminder of this maxim.Worse still, it would be a tragedy if we were to succumb to the dictates of peers or even wider society.A few days ago, my blog reader who has since become a good friend, CK Saw, sent me a link to Susan Boyle's performance. Normally, I am most wary of links but coming from CK, I clicked on it and was greatly surprised.When I first saw Susan Boyle, I was, like most people, amazed that despite her looks, she oozed with confidence for she did not let skeptical opinions or even the facial expressions of the audience deter her from moving forward to reach her dream...I am sure she will get there soon. When she opened her mouth to sing the first strains of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables, I was lost for words.In early February 1994, I watched Les Miserables that was staged at Kallang Theatre, Singapore by Cameron Mackintosh Productions and the effect that Susan Boyle's voice had on me is truly greater than that of the lead singer then, despite the lack of ambiance in my family room.As she gave her all in this song, making her statement that she wants to be like Elaine Page through her innocuous crystal-like, angelic crisp voice, truly, I was overcome with emotion.I did not plan on doing a post on her until CK emailed me earlier this evening to check if I had seen the video and shared with me his reaction to her singing and how he had seen it so many times (like me too) and was deeply moved. Now, that set me thinking about sharing it this evening so I called CK ten minutes ago and asked if he would mind if I mentioned him in my post and of course, he had no objections and even gave me the green light to say anything :-).Susan (a church worker, who admits she's never been kissed) entered the Britain's Got Talent competition after singing locally for years without being discovered. She bowled the judges over last Saturday with her rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables. Between MSN Video and You Tube, her audition clip had two and a half million hits in the first 72 hours! So dear blog reader, please set aside some time to watch and to listen to Susan Boyle and always remember to look beneath the surface to appreciate what lies within...More importantly, if you have a dream, reach out and make it come true!!!
Thanks CK for sharing this with us....&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">lt</span>;a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">href</span>="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">playlist</span>=<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">videoByUuids</span>:<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">uuids</span>:<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">ffb</span>46e23-914d-4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">bca</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">bdaa</span>-8e72732095e6&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">showPlaylist</span>=true&from=<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">msnvideo</span>" target="_new" title="Susan Boyle - Singer - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Britains</span> Got Talent 2009">Video: Susan Boyle - Singer - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Britains</span> Got Talent 2009&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">lt</span>;/a>
jonno1951 Paula
Who says God is unfair? I do not tire no matter how many times I have heard her sing. Her beauty lies within and God let her expressed it through her singing. The look of amazement on the face of the judges and audience say it all.
As one of the judges said, it was indeed a privilege to hear her sing.