"Gorby 80"

User maraeincognitum61 has uploaded the whole gala concert celebrating Mikhail Gorbachev's 80^th birthday (with Russian translation) to YouTube. I'm also being told that it will be available on Medici TV; that would be in English. There was no operatic singing, as Dmitri Hvorostovsky only sang one song. No, not one of the beautiful Russian romances or old songs, but one by Igor Krutoy called Vecchie illusioni. It's quite nice, and no, it's not the one with the slightly erotic video-clip. Katherine Jenkins was worse than usual, no matter if you thought possible or not. The rest is pop, rock and talking.

As much as I dislike such events, I must say that I quite enjoyed some performers - the classical rock bands were good. On the other hand, I'm not really sure what a Spice Girl had to do at Gorby's birthday, or why the final song had to be so kitschy. ("He sacrificed so others could survive"? Really? You are aware that he's not Jesus, right?). I don't know, sure these events must be quite mixed bags, but could they be more of carefully mixed cocktails that mix flavours with a certain idea in mind, rather than packs of names without any connection?

Part one: Intro; 1:30 hosts Sharon Stone and Kevin Spacey enter; 4:50 Gorbachev speaks, Mikhail Gorbachev award "The Man Who Changed the World"; 8:45 profiles of Ted Turner, Steven Spielberg and Bono; 10:15 Ted Turner accepts the award; 12:30 The Scorpions.


Part two: Most of The Scorpions; 5:47 message from Sting; 6:40 the British ambassador to the Russian Federation Dame Anne Pringle; 8:40 Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Igor Krutoy.


Part three: Israeli president Shimon Peres; 2:40 profiles of Sergey Brin (co-founder of Google), Jürgen Habermas (sociologist and philosopher) and Evans Wadongo (Kenyan engineer); 3:55 Evans Wadongo accepts the award; 4:45 Katherine Jenkins; 8:15 Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks; 10:00 Andrey Makarevich and the Time Machine.


Part four: Rest of Makarevich; 3:15 Gorbachev sings a song for his wife; 5:25 Lara Fabian and Igor Krutoy; 10:00 Shirley Bassey; 13:35 Melanie C enters.


Part five: Melanie C sings; 3:05 Lech Walesa; 4:30 Milla Jovovich; 6:40 profiles of Sir Timothy Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web), Martin Cooper (inventor of the mobile telephone) and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; 8:10 Mike Berners-Lee accepts the award in his brother's stead, message from Sir Timothy; 11:30 Choir of Michail Turetsky.


Part six: More of Choir of Michail Turetsky; 4:40 a message from Bill Clinton; 6:10 Bryan Ferry.


Part seven: Paul Anka; 7:40 a message from Bono; 8:25 end speech of the hosts; 9:50 EVERYBODY singing Paul Anka's and Andrey Makarevich's "Changing the World For Us All"; 13:24 "Happy Birthday to You"

To Gorby With Love

Mikhail Gorbachev is celebrating his 80th birthday with style. As long as "style" means an opulent event hosted by Kevin Spacey and Sharon Stone, featuring a mixed bag of performers ranging from Paul Anka or Melanie C (from the Spice Girls) to Valery Gergiev, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Katherine Jenkins. Ouch, that hurt, writing those names in the same sentence. To be fair, it is a charity event in support of the Macmillan Cancer Support. On the other hand, it is a bit trying to see my favourite baritone, my favourite conductor and an excellent orchestra (London Symphony) share a podium with pop stars at what seems to be a snobbish event.

The names of political personas who have promised attendance won't surprise anybody with a little insight into international political scene: Arnold Schwarzenegger, who recently paid a visit to Moscow and gave a huge shout-out to the Russian industry. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, a country now closer to Russia diplomatically than Ukraine geographically. Sir John Major and Shimon Perez will be there, too. Bill Clinton and Dmitry Medvedev will only be shown on pre-recorded congratulatory messages.

A waspish article from The Telegraph is HERE.

Official website http://www.gorby80.com/