Search - Dalida :: Live: Instants D'Emotions

A magnificent artist

Raquelle Dommage | Brooklyn Heights, NY United States | 08/30/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When Dalida's star started to ascend in the early fifties, Edith Piaf confided to a journalist that she considered the Egyptian-Italian songstress her true successor. And after Piaf's death in 1963, Dalida truly replaced her in the hearts of her countrymen. Her suicide in 1987 was a national tragedy. These 2 CDs show two aspects of a singer that recorded more than 1000 songs throughout a career spanning 30 years. Her more commercial, sunnier side, before her first attempted suicide in 1969, and her profounder, deeper side thereafter, when instead of just singing translations of American pop standards she entrusted a selected group of highly talented songwriters to compose songs dealing with love, loss, betrayal, adultery, homosexuality, religion, but always with a catchy tune enhanced by her beautiful, profondly human alto voice. She became a disco icon in the early 80's at the age of 40, and sang throughout the world in 9 different languages, the only singer to be adopted by both the Israelis and the Arabs and whose song "Salama Ya Salama" was the anthem of President Sadat's visit to Jerusalem.
These 2 CDs allow us to hear her sing some of the songs that were written for her and that no other singer has even tackled since then, like "Gigi l'Amoroso" in English at Carnegie Hall, an apparently silly italianate number but in reality the sad but ultimately winning story of a young Italian boy who dreamed of making it big in Hollywood and returned, his hopes crushed, to the undying affection of his village countrymen. In France, dalida is considered a national heroine but we are proud to share her with the world because she was herself a citizen of the world."

A true gem for French music lovers and her fans.

nicholas sitinas | bucharest, Romania | 08/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An outstanding collection of songs sang live by Dalida, which shows the enormous talent of this great DIVA on stage. The collection includes performances of her best songs in the early and late years. You can distinguish a big difference in her singing between the two periods. It's not only the maturity of her voice, but also the emotion and the pathos that she puts in each song. During the early period her songs are happy, full of life and trouble-free, which can also be heard from the way that she speaks to her audience. On the contrary, during the late years her songs are full of emotions, passion, drama, pain and especially the ones sung the period after the death of her biggest love and her first attempt to commit suicide. Such songs are "Pour ne pas vivre seul", "Je suis malade" and "Ciao amore ciao" where she break down in tears and leaves the stage. Such outstanding performances cannot be heard in the studio version. Other songs like "Il venait d'avoir dix-huit ans", "Gigi l'amoroso" and "Avec le temps" are some of the songs where someone can appreciate the acting that Dalida puts in these songs."

Dalida at her best !

nicholas sitinas | 12/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Quite amazing compilation of Dalida's live recordings. Although recordings are not taken from one entire concert (recordings from late 50's to beginning 80's) this album gives you the imression to listen to only one concert. Really think that this great singer was able to capture her audiences by her dramatic and in the same way playful way of interpreting her songs. Personally prefer to listen to Dalida's live recordings than to her studio albums. Favorite's here are "Lambeth Walk", "Je suis malade", "Ciao amore ciao" and a really funny and cool English version of a '79 Carnegie Hall concert of "Gigi l'Amoroso"."