I haven't posted on this blog in a year and a half. Since Google seems to preserve blogs for all time unless you specifically delete them, and since I don't plan any more posts, I thought I should leave an explanatory final note for anyone who discovers this blog.
This blog began as a site dedicated to trivia about Meher Baba. Eventually I could no longer think of anything new to say. About that time I discovered the then 15 year old classical singing prodigy Amira Willighagen, today 20 and working toward her BM (bachelor of music) degree at the University of Pretoria.
I've not removed any of the posts I've written over the past 12 years. So all 762 posts are still here, labeled on the right hand side. Half are on Meher Baba and the more recent half of the last 5 years are on Amira Willighagen and other inspiring young artists. Anyone is free to enjoy or ignore these posts, although I will not be monitoring comments.
I do have a couple things to add just as parting notes. Since I began this blog I have written and published three philosophy books. They are all on Amazon. They include:
Evolution of Perception Re-Explained: A radical new view of reality – February 25, 2021
Two Philosophical Works: A Republication of The Evolution of Perception and Evolution of Perception Re-Explained, with a new introduction – April 13, 2024
Further Reflections: A discussion of the concept of the evolution of perception with a deep dive into the subject of causation – November 21, 2024
And in December 2023 I finally met Amira and heard her sing live in Madison, Georgia on her final world tour before she began college. She is everything I knew she would be, a great person and a fantastic singer.
Meeting Amira in Madison, Georgia, USA, December 9, 2023
The day after Thanksgiving seems an appropriate day to write this final post. It's been fun. Thanks for the memories. Bon voyage!
Amira is up against some of the finest opera singers in the world in South Africa. This is South African Soprano, Nombulelo Yende, in a contest at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. She won first place.
Luckily for Amira, she will never have to compete against this kind of singer. Her area is classical crossover, which includes opera arias, gospel, and musicals. In college she plans to study music therapy, an area of psychology. She will likely get an advanced degree and teach.
Above is the school in Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, where she plans to begin her studies next year.
Here Amira is 11 years old, singing in her local church with her family members accompanying her and the Nijmegen Men's choir in the background. It was captured by an audience member on a cell phone. You would hardly guess that by this time Amira had recorded two albums and travelled all over the world. Her focus remains the music she hears within her. I was one of the fans that discussed this piece with William Morris who critiqued it so superbely here. I gave him much of the backstory about the recording and who was who in the video. He was very appreciative and used everything I said.
And here is another illuminating reaction by Mr. Morris.
I recently listed ten of my favorite performances by Amira Willighagen. This has got to be my favorite Reaction Video of her. Grammy-Nominated Voice Coach & Stage Director, William Morris, gives an exquisite reaction to Amira's performance of La Vergine degli Angeli, from her 2020 streaming concert African Christmas with Amira and Friends, done at the age of 16. "I do believe she is divinely inspired," William says.
And since I am on the subject of reaction videos, here is another excellent one of Amira, with 31,000 views. This was recorded by a fan on cellphone in the Canisius Church where Amira was invited as a guest of the Nijmegen Men's Choir for their Christmas 2015 concert. Amira was just 11 years old. A bit of trivia: Amira had just flown in from a famous performance in Iceland only days before.
What these gentlemen don't know is that this song was originally sung by a black opera singer, Todd Duncan. Covered by hundreds of performers, the song was already a classic when Bobby Hatfield (singing above) covered it in 1965. The song, originally written for a 1954 film titled "Unchained," was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1956 and was sung at the Oscars by Harry Belafonte. Check out my previous post about the song here.
The song got a second life when the version above by the Righteous Brothers was used in the hit movie "Ghost" in 1990. It is now the best known version today.
Flying into the Netherlands from South Africa for a fan gathering and concert, Amira stopped at the Omroep Gelderland Dutch Television station in Nijmegen for an interview and performance of 'O Holy Night.'
The first post I ever did about Amira Willighagen on this blog was 3 1/2 years ago, on June 6, 2019. I have been following her ever since, and have gone back and watched every available recording of her since recordings of her began at age 7. At last count she has a repertoire of at least 121 songs in 11 languages. As there are many different recordings of many of those songs over her eleven year career, I would have to say I've personally seen about 300 recordings of Amira. So to pick 10 of those that are my "favorite" is totally impossible. There is also the problem that about 20 songs she has recorded are not online, but only on purchased media I am not at liberty to share for copyright reasons. At best I can pick ten from among her best that are available as online recordings. With all those caveats, here they are.
