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Interview
with TO VIMA - 3 March 2002
Translated
By Dimitris Kyranas (Team Greece) |
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| The
Megaron |
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Disclaimer:
This text is an attempted translation of Charlotte Church’s
interview to the “To Vima” newspaper, published on 3 March
2002.The purpose of this text is NOT to reproduce accurately
the words and expressions used by Miss Church in the original
transcript (that Mark and I were unable to retrieve) but to
give the reader “the main idea” of what she said. The
author is NOT a professional translator so he is not
responsible for small omissions or mistranslations that might
slightly alter the content of the interview. If you wish to
view the original Greek source, click
here.
Charlotte
Church: The "Little Girl" with the Great Voice
The 16
year old soprano talks to Thanassis Lalas
I
met her at the Hilton hotel of Cardiff, the town where her
residence is situated .She came with her mother like every
good daughter and with her manager like every conscientious
professional. She was not the… little one, the immature girl
I expected to encounter. Charlotte Church despite her young
age has very specific points of view on art and her life. She
seemed to know very well what she wants to do and what she can
do. She was an impeccable professional, while at the same time
being a cute girl who showed geniality towards me and
tenderness towards her mother.
We
talked for quite some time. I did not need to think
differently than how I think when I interview adults. If we
accept that girls mature faster than boys then perhaps in
Church’s case ,her lifestyle helped her to grow a little
faster than her peers. Concerts, travel, photo-shoots,
interviews at an age when other girls play with their dolls.
Charlotte does not play with dolls. She plays with the keys of
her piano. And she works hard on a daily basis on her voice.
It’s about this voice that is talking in this interview. The
“instrument” that became her passport which enabled her to
travel beyond rural Cardiff and to enter the largest concert
halls of the world. Enjoy
Was
singing what you wanted to do in your life?
In fact I was not given the chance to decide what I wanted to
do .It happened by itself when I was 12 years old. But because
you are asking, I will tell you that except singing there are
many things I would like to do in the future.
Like what?
I would like to study philosophy or psychology.
Why philosophy? Would philosophy help
your voice to become better?
Yes ,I definitely believe that. I believe that philosophy
would help me to become a better interpreter. Education can
reinforce an already existing talent .My singing teacher says
that if I want to become good at what I do I must ensure the
healthiness of my body as well as the one of my mind, meaning
that during my life I have to pursue knowledge.
What is a good teacher for you?
A difficult question. Look, I’m only 15 and at this moment I
am characterized by a huge indecisiveness concerning
everything that requires me to take a decision. Almost daily
my thoughts and my views on others, on my self on my life are
changing therefore I cannot answer such serious questions. The
only thing I can tell you is that in general I try not to be
selfish, I want to be able to give to others-although that is
not so easy because when you are a singer and furthermore a
famous one ,you sacrifice too much of your private life to be
and stay kind. People recognize you so you are constantly
exposed which results in your spending a huge part of the
potential that you have as a human being. Which means that
afterwards it is much more difficult to offer to your own
people what you want.
You have undertaken an extremely heavy
workload from a young age
Yes, but the reward is such that it is really worth the cause.
To create such a career means pressure and difficulties, but
clearly there is the positive side, which counterbalances all
that. So, certainly sacrifices are many but the benefits are
considerable.
You do talk like a grown up….
Yes many people tell me that. (Laughs)
Have you realized what people lose as
they grow up?
Personally I have not felt that what you are talking about has
happened to me. I have a long way before me to grow up, mature
and become a normal adult. In many things I consider myself
very mature for my age but there are others at which I still
act like a child and that is immaturely.
Where for you is the interest of life
residing?
Because in general I am a person of extremes I would tell you
that happiness is hidden in the moments when we go beyond the
limits, when we do things that are extreme. At this moment my
life oscillates between two extremes which sometimes becomes
exhausting .I certainly prefer that to everything being calm
and ordinary.
Do you believe that everything is a
matter of talent?
I do not know…My family is a very religious one. My
grandmother is a catholic of very strict principles. When I
was little I had to go to church every Sunday. But because
everyone in my family, besides religion, has very close
relations with music I do not know whether I have been blessed
by God -that is whether my talent is a divine blessing
blessing or if it is due to my own hard work, persistence and
decisiveness and to my environment.
How did you discover that your main
interest is music?
I always liked singing. I have been singing since I was three
years old. It is something that’s in my blood, an affair
that as I told you concerns my whole family and that I
considered absolutely natural. No one has pushed me
to go into singing. On the contrary, I always had fun with it.
At the age of 8 I started taking part in singing contests.
Because my aunt had gone through problems with her voice which
she tried to overcome with the aid of a teacher, she
encouraged me to start lessons too. This helped reveal my
inclination to classical singing. Gradually it became evident
that the genre at which I could perform better was opera.
What makes a good voice to you?
