World-renowned soprano Amira Selim and tenor George Wanis teamed up once again to deliver a message of peace and love to the world with a new vision of the international jazz legend Louis Armstrong's famous song "What a Wonderful World".
It is presented to celebrate the 123rd anniversary of his birth, with the participation of French pianist Nicolas Chauveau, and director of photography Medhat Saudi.
As for the reason behind choosing this project, Selim stated, "We decided to present a new and fresh vision for a song that has an enormous symbolic significance, especially in its release date. It was released in the late sixties. Back then, there were racial conflicts and wars all over the world, as well as Kennedy's assassination. Its release at that time highlighted peace and love in the world despite all hardships,".
Armstrong first performed the song in 1967 and re-recorded it a year before he passed away.
It was the best-selling song in his rich and unique career. The track included in the soundtrack of "Good Morning, Vietnam".
It is considered a true inspiration through its eternal message of love, peace and tranquility, which Armstrong emphasized in his last interview:"It seems to me that the world is not so bad, it's what we do with it... I'm just saying... Look how wonderful the world would be if we gave it a chance''.
As for re-collaborating with the tenor Wanis after so many years, Selim noted, "He is one of the most prominent Egyptian artists who raised the name of Egypt high and presented outstanding works on the stages of France and Europe. We have worked together a lot, especially on the stage of Cairo Opera House,".
She added:"A little while ago, we decided to re-collaborate through an out of the box work which is different from the classical works we present. We also decided to focus on delivering a message of love, beauty and optimism to the world. Thus, we chose a project that highlights the sense of friendship and expresses our artistic journey in a simple way,".
Wanis said: "Amira and I have known each other since the beginning of our careers. We have performed together in several countries. Due to the pace of our lives, as Amira stated, we were busy with our careers. Recently, we decided to present a work together. Therefore, we chose 'What a Wonderful World', for it is a song of optimism that highlights the beauty of the world and the small wonders of everyday life,".
"It offers a calmer perspective on life. Hence, we presented a new vision for it, bearing in mind the special details of the original version. We just added our personal touch to it," he continued.
Selim added that the objective of this collaboration is to deliver a message to the future generations that artists can cooperate together, present positive projects, think of creative ideas, and present fresh ideas.
"Teamwork is one of the basics of arts, especially music, which highlights cooperation, harmony, uniting ideas, and artistic expression," she noted.
Concerning the role of the piano in this unique musical experience, Selim said, "It is not the first time to work with the world-renowned pianist Nicolas Chauveau. We have performed many concerts together. He loves out-of-the-box ideas. That's the case in this musical project. We didn't present 'What a Wonderful World' as it is,".
"We presented it in a different way apart from the classical form. We presented improvisations. It is a chance to present a new and fresh artistic experience in a positive way. Indeed, opera singers can directly communicate with people," she continued.
Selim pointed out it was necessary to present the overall framework in a new and different way.
This was achieved by the director of photography Medhat Saudi, who succeeded in highlighting the positive vibes of the song through filming to show how everyone enjoyed this unique artistic experience and shed light on the mood that the team wanted to deliver to the audience.
The song wasn't recorded in a studio. The visual was fabulous with Amira and George's live singing and Nicolas' music, marking a unique musical experience.
Follow the latest news on Google News