Some of these are from Tik Tok which only shows a portion of the song.
NUMBER 1: "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls (English)" from the 1843 Irish opera "The Bohemian Girl." 16 years old.
NUMBER 7: "Ave Maria (Italian)" by William Gomez. Petrus Canisius Church, Nijmegen. 11 years old.
NUMBER 8: "Nella Fantasia (Italian)". Music by Ennio Morricone for the 1986 movie "The Mission", original words in English by Sarah Brightman, translated into Italian by Chiara Ferraù. 12 years old.
NUMBER 9: "Your Love (English)" from the 1968 spaghetti western "Once Upon a Time in the West." Songwriters: Audrey Stainton / Ennio Morricone / Maria Travia. 12 years old.
NUMBER 10: "Ebben? Ne Andrò Lontana (Italian)" from the 1892 opera "La Wally" by Alfredo Catalani. 17 years old.
Amira put on a Christmas pageant in a small church in Potchefstroom just before leaving for the Netherlands. The date was 7 December 2022. The girl singing with Amira is named Katherine. Fourteen years old, Katherine was invited to come up and sing Panis Angelicus with Amira as a duet. Amira shows her wonderful sweetness toward others at the end, giving Katherine not just a needed thumbs up but then spontaneously walking over and leading her in a curtsey. I have seen Amira do this sort of thing many times before with other new singers. She does not just sing Christmas songs at Christmas, but lives the Christianity that such songs imbibe.
The words to Panis Angelicus translate into English as:
The angel's bread becomes the bread of men
The heavenly bread ends all symbols
Oh, miraculous thing! The body of the Lord will nourish
The poor, poor, and humble servant
The poor, poor, and humble servant
"This is My Dream" - August 2020
"African Christmas" - November 2020
"On My Own" - March 2022
Amira was 16 when she did the first two concerts and 17 when she did "On My Own," just two days before her 18th birthday. How can one see these concerts? Well, for the first two one is in luck. They appear together on a double DVD set titled "Streaming Shows of 2020." The set is available on her web store here. But even better than the DVD set, is the full resolution USB which has so much more clarity. It is available here.
As for the final concert, "On My Own," it is available on CD here. And all three concerts can now be streamed for a small fee (€5.00, about $5.00) at Amira's new Digital Shop found here. When you purchase a link to any of her three streaming concerts, you are free to watch it as many times as you like for 3 days after starting your first viewing.
In an atmospheric environment, the real fans of Amira can enjoy a wonderful afternoon and evening. Full of music. Of course Amira is present and will have a large part of this day in her hands. – Gelukskinders website
Fan day is an event in which fans can spend time with and get to know Amira and are fed and entertained. They often include field trips to various sites, with Amira along of course. A fan day doubles as a fund raiser for Amira's nonprofit for children, Gelukskinders Foundation. This year's is Amira's 4th fan day, and it takes place in the Netherlands. Tickets are on sale at Amira's website. SOLD OUT!
Here are some photos of past fan days.
Fan Days have been 1 Huizen, the Netherlands, 2 Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 3 Turnhout, Belgium. Herveld, Belgium with be Amira's 4th Fan Day
Update 12/12/2022
Amira and her brother and boyfriend DJ join her father Gerret in the Netherlands for coming fan day and Christmas concert.
The Christmas season is upon us. And what more appropriate way to celebrate it than with this inhumanly divine performance of Holy Night by Amira Willighagen?
Amira was invited as special guest star by the Nijmegen Men's Choir to perform at their annual Christmas Concert in Amira's hometown Nijmegen. The concert was held in the Petrus Canisius Church on December 19, 2015.
This video was shot by an audience member sitting in the front row. Since being posted on YouTube on Dec 23, 2015, it has received 2.7 million views. Amira was 11 years old.
In my opinion this performance is the most powerful and emotive Amira has ever given. Here she sings the aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from the 1892 opera La Wally by the Italian composer Alfredo Catalani. The opera ends with a memorable operatic death in which the main character Wally throws herself into an avalanche.
At her 18th birthday concert in Pretoria in March, Amira said she had known this aria since she was nine years old, but felt that only now did she have the maturity of emotion to perform it. She added that it was her favorite aria ever.
I love watching the face of the conductor at the end, who appears to get totally drawn into the power of the moment with Amira.