A
voice that stands out. It is difficult to define it exactly
because on many occasions people consider “good” a voice
that is clear and simply engenders feelings in the person that
is listening to it. For me this is not enough. A good singer
is one that has a totally personal style, the one that knows
to interpret, who can make you feel the words of a song even
if they are about something that does not concern you at the
given moment. And of course the singer must create a feeling
of listening to something different. I mostly belong to the
genre of opera and the voice that I admire is the one of
Montserrat Caballe one of the best singers of all time. An
amazing voice!
Why does art exist?
My
gosh, what are you asking me…I don’t know…Personally I
am creative person. I love art, music, dancing…I am what one
might call “artistic by nature” .On the other hand I have
no relation with the mathematical sciences. That’s why I
feel happy that my voice helps me to express what I have
inside me. Of course I am in very good terms with writing and
literature, but I believe that music is the best way to tell a
story and a song is the best way to express one’s feelings.
That’s how I take it, it is a point of view that is purely
personal and I don’t know what way I could answer to your
question in a more generic manner.
If every piece of music on the sheet
level at least is the same…how does each interpretation
become different?
I
think that this has to do with one’s taste, with what
exactly you like. A lot of times my teacher gives me
directions on how to interpret a song. Every time she tells me
that a specific way is the right one, I react, I want to apply
my own touch, to sing it in a way which is mine and which will
be different from what everyone else does. That’s why there
are several critics who make negative comments about me
because my interpretation is not considered strictly
classical. I like to add elements from other genres of music
that I like such as hip-hop, Motown, soul… I like the
interpretation that contains these combinations, elements from
different types of music. I think it is something that
releases an enormous energy. I also like every time I take a
song, to analyze it, the same way that we are taught at school
to analyze a poem. Just as in poems where by analyzing them we
are trying to guess what the poet wants to tell us, in the
same way by analyzing the verses of a song I try to understand
what the song is trying to express and how I would like to
interpret it.
Are you preoccupied by what the composer
of a piece would like to hear or finally what is heard has
nothing to do with the original intentions of the composer?
Of course it has to do with what the composer wanted. The
music from the “beautiful mind” soundtrack was written by
James Horner, who used my voice as another musical instrument,
in order to express better what he had in mind.
If you had the capability, which
composer would you like to meet?
Debussy or Puccini. Or-what am I saying?-Gershwin. Of
course…Gershwin The man was a genius.
When a person sets out as early as you
did, does he reach his goal earlier or does he live through more
experiences along the way? Are you afraid of what will happen if
you achieve your goals too fast?
As I told you before, there are so many things that I would
like to do in my life that I can’t wait to live them.
Everything that I have achieved until now were never scheduled, in the sense that I had never set
them as goals. I don’t think like that, even now…that is
setting goals and trying to reach them. Other people who do
this, if they don’t manage to accomplish their goals, I
imagine that the only thing they can feel is that they failed.
Isn’t failure a part of life, and even
more an interesting one?
Sure. It is good for someone to have experienced failure
although personally it has never happened to me. I am you see
quite cynical as a person, due to the mentality that us,
British have and because, almost everyone in my family thinks
like that.
What would you think and how would you
feel if at a given moment everyone forgot about you?
Honestly I don’t know. At this moment I say that it would
not bother me, provided that I would still have my voice and
sing-if not for anyone else-for me and my friends .In that
case I do not think it would annoy me. But I’m saying this
taking other people’s attention for granted. It is something
that I was never deprived of, so I do not know how I would
feel if I lost it at some time.
What do people that no-one knows about
lose and what do people whom everyone knows gain?
I
do not think that people who are not famous lose something
necessarily. I see that my friends who are neither famous nor
are going to be who never desired fame, are fine and feel
absolutely “complete”. The truth is that when you are
famous, others tend to treat you as something different, as
though you belong e.g. to another race, Even grown ups have
difficulty talking to me, they behave as if I inspire fear,
although I am not that kind of person. I consider myself to be
totally normal but the impression that people usually have
about me is different.
To what is this due, in your opinion?
Probably it is due to the way the market functions, which in
order to sell, projects an image of mine which is dreamy,
distant, the girl with the angel’s voice blah blah blah…
Of course I must tell you that that’s how I behave when I
meet celebrities. I feel completely stupid; it seems
inconceivable that I could talk with them. I would not know
what to say besides that I think they are amazing.
With who have you felt like that?
First of all with the Pope ….I was frightened out of my
mind!
I do hope he was not sleeping during
your meeting (laughter)
No…on
the contrary he welcomed me very warmly, talking to me at the
beginning –I don’t know why- in Italian. “I welcome the
singer” he said but in Italian. “La Cantante”, that’s
how he addressed me .I felt I would die, the Pope talking to
me….A thrilling experience. I feel like that with all the
famous people I meet. In the case of Jennifer Lopez I said
“My God, she is so lovely I won’t have the courage to talk
to her”. With Mariah Carey it was the same. With who else?
