Caro mio ben

I'm feeling a bit lazy today and will just copy-paste a lovely video for ya all to watch. It's one of my favorite "classical" songs, although I wince at the word "classical" because it's actually baroque...and it's sung by one of my favourite "classical" (wince!) singers, Cecelia Bartoli. I'll write a list of my favourite "classical" (wince!) pieces one of these days...

This one's for mio Giovanni, take care in Vienna.

BTW, if you've got a bit of time, check out Cecelia's "Alleluia" by Mozart. It's truly amazing!

Caro mio ben (My dear beloved)
Giuseppe Giordani
English line-by-line translation © John Glenn Paton


Caro mio ben,
My dear beloved,

Credimi almen,
believe me at least,

Senza di te languisce il cor.
without you my heart languishes.

Il tuo fedel
Your faithful one

Sospira ognor.
always sighs;

Cessa, crudel,
cease, cruel one,

Tanto rigor!
so much punishment!

Caro mio ben,
My dear beloved,

Credimi almen,
believe me at least,

Senza di te languisce il cor.
without you my heart languishes.

A few of my favourite things

I don't know about you, but I've been feeling a bit more negativity both within myself and without at the moment. Now, I'm not normally a negative person, at least I try not to be, but you may have seen my blog the other day entitled "Killing me softly". Then one of my dear friends broke up with his love and has been feeling wretched ever since. Another friend had a nasty incident with his fence and has been feeling a bit anxious about it. My son's gone a bit more nutso than usual. Lots of bad karma around at the moment it seems...

So to cheer myself up, I started singing a bit tonight. Nothing special, just a few Eva Cassidy songs like always ("The Water is Wide", "Dark Eyed Molly", "Songbird", "People Get Ready" are a few favourites I like to sing to the kiddies). And like always, Eva did her trick and worked wonders for me.

And I thought, man, I've never made a list of favourite songs ever. I mean, what are my favourite songs ever? Would it even be possible for me to make a list out of the plethora of wonderful music out there? But I thought, hey, I'm up for a challenge, let's give it a try and see where I go. So here I go!

1. Everything by Eva Cassidy: picking a favourite Eva Cassidy song would be like picking which of my children is my favourite - impossible! The woman was just amazing: she could sing jazz, pop, country, folk, soul...you name it, she did it - and absofuckinglutely fabulously! She's my guiding star when it comes to singing, no comes even close to her.

2. "Ne me quitte pas" and "La chanson des vieux amants" by Jacques Brel: yeah, I know I'm cheating a bit here, putting two songs at number 2, but it's hard to say which is better. Both full of guttwrenching heart and soul, ils sont magnifiques!

3. "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke: the first version I heard of this was by Aretha, which I also adore. But I have to say that I prefer the, as we say in Croatian, "origigi" or the original version. I get shivers up my spine every time I hear it by both artists...

4. "L'hymne a l'Amour" by Edith Piaf: now, as you can see by the list so far, I don't go for singers that don't give their 100% when they sing. This woman gave about 500%. She apparently wrote the song as a tribute to the man she considered the love of her life, the French boxer Marcel Cerdan, who died in a plane crash in 1949. And it's just hauntingly beautiful...

5. "Everywhere I go" by Pink Martini: if you're happily in love, listen to this song. If you've just gone out of love, involuntarily, avoid it at all costs...just kidding! Listen to it, it's be-au-ti-ful.

6. "Les Feuilles Mortes" by Yves Montand: ah, what can I say that I haven't said before? I wrote about this song in a previous post, it's just tres, tres as my dear friend would say.

7. "Jesen stize, dunjo moja" by Zvonko Bogdan: or, in English, "Autumn's coming, my quince". Doesn't have quite the same romantic ring to it like it does in Croatian! And I bet my Croatian friends are laughing their heads off 'cause I like Zvonko. But to me, he rocks!

8. "Do Nothing 'til You Hear from Me" by Ella Fitzgerald: this woman was one of my very early influences at uni. She had the most amazing voice, and could even do scat which is not the easiest genre to sing. And even though Billy Holiday is considered by many to be better than "Lady Ella", I prefer to disagree.

9. "You're Gonna Hear from Me" by Vince Jones: ah, man, I remember the very day I bought his first album. It was at a second hand fair we had every second Thursday at uni. And I've loved the man ever since. Not sure how much the record cost but it was worth every single cent. And I love this song 'cause it's an anthem to all us underdogs out there!

10. Everything by The Beatles: okay, maybe not everything, but how can you choose your favourite Beatles' song??? Can you? C'est impossible!

I have to say I feel a lot of negativity has gone having written this, feeling much better now! Funny the effect making a simple list can have on ya. But it's not that, it's thinking about all the wonderful music out there that's made me feel better. What a powerful effect music has on us...but that's another story, and another post!

I'll leave you with my fave, Eva, singing "What a Wonderful World" live. 'Cause, really, when you think about it, it truly is. BTW, the woman is singing this with a cold. I wish I could sing like this feeling perfectly healthy!!!

A bon appetit il ne faut point de sauce (a good appetite doesn't need sauce)

Now, anyone who's a serious foodie knows that French cuisine is the greatest in the world. And who am I to disagree with them? But I'd never really experienced true French cuisine up to now. Yeah, I've been to Paris before and some of the food I had was truly exquisite (creme brulee in particular!). And I like to cook the occasional French specialty. But Paris and my kitchen ain't France. If you want to really experience the country, you gotta get out of the city and go to the sticks. And that's exactly what Davor and I did.

