An Old Soul

I've been an Amira fan for about eight months. I am referring to Amira Willighagen, the Dutch child prodigy.

I have never been a fan before. It's a new experience. One thing I've learned is that I'm not alone. I belong to a private Facebook group of over 10,000 fans. It is a very busy fan site, and extremely well-managed and administrated. There fans discuss Amira's work, learn amazing facts about her, keep up on her concerts and philanthropic activities, and respectfully refrain from any inappropriate talk about her private life. There is a list of guidelines, and her following, which is largely made up of older people, are diligent to abide by them.

Enough of that. I want to tell the story of Amira, as much as I know, with as many fascinating details as I can think of to include. The reason the title is 'an old soul' is first because I believe she definitely is one, and also (as any fan can tell you) she was famously called one by the lead judge in Holland's Got Talent in 2013 where she was originally discovered at the amazing age of nine.

'An old soul,' says lead judge Gordon Heuckeroth as he hears Amira sing for the first time.

Amira was singing an opera song, O Mio Babbino Caro. What many do not know is that the judge who said this, Gordon Heuckeroth, had himself begun his career as a classical singer.

A young Godon Heuckeroth singing with Dutch opera singer Wilma Driessen.

He knew what he was talking about. He immediately recognized Amira's talent -- and said it was 'incredible' and 'impossible.'

So we can definitely say Amira was discovered in that moment, by Gordon Heuckeroth.

Within days of the televising of the event, the YouTube video of it had received ten million views. Amira Willighagen was an international sensation.

Click image to enlarge

Now there is much more that came before this. Amira did not just step onto a stage and begin to sing. Amira was indeed unusual, and there is a reason that many have called her an old soul, an angel, a miracle, or just not an ordinary person. Another thing many don't realize is that Amira already had fans when she stepped onto that stage. They were in the balcony, and she was very aware of them and waved to them.

Fans at Amira's first public audition on Dutch television.

No, Amira was not an ordinary person. And here are a few of the details of her life before that appearance.

Amira tells her story often. She was born into a musical family in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 2004. Her father played piano and organ, her mother and brother the violin. But Amira found her hands were too stiff for the piano, and she felt no attraction to the violin or any other instrument. In the Netherlands there is a holiday known as Queen's Day. On this day children go to the parks and perform some talent and people toss change into a pot. Well one day her brother was going to play violin in the park, and she got upset. She had nothing to perform. She had been listening to Andrea Bocelli on YouTube, and incredibly had memorized the song. So she marched down to the park to sing. Here is that event. Her father, Gerret, accompanies her on the accordion.



Now by all accounts, no one in her family told her to do this. They simply supported her impulse. In fact, when she began to diligently try to learn to sing after that, her mother told her that none of them in the family knew the first thing about singing, and that if she wanted to do this she had to make her own schedule and do the work herself. Amira did.

Now did anything foreshadow this development? Well, two things did. Amira's grandfather had in fact been an opera singer. Having died before Amira was born, her grandmother Elsa nonetheless recognized Amira's talent before anyone else. Hearing Amira hum along with an opera song on the car radio, Elsa suddenly said, "You will be on television one day." While Amira's mother immediately expressed skepticism, these words by her grandmother inspired Amira's imagination. Sadly, Amira's grandmother, who continued to call herself Amira's number one fan, passed away exactly one month after seeing Amira's audition on YouTube. She was even interviewed about it in Africa.



The other hint that God or providence was preparing Amira for her fate, her father played the organ in the local church in the Netherlands when Amira was a baby. He used to take Amira along in her basket and set her down beside the organ to play. Amira heard classical music from the womb, it is said. And it partly accounts for her fantastic ear. She can pick up a melody from a single hearing, and repeat it.

Now the event in the park was not the end of Amira's pre-audition experience. Her whole family came to perform, sometimes traveling to other towns, with Amira singing lead.

Here is a piece of such a performance. You see that Amira is slowly improving. Notice how trustingly she turns to her father in the end for his approval.



Amira and her brother Fincent also traveled with a children's choir. In the picture below, Amira is on the top right in black sweater and headband, her brother Fincent crouching beneath her.

So it starts to not seem so unusual that Amira came to her audition at nine years old with great confidence and an already growing fan club.

Now I mentioned Amira's strong Aries confidence and personality. I love the following picture. Notice she has her entire family following her lead. She is clearly the one with the plans. Look at the mother's astonishment at some self-confident pronouncement by Amira.

But this does not begin to convey Amira's full personality. Amira is driven. I have never ever seen a person so driven.

What very few know is that a year before her Holland's Got Talent audition, before her singing talent was discovered by the world, Amira won the 1st prize in the "Zevenheuvelenloop" / "Seven Hills Run." She won it again the following year, in the middle of winning the talent show.

Here she is struggling for her breath after winning the race, her mother getting out a coat to warm her.

Like it or not, Amira wins everything she tries. Here she is on Nov. 16, 2013, winning the Seven Hills Run for the second consecutive year.

Yes, Amira is an athlete, and it is thus no wonder she finishes whole arias without being the slightest out of breath. These running wins are no mere accident. Look at the passion in her face in the photo on the left. Click it to enlarge.

Perhaps it becomes more clear why she inspires fans -- literally inspires them to live their lives more fully.

But I have not even begun to describe the aspect of Amira's heart that she is most famous for. Amira is a great philanthropist. She gives away half her earnings from singing to build playgrounds in S. Africa. I prefer to let her explain this herself. I have cued up this video to start at the right place. This interview was done just days after her first audition on Holland's Got Talent. She is nine years old in this interview. Go here.

In fact, the entire interview was incredibly telling. Her ability to communicate and think clearly was on display.

Amira is not just a person of words, but actions. Before Amira was 10 she was actually already in Africa building her first playground for the children there.

Arriving in the townships of Africa to inaugurate her first playground.

When I first saw these pictures, the words came to my mind, 'This is a Christ-like person.' In fact, Amira is deeply religious and often expresses her love for Jesus.

In November 2014, at the age of 10, Amira established her foundation Gelukskinders, which means Lucky Children.

Amira signing Gelukskinders into law in Lelystad, The Netherlands in 2014.

I would be surprised if I am the only one who is impressed by that.

The following video shows the signing ceremony.



Today, Amira's life is largely consumed by charitable works.

So yes, I am a huge fan of Amira Willighagen, the old soul. Like many fans, I not only admire her but wish to be like her.

I end with her singing 'Ave Maria' in Lecce, Italy in 2016. Amira once said the scariest thing for her is singing in Italian before an Italian audience. Her concentration in this video, as many have noticed, is inward. Amira has said of herself that when she sings, the world disappears and she experiences herself as weightless and traveling "in, in, in," until she is in another place. Perhaps we will understand her one day when we too are old souls.