This video is completely facecious. It appears to be a satire of totally dishonest media. The only thing stolen from Amira are some of her photos from performances. The pictures of 'Riley' as a baby and small child, as well as her parents, are people unrelated to Amira. Amira was not a mute child. The malody attributed to 'Riley' is 100% made-up, as is the doctor, as is the entire story about his travels to Japan to find a secret herb. The science, along with computer generated images of brains and brain cells, is entirely fictitious and absurd. There is not one single true fact in this satire.
Upon being contacted about this video, Facebook replied that there is nothing in it that violates their terms of service. It is legal to use clips from video published on YouTube. It is not libel, for nothing bad is said about Amira. In fact Amira Willighagen is never mentioned, nor anyone in her family. It is whole cloth a made-up fiction from beginning to end.
When I first saw it I laughed all the way through. I understand many, or even most, may have a different reaction.
If one watches many of Amira's largest venue performances on YouTube, one often sees virtually all white people in the audience. This is true even in South Africa where she has immigrated to. Does this mean Amira has no black audience or fans? No. As a matter of fact the black South African music scene is large and active and they have always embraced Amira dearly.
In this post I will show Amira performing with some of Africa's biggest black stars, as well as some photos of a few of Amira's fans of color lining up to get a fan picture.
Amira on stage with South African opera singer Siki Jo-An Qwazi.
Amira with opera singers Sunnyboy Dladla and Cecilia Rangwanasha at RMB Starlight Classics in Capetown. Amira reveals a side of herself with her black colleagues that she rarely reveals with others.
And at times she is the sole white performer on stage, as she is here recently in Capetown with fellow singers Lynelle Kenned, Siki Jo-An and Kyle Sokonna.
Recently Amira invited the famous African Mzansi Youth Choir to join her in her streaming concert, "African Christmas with Amira and Friends."
Below a Nigerian fan reacts to one of the songs the choir backed Amira up in.
To the same Christmas concert Amira also invited the highly established opera singer Lukhanyo Moyake to join her on stage.
Below are some of Amira's fans in Africa lining up after a concert in Capetown to have their pictures taken with her.
Amira has always had soul. You need only see her interacting with her black colleagues to see it. In fact Amira seems even more comfortable with her friends of color than her white colleagues at times.
I end with a couple fabulous photos of Amira, at 11 years old, accompanying a black street musician by the name of Vincent van Hessen in Brussels in 2015. Of the impromptu collaboration Hessen later wrote the following beautiful telling of the event.
On Sunday June 21st, 2015, a bearded man approached me, while I was singing a medley of; Sexual healing/Ave Maria/Blowing in the wind. (Marvin Gaye/J.S. Bach/Bob Dylan). I totally disregarded him and kept singing, because I wasn't planning to stop a song because someone so much needs the attention at that particular moment, mainly while about 50 other people are enjoying the music.
So he waited politely, standing very close to me, and when I finished the medley he said: "I have a young star here and she'd like to sing with you" and my thought was: "oh another one of these wannabe's..."
I answered: "Look man! I'm in a middle of a show here, let's do it later (hoping he would get lost)", but he insisted: "No mister, she's awesome, you won't regret. It's a once in a lifetime chance, and she'd like to do the 'Ave Maria' with you, as you have performed it a minute ago."
While I thought: "From all songs, the wannabe would like to do the 'Ave Maria?"
This went on for a few minutes till I finally agreed, and said: "Bring her over!"
I saw a little girl, sweet looking, a little shy, she said hello politely and I asked in which key she would like to perform the Ave Maria. She consulted her father in Dutch for a minute, wondering whether the key was F or G, and her father replied: "Amira, best if you do it in G!"
And that's when it hit me, pretty much like lightning, who I was dealing with...
I had seen Amira Willighagen on the Dutch TV in the talent show 'Hollands got talent', a few years prior to this occasion, and as a classically trained guitarist, who knows a thing or two about classical music, I was very, very impressed and taken aback by her talent to say the least, so my heart thumped, it maybe even stood still for a second, but I knew I will just have to do it now, a 'do or die' kind of situation,
to perform a song with an ultra talented singer of 11 years old...
I must add, upon hearing Amira sing I had to focus really hard on my guitar playing because I was so awe struck by her voice.
Amira appeared recently on RTL Boulevard, an entertainment show on Dutch RTL4, the station that aired her auditions on Holland's Got Talent in 2013. Be sure to select subtitles if they don't appear automatically.
Hello everyone, this is Amira!
