Simply
put BBC Music live was a celebration of the past present and
future of music in the UK. Combining landmark 24 hour
coverage with live outdoor concerts and events BBC Music
Live was a one of a kind experience. Perhaps Bill Morris the
director of BBC Music Live puts it best:
"There seems little doubt that the UK grabbed hold of the BBC Music Live Festival and took ownership of it as their own celebration of music. Hundreds of
thousands attended street festivals and concerts, and through projects like the drumming beacon and the amazing performance of 'Perfect Day', the festival proved that music has a unique power to bring people and communities together in shared celebration. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the many thousands of people in the BBC and hundreds of other organisations who helped to make it
happen."
- Bill Morris (BBC Music Live Festival Director)
Charlotte was featured twice on UK TV this bank holiday weekend, as one of literally hundreds of musical performers participating in the BBC's 'Music Live' extravaganza. The BBC here in Britain had organised a five-day, nationwide festival of all types of music. A wide range of special programmes were hosted by star presenters.
The event culminated in a televised, 24 hour, uninterrupted-coverage nationwide marathon of music, starting at 10pm on Sunday evening, and closing at 10pm on bank holiday Monday evening with a performance of Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day', featuring singers, musicians & audiences at BBC Music Live outside broadcasts. The icing on the cake was the fact that Lou Reed himself (the composer of the song) sang the final few bars, live from New York.
And so to Charlotte's part in the proceedings. Charlotte performed twice in the final, 24 hour non-stop part of the event. Her first performance came within an hour of the start, when she performed 'Voi Che
Sapete'.
After
her performance, she was congratulated by the host - TV
Presenter Michael Aspel, and the delightful Clarissa
Dickson-Wright, a larger-than-life, jovial and much-loved
TV cook.
Michael
brought a guitar onto stage and explained that Charlotte was
donating it to a good cause, and thanked her for her
generosity. Charlotte explained that the guitar
belonged to her mother, who used to play classical guitar.
This is the guitar which her mother had taught Charlotte to
play over a couple of years, when she was about eight years
old, and Charlotte was donating it to Amnesty.
A
word of thanks from Michael to Charlotte and Clarissa, and a
round of applause from an appreciative audience rounded off
yet another sparkling TV appearance by Charlotte.
During
the show, Charlotte referred to 'Amnesty', but, no,
it isn't Amnesty International. It's the Musical Instrument
Amnesty that they're having as part of the Music Live event.
In simple terms, they want anyone who owns a musical
instrument, but never uses it, to donate it to the Musical
Instrument Amnesty. They will then pass the instrument
on to someone who will use it. They've tried to
involve celebrities in giving instruments too so that they
get more publicity.
After a night's sleep, (during which time the festival TV transmission continued uninterrupted), Charlotte rejoined the proceedings at breakfast-time, this time on the 'Live & Kicking' segment. 'Live & Kicking' is a popular children's programme, screened weekly here. Charlotte gave a magical rendition of 'Summertime', accompanied by the solo violin of classical violinist Nigel Kennedy. This was an inspired combination of violinist & soprano, and the performance will long be remembered by those of us over here who had the good fortune to hear it. Nigel provided a sensitive, understated, though quite striking accompaniment, which really allowed Charlotte to shine.
Charlotte appeared again a couple of times in the course of this segment, firstly on a pop-jury along with Hanson, Nigel Kennedy and some other artistes, listening to a selection of new pop-releases, and predicting whether the songs would be hits or misses - this caused much amusement all round, as everybody struggled to say something diplomatic, if they hadn't enjoyed the particular new release under scrutiny!
Finally, Charlotte participated in a question-and-answer session, along with Hanson, Nigel and the others. An interesting question which was put to Charlotte came over the telephone, from a boy called John, also a singer, from Scotland. John asked Charlotte whether she suffered from nerves, prior to going onstage to sing at live performances.
Charlotte replied "Generally, No. I'm quite lucky because, ...erm, I was nervous when I sang for the Pope, because I didn't know the words to the song" ... Charlotte was interrupted at this point by an understandable round of laughter. She continued "and I was nervous when I sang for the President of the United States because it was the President of the United States, but generally I don't really get very nervous." A member of pop-group Hanson remarked that if Charlotte only got nervous when singing to the Pope and the President of the US, then she was "doing pretty good". I'd certainly have to agree with that. And so ended Charlotte's participation in this remarkable, 24 hour non-stop musical event.
-
Stephen, Simon
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