Oh yes, Barbara Streisand. Almost all these people asked me the
same thing. Is it not difficult to travel round the world, to
be famous and despite all that, after work to go back to
school and be with your friends?
I was just preparing to ask you the same
thing. How do you feel when after all these experiences you
have to return to school?
I don’t know how it can be that I can do both but I must
tell you that I feel comfortable with both of them. Besides I
have been living like that for about three years so it has
become a routine.
Do you believe that a love affair can
change the course of everything?
Yes,
I absolutely believe that, although it has not happened to me
until now. Because if what I have lived until now were love
affairs then I must be one of the people that have been
disappointed by love (laughs). It is true that I had some
boyfriends, I cared about the people I went out with, but none
of those relationships managed to transform me, to change me.
And I believe that love does that, it can transform, it can
change the course of –as you said- everything.
Is there anything that can change this
attitude that you have towards life and things, something that
you would feel as a threat?
Yes .Because there are many people who recognize me and who
know who I am ,if everything I have done to this moment proves
to be wrong ,that will mean that I will have finished. For the
while I do not have this feeling, I don’t think that what I
am doing is wrong. In general I am not of those people who
regret for what they have done. I say, “all right I did it
….I will try not to do it again, let’s go on”. Sometimes
my parents act in an overprotective way towards me, but I
understand that because all that I live make me quite
vulnerable.
Have your parents been affected by your
lifestyle?
They certainly have. Before all this happened they had their
jobs-they both are municipal employees-we were a regular
working family, which lived in a regular house, I went to a
regular school. Everything was normal and ordinary. Ever since
I started traveling, both of my parents travel with me,
something that I like in general. Of course there are moments
when I wouldn’t want them to mess with me, but they are my
parents and the only reason for them to be there is to ensure
my happiness. Doing a job in which it is not always easy to
trust the others I feel very lucky to have my own people with
me whom I can trust 100%.
Is there discrimination between music
genres? Are there voices that are mostly suited to the
classical repertoire and others than are more suited say to
pop?
I think there are voices that could never interpret a
classical repertoire. Personally I like everything, I listen
to all genres of music –opera, hip-hop dance music, trance
-The ones I prefer are mostly hip-hop and garage. It depends
on the mood and where I am. If I’m, say, with my
friends and I play something with my guitar, I know they will
react and say “what’s going on here. Won’t we listen to
something more lively? ”I like everything because I love
music in general and not only singing. Music is something,
which nurtures me. The truth is that modern music is changing
very fast, very fast. One day something is fasionable and the
other, something else. On the contrary, classical music is
something that can survive eternally. Nothing can beat a
beautiful voice that has been “built” to sing opera.
What is it that makes some works of art
withstand time? Have you realized it?
All right, I might still be young but I like this type of
conversation a lot. What makes certain things withstand
time….Perhaps a very particular feeling that one may
experience while one is creating. To write songs or to sing…
everything one does can become routine from a point and on.
And suddenly at a moment where you think you are repeating the
same things over and over, there might happen something like
an explosion and things will be unleashed from within you that
will touch people and have something to tell them. There are
times when I make a performance at a concert and from the
beginning to the end there is nothing particular in it. But if
the concert takes place during a period when my life is
somewhat turbulent then I see that the audience responds more
intensely ,I see more people crying ..In general there is an
obvious difference. The more passion and feeling there is from
the artist’s side, the more the audience responds. I believe
that the same thing makes a work withstand time.
Is there a way to prepare a moment of
passion? Do passionate people live in a different way?
I don’t know….Many times, I catch my self believing in
fate. Not always but some time, something might happen
and…my God it is terribly difficult. Everything is in my
mind and I can’t express it…I’m sorry but I’m stuck
(laughs) I will try to make it easier.
Is
what you experience on stage determined by your preparation
alone or does the audience contribute to this experience?
I
never make a specific preparation before I sing. Or rather, in
a certain sense, when I work, I am always prepared to face all
the people around me. There is a kind of self-defense, I try
to shield myself. Of course if something is to happen to me it
might happen here in Cardiff, although because dramatic events
rarely take place here, I am not as vigilant. But think that I
had to meet two of the most influential political leaders:
President Clinton and President Bush. Two of the most
important moments in my life, I will never forget. How could
anyone prepare oneself for such a thing?
What is the difference between
rehearsing and performing before the audience? Can a moment of
a rehearsal be as grandiose as a moment of a live performance?
Never, never…never. Usually when we are rehearsing we are
checking things that mostly have to do with the technical
features of the performance. I never put my soul into the
performance in a rehearsal because there is no one at the time
to share it with. For me rehearsals are nothing. On the other
hand the actual performance is something completely different.
What is weird with me is that I never have stage fright before
a performance. The only time I experienced stage fright was
when I sang for the Pope and that was because I hadn’t
learnt the song’s lyrics very well.
Thank you very much
I thank you too. I liked this interview a lot .It was
completely different from all the others I have given so far.
Translation
©2002 Dimitris Kyranas & CharlotteChurch.net
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