I am happy to announce that a CD version of my 18th birthday concert “On My Own” is ready and on its way to Gelukskinders' web shop. In the photo below you can see the cover of the CD. It will be for sale as from Wednesday the 19th of October. This concert is very special for me as it was for my 18th birthday and of course because I could dress up like Eliza Doolittle🤗 Some of the songs you will find on this CD are The “My Fair Lady” medley, “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana” and the one especially picked for a very special person in my life, “You're Still You”
You can find this CD on the Gelukskinders Foundation's website. I really hope that you will enjoy this concert as much as I enjoyed singing it❤️
A year and nine months ago, during her annual New Year's Eve message, Amira Willighagen announced publicly on Facebook and YouTube that she had a boyfriend. We didn't yet get to hear his name though, nor see pictures. Also I was told that we fans were not to discuss her private life publicly. So we left it alone and didn't pry. However, Amira gave us another mysterious hint about her boyfriend in her recent 'On My Own Concert' where she celebrated her 18th birthday, letting us know he was in the room.
Now at last, on the occasion of her senior prom, Amira has come out and we get to see the in love couple. His name is Daniel Johannes Cornelius Stoop and he is dashing. The two indeed make a wonderful couple. As one fan commented on seeing his pictures:
Ahh this is exciting Amira. We finally get to see your Knight in shining armour. You are a beautiful couple. I remember when you announced your new boyfriend and how excited you were then. I believe it was New Years day 21 months ago. He is very handsome and also very brave. I don't mean that negatively but when I was your age I would have been extremely nervous to approach a girl such as you of fame and beauty. Not DJ congratulation! Hoping your relationship continues to grow. Thank you for sharing Amira.
Brave indeed. Exactly what I thought. Here now are a few great photos of the happy couple. Good luck to both of them.
The South African newspaper headline reads, "Child Sensation Will Spread Her Wings After Matriculating." The caption refers to Amira's announcement in the article of a world tour she plans after graduation.
BEELD: Child Sensation Wants To Spread Her Wings After Matriculating
[by Seugnet van Zyl]
The nine-year old girl who won world-wide fame overnight after winning Holland’s got Talent almost ten years ago, is almost finished with school.
Amira Willighagen (18) has recently published photos of her and her partner, DJ Stoop, at her matric farewell party, on her Facebook page.
Amira, a matric pupil at Gimnasium Secondary School, says her matric farewell and that of DJ, a matric pupil at Volkskool High, took place on the same day. “His was not open (for pupils from other schools). He either had to attend it alone or come with me”, she said.
She described the matric farewell as a “Magical night we shall never forget”.
Amira and DJ have been in a relationship for a year and 9 months.
In the recent record examination she obtained distinctions in ALL her subjects - mathematics, English, Afrikaans, life orientation, biology and physics, music, dance and drama.
“My musical gift has been developed in this way. Now I know much more about music. And now I also have a choice about what I want to sing.”
She speaks Afrikaans fluently although her Dutch accent is still audible.
Amira’s mother, Frieda, is a South African. Before she had won Holland’s Got Talent, Amira together with her family visited her grandma Elsa Brand in Potchefstroom. During these visits she noticed that there were no play parks for children in squatter camps. She started dreaming about building play parks for children. This gave rise to the Gelukskinders [Happy Children] Foundation.
In 2017 [actually, it was in 2014] she opened her first play park, which she had built for children attending the Promosa Primary School in Potchefstroom.
After school she is going to take a year-long tour through the Netherlands, America and Europe. During this year she will also perform in South Africa.
Before leaving in December for the Netherlands, together with her older brother Fincent (20), who studies ancient languages at the University of North West and DJ, she will perform in a Christmas concert in Potchefstroom.
Her father Gerrit is still living in the Netherlands. In 2018 she and FIncent moved to South Africa together with their mother.
A CD of Amira’s 18th birthday concert, On My Own, will be available for purchase from 19 October.
“The concert is very special to me, because it was my 18th birthday and I could dress up like Eliza Dolittle.”
Dolittle is a fictitious character in George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion (1913) and the musical of 1956 My Fair Lady, based on the play.
Next year, ten years will have gone by since she had won Holland’s Got Talent.
In the light of this, she has recently been asked to watch it again.
“It felt very strange to watch it. That moment changed my whole life and jump-started my career.”
Upon her return in 2024 she is planning to study music and biology at the University of Stellenbosch or Cape Town University because “The Cape has a rich musical tradition”.
“It was very interesting to grow up in the Netherlands and South Africa. South Africa is a beautiful country. It really is a lovely place.”
Of course all Amira's fans had their moment when they 'discovered' Amira for the first time, and can describe that moment when they happened upon her on YouTube or at some event and were blown away. But there is a special sense of 'discovery' unique to the entertainment industry, where we are referring to that person who was the first to recognize and bring attention to a new talent. In Amira's case we can't speak of only a single person in this regard, but a series of four people, who in turn saw and pointed to Amira's astonishing voice.
Elsa listening to Amira sing
The first person to notice Amira's talent and point it out to others was her grandmother Elsa. Elsa had been the wife of an opera singer and recognized Amira's talent even as a small child. Elsa told Amira at 7 years old that she would one day be famous and on television. Elsa lived just long enough to see Amira on Holland's Got Talent, and passed away two weeks later.
Gordon with Amira at the Sony reception of her first CD
The second person who must be credited with Amira's miraculous discovery was Gordon Heuckeroth, a Dutch singer and television personality who hosted the season of Holland's Got Talent when Amira first appeared. Gordon instantly saw Amira's talent and let the audience know it was truly astonishing.
The third person who could be said to have discovered Amira and presented her to a broader audience was Dutch violinist and conductor Andre Rieu, best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra. Rieu describes that on a tour in Australia, his orchestra brought his attention to Amira on YouTube singing in Holland's Got Talent. He said he was blown away by her talent and brought her to England for a master class before finally having her on his show before an audience of 11,000 people.
And the final person who must be credited with discovering Amira, and who had a great deal to do with gaining her the opportunity to play enormous venues in Africa for which she is now famous, was her South African agent Mike Fuller. Here he tells the story of discovering Amira for the first time.
The song "Unchained Melody" was originally written for a scene in the 1955 movie "Unchained." Music by Alex North, lyrics by Hy Zaret, and performed and sung by opera singer Todd Duncan (above) for the 1955 film.
It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century. The song's publisher reports over 1500 recordings by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages. “Unchained Melody” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1956 and was sung at the Oscars by Harry Belafonte. A decade later it was famously sung by Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers. Afterward it was forever associated with the 1960s. However, everything about the song and the way it was written and sung by a team was indicative of the 50s.
In recent years the song's beauty has been recognized by a younger generation and has been covered by Jonathan Antoine and Amira Willighagen, both opera singers. Amira sang it in Italian.
Todd Duncan was one of the first African-Americans to sing with a major opera company and played Porgy in the premier production of Porgy and Bess in 1935. In 1984 he was awarded the George Peabody Medal of Music from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University. Other awards he received include a medal of honor from Haiti, an NAACP award, the Donaldson Award, the New York Drama Critics' Award for Lost in the Stars, and honorary doctorates from Valparaiso University and Butler University.
National Anthem - The United States Navy Band - Presidential Inauguration Ceremony (Obama) 2009
National Anthem - Beyonce - Presidential Inauguration Ceremony 2013
National Anthem - Jackie Evancho - Presidential Inauguration Ceremony 2017
National Anthem - Lady Gaga - Presidential Inauguration Ceremony 2021
Every National Anthem Sung at a Presidential Inauguration from Harry Truman to Joe Biden.
Personally, I don't like any of these versions. As one would expect, the version I love is this very modest one by Amira Willighagen, sung in her living room, accompanied by her brother's violin when they were 16 and 17 years old.
I was looking at this photo this morning and had the thought to say a little bit about myself, the host of this blog. You can click the picture to enlarge it. The photo was taken at the Avatar Meher Baba Circle Center in Myrtle Beach, South Caroloina in December 2020 by my book editor Fereshteh Azad. I'm in my little cubicle office here, where I maintain the group's weekly newsletter.
I have two degrees, which pretty much define me. One is in film production from the University of Southern California, generally considered to be the best and most prestigious film school in the world. The other is an MA in philosophy from the University of Arkansas where I lived for 16 years.
Anyone who follows any of my sites knows I'm a big fan of Amira Willighagen and a student of the Indian master Meher Baba. I have one daughter, Megan, who is 26 and lives in Arkansas.
My daughter is 26. She's very cool. In High School she sang, acted, wrote, and directed. Her acting coach said at her Senior defense that she was an old soul. I recently asked her to send me some examples of the kinds of music she listens to. Here's what she sent me.