So after an exhausting day and night of travelling (we left Zagreb at 5am and arrived at our first hotel at 2 am the next day. It was almost as if we had travelled to Australia!), we hopped to it and went to Dinon, Bretagne. Dinon is a charming place, one of my favourites on our trip, and we had a lovely time there, walking around, taking photos, breathing in the atmosphere. But as the day went on, we began to get the munchies. So we went to the nearest restaurant that had a spare table (we had to go to at least three before we found an empty one!). Now, Bretagne is not only home to the most marvellous seafood in the world but also to crepes. So while Davor ordered a seafood salad, I ordered a crepe with, what else, but cheese. And man, was it good!

But the best part (for me anyway!) was dessert. You all know I have a very sweet tooth and love my chocolate. But there's a whole plethora of sweets that I love, and I would have to say that macarons are in the top 5 (my friend Davor will never understand why...). I felt like a schoolkid in a candy store when I saw that myriad of colours staring at me from the pattisserie - white, cream, brown, pink, purple, red, blue. How could I choose??? So I did the typical Mary thing and had a chocolate one and a raspberry one. Mmm, my mouth is watering at the thought of them...

Like I said, Dinon was one of my favourite places that we visited in Bretagne. Here are some snapshots to show you why. Hope you enjoy them:

Killing me softly

Roberta Flack was, to me, one of the great performers of the 20th century, someone with such amazing emotional depth, a true rarity in our day and age. Who cannot be touched by "First time ever I saw your face", "You've got a friend" or "Killing me softly"? "Killing me softly" is particularly a song in point. But now when I think about the song, it brings a bit of a smile to my face - Davor and I driving from Bono to Paris via Chenonceau, listening to Radio Nostalgie, singing in our worst voices ever, cringing our faces and laughing our heads off.

But isn't it strange the effect words can have on us? When you really think about it, words are just a group of vowels and consonents grouped in syllables and phrases and sentences. Don't amount to much really. And yet, what joy and sadness they can bring, how they can make you laugh or "kill you softly", some words can even completely change your life. Roberta put the whole word effect phenomena across quite well:

Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly, with his song

I have to say that it was fascinating travelling and listening to the different words and languages around us - the lilting French, the undeviating Czech, the highbrow British, the throaty Spanish, the melodious Welsh, the almost aria-like Italian. Each language so different and yet all with the same capability of bringing joy or sadness.

Yes, words, funny things they are, things that are very often underestimated. The pen is mightier than the sword they say, and I have to agree. I was told lately that my friend should be paid for having put up with me for 6 days in France, among other things. Talk about killing me softly! The Dalai lama once said "think fast, talk slow". How true. I think we all need to slow down a bit and think about what we say, despite this "get it done yesterday" world...because even though sticks and stones may break our bones, words have an even more profound effect on us...

Well, got nothing more to say for now, no more words left, expect the words of the language we all know and love, that of Mother Nature, in Quiberon, Bretagne, France...take your time and enjoy...

A river runs through it

I have to say that I have a love-hate relationship with water. Most of the places I love most have a lovely sea front or a river that run through them. I grew up in the city with the world's most beautiful harbour, my favourite city has the River Seine trickling through it, the place where my mum grew up is where the Kupa River, one of Croatia's longest, has its source. I love long hot baths and showers, adore looking at waves crashing the ocean, walking over bridges, throwing pennies into fountains.

The hate part of the relationship comes from circa 1978 when I was learning to swim at Canterbury Pools and almost drowned. It was only when I came to Croatia 16 years ago that I stepped back into the water but still feel a bit of a chill up my spine every time I do. So I love looking at water but have a bad time getting into it. Wonder what the shrinks would say to that...

Anyways, the first stop on my recent trip to France was Prague. As my friend Davor said, it was a lovely aperitif to the wonderful meal ahead. I'd never thought of Prague as a place I'd like to see. I'm more into Mediterranean countries like France, Spain and Italy. But I have to say that Prague completely knocked my socks off. But if you pressed me to tell you what it was I loved so much about Prague I wouldn't be able to tell you. There was no specific "thing" that particularly "blew me away". It was simply the whole atmosphere that struck me.

The Vltava River, with its amazing Charles Bridge and swans searching for tourists' scraps, the Old Town Square with its quaint revolving church bell that strikes every hour, the puppet, babushka and souvenir shops that sell proper handmade Czech goods, the cafes offering Czech specialties like medenka (honey cake), babka (walnut cake) or the infamous absinthe.

But I think the thing that struck me most about Prague was the fact that it was like a home away from home - so similar to Zagreb and yet so new and fresh. It's definitely a place I'd like to get to know better. I hope I will.

Old Town Square

Town Hall in Art Nouveau style

A view of Charles Bridge

A swan

A bientot, chers amis!

Or, until soon dear friends. Veeery early on Wednesday morning my friend Davor and I are off to France, more specifically Bretagne and Paris. So upon our return, I'm sure to have lots to write about. Until then, here's the original and the best version of "La Mer" by Charles Trenet. Just beautiful...the American version has absolutely nothing on it...



A bientot la mer, et a bientot chers amis,
L'oiseau chantant qui tricot (The Knitting Songbird in French:)

A tune

I heard tonight that one of my very dear friends broke up with his love. I dedicate this post to him. May your heart mend soon dear friend, you're in my thoughts...

A tune
by Arthur Symons

A foolish rhythm turns in my idle head
As a wind-mill turns in the wind on an empty sky.
Why it is when love, which men call deathless, is dead,
That memory, men call fugitive, will not die?
Is love not dead? yet I hear that tune if I lie
Dreaming awake in the night on my lonely bed,
And an old thought turns with the old tune in my head
As a wind-mill turns in the wind on an empty sky.