In the early days of this millennium, when I was but a boy that could only access the internet through a computer at my school's library, I would spend my time "researching" the works of Joel Vietch on RatherGood.com. One of them was a short flash animation of Pavarotti singing lovingly to some elephants. Since then I have been unable to disentangle "Elephants yeah" from "E di pensier". 'tis a curse, i seek solace only in shared suffering. Sorry.

Luciano Pavarotti - La donna e mobile - Live 1981 has been added as a related post - related requested by lucky760 on that post.

Check Out Them Pipes - Pavarotti at 29 - "La Donna e Mobile" has been added as a related post - related requested by lucky760.

I was surprised to see the one below, as I'd never before seen how powerful he was in his relative youth:

*related=http://videosift.com/video/Check-Out-Them-Pipes-Pavarotti-at-29-La-Donna-e-Mobile

I've listened to some of Pavarotti's performances of this passage, but this is a particularly spirited one. Good find.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'luciano pavarotti, donna, mobile' to 'luciano pavarotti, donna, mobile, rigoletto, la donna e mobile' - edited by lucky760

So for the record, he apparently attended a performing arts high school, but "could not continue with any professional training because of his financial situation" (according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choi_Sung-Bong). So he is by no means a street urchin who had never sung before.

There was also a bit of a controversy because he apparently stated that he had been trained to sing in high school but it was edited out for television audiences. This would not be the first such occurrence, as recently on So You Think You Can Dance the choreography performed by two of the performers was directly lifted from another group (called Les Twins), and nonetheless praised for its originality - apparently the duo did credit their source, but it was edited out to make them appear more impressive.

I also learned from this research that apparently Susan Boyle had recorded a CD for charity before her appearance, and Paul Potts had been an amateur operatic singer who had taken a masterclass with Pavarotti.

For the inevitable cries of "hater" out there - I do not think that this diminishes their talent or achievement, or how tough this kid's life has clearly been. But people do not just turn into semi-professional opera singers by practicing in their rooms...

World Domination!!!

In reply to this comment by Deano:
It's good to know I helped someone get started. So what's the plan now? I don't know if there are higher crowns to attain. Are you guys racing to see who gets to 2000 first?

In reply to this comment by Issykitty:
Thank you so much, Deano. Yes, my first submission was a Pavarotti clip, and it sifted because YOU saved it, and Swampgirl added that vid to her Newbies In Need playlist and cheered it on. Thanks especially to you two, I knew I really wanted to stay.

In reply to this comment by Deano:
Many congrats Issy. Your sifting ability is truly staggering. I actually remember your first submission, wasn't it a Pavarotti clip? Anyway keep the Bravo videos coming!

It's good to know I helped someone get started. So what's the plan now? I don't know if there are higher crowns to attain. Are you guys racing to see who gets to 2000 first?

In reply to this comment by Issykitty:
Thank you so much, Deano. Yes, my first submission was a Pavarotti clip, and it sifted because YOU saved it, and Swampgirl added that vid to her Newbies In Need playlist and cheered it on. Thanks especially to you two, I knew I really wanted to stay.

In reply to this comment by Deano:
Many congrats Issy. Your sifting ability is truly staggering. I actually remember your first submission, wasn't it a Pavarotti clip? Anyway keep the Bravo videos coming!

Thank you so much, Deano. Yes, my first submission was a Pavarotti clip, and it sifted because YOU saved it, and Swampgirl added that vid to her Newbies In Need playlist and cheered it on. Thanks especially to you two, I knew I really wanted to stay.

In reply to this comment by Deano:
Many congrats Issy. Your sifting ability is truly staggering. I actually remember your first submission, wasn't it a Pavarotti clip? Anyway keep the Bravo videos coming!

Many congrats Issy. Your sifting ability is truly staggering. I actually remember your first submission, wasn't it a Pavarotti clip? Anyway keep the Bravo videos coming!

I'm not sure why these are always so surprising. It's like whistling a tune during a hurricane, or the reason why the deaf often speak the way they do. Part of adjusting vocal pitch is hearing yourself and tuning on the fly. When lip synching (or otherwise not broadcasting vocals like this), you can't hear yourself at all, so you lose the ability to self-tune. Ever see a singer practicing with their finger in their ear? Same thing. I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened to Pavarotti.

That said, it is a bit comical.

Thank you very kindly, sir!
In reply to this comment by nibiyabi:
*promote

Listening to Pavarotti always makes me a little mad inside - I was a member of a touring choir for several years. One summer, we went to England, Wales, and Scotland. Our first day in London, we were outside some ritzy hotel where Pavarotti was singing for whatever ritzy company tea or recognition thing was going on up there. Our tour director talked to somebody in the hotel, and was told after he was finished, he would come outside to sing for us and meet us - a choir of young teenage hellions from Alaska. Long story short, our cranky old tour director waited outside for about half an hour and then decided she was tired of waiting, so she dragged us back to the subway, probably back to our hotel. We missed the greatest of the four tenors for that woman. I've never forgotten it, and I'm still mad.

Dennis Prager is a man of decency and honor, an upvote welcome for him, despite the misleading title of this sift.

Freedom and equality are natural enemies. When everyone is free to reach their highest potential, it's going to be higher for some more than others. It's a natural inequality. Few can dunk like Michael Jordan or sing like Pavarotti.

The Declaration speaks of a reasonable equality of opportunity by the virtue of birth, not a guranteed equality of outcomes, which is a distortion of the left.

I know why Europeanized leftists in America don't just leave for Europe. They'd have to move to